The golf world has been labored right into a frenzy after a brand new program, that creates a pathway again to the PGA Tour for stars who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, was revealed on Tuesday after five-time main winner Brooks Koepka introduced his comeback.
Koepka, who confirmed final month he would play no half in LIV Golf’s 2026 season, mentioned in a press release on X he accepted returning to the PGA Tour would include monetary penalties.
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“Once I was a baby, I at all times dreamt about competing on the PGA Tour, and I’m simply as excited at present to announce that I’m returning to the PGA TOUR,” Koepka mentioned.
“Being nearer to dwelling and spending extra time with my household makes this chance particularly significant to me. I imagine in the place the PGA TOUR is headed with new management, new traders, and an fairness program that provides gamers a significant possession stake.
“I additionally perceive there are monetary penalties related to this determination, and I settle for these.”
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PGA Tour chief government Brian Rolapp chief government mentioned Koepka’s determination to depart LIV final month had prompted officers to contemplate how they dealt with the difficulty of embracing gamers who needed to rejoin the tour.
The end result was the PGA Tour’s new “Returning Member Program”, which Rolapp mentioned would include “extreme and justified penalties”.
“The Returning Member Program mandates heavy and acceptable limitations to each event entry and potential earnings that we imagine correctly holds returning members accountable for substantial compensation earned elsewhere,” Rolapp mentioned.
This system is open to returning members who’ve who gained both The Gamers Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open or British Open between 2022 and 2025. Koepka gained the PGA Championship in 2023.
Which means this system can be aimed toward current main winners Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, whereas it excludes the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, whose most up-to-date main wins have been in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
That particular standards was inflicting the largest stir within the golf world, with consultants stating the way it deliberately excludes all however the stars the PGA Tour really needs.
“I used to be form of kidding once I questioned in the event that they have been gonna write the standards out to particularly solely invite again the fellows they actually need. And so they went and truly did it!! That is unimaginable. Really, what a world,” the No Laying Up podcast wrote.
Creator Alan Shipnuck mentioned the transfer to exclude Mickelson had the handprints of long-time rival and PGA Tour coverage member, Tiger Woods, throughout it.
“4D chess by Woods, who by no means forgets or forgives,” he wrote.
In the meantime, others pointed to the unimaginable leverage that Koepka’s transfer provides DeChambeau in his negotiations with LIV.
CBS’s Kyle Porter mentioned DeChambeau is poised to turn into “the richest golfer of all time”, whereas PGA Tour insider Dan Rapaport wrote: “If I’m Bryson DeChambeau, I’m going into that LIV contract negotiation asking, with a straight face, for 500 million U.S. {dollars} (A$745m). If he leaves, it’s over.
“Leverage on leverage on leverage.”
Talking on the Golf Channel podcast, Ryan Lavner mentioned the deal on provide was a “masterstroke” transfer by the PGA Tour.
He mentioned that Koepka’s former LIV Golf colleagues now should resolve between cash and repute.
“Other than Bryson, who’s a historic and transformative determine unto himself, none of these gamers are extra widespread proper now than after they have been on the PGA Tour. I feel that’s indeniable,” he mentioned.
“So that they must make the calculus on their very own about what does that repute hit price?
“Possibly they’ll’t get out of their LIV offers and it’s a moot level, nevertheless, not less than within the court docket of public opinion, that is what Rolapp is telling these guys: ‘Right here’s a mulligan, right here’s an off-ramp, you must resolve whether or not you made a mistake and truly care about your aggressive legacy, or are you signalling to golf followers that ‘what I actually care about is cash. Heaps and many cash. Cash you possibly can’t even know’.”
“To me that’s a masterstroke as a result of it actually places these guys in a vice in figuring out how they are going to be perceived … I feel it’s an actual subliminal message Rolapp is making an attempt to ship right here.”
Underneath this system guidelines, different LIV Golf gamers who may now be eligible for a return to the PGA Tour could be 2024 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm and Australia’s Cameron Smith, who gained the 2022 Gamers Championship and Open Championship.
Rolapp added that this system’s limitations included a five-year forfeiture of rights to participation within the PGA Tour’s participant fairness program. Rolapp mentioned Koepka’s absence from the fairness sharing program may imply him lacking out between US$50-85 million in potential earnings.
Ought to the determine be US$85 million (A$127m), and all 4 gamers take the deal, then the overall penalty — together with charitable donations — would tally about A$530m.
Rolapp mentioned Koepka had agreed to make $5 million charitable contribution to a recipient which might be decided collectively by Koepka and the PGA Tour.
Rolapp in the meantime mentioned this system could be open to different LIV stars mulling a swap again to the PGA Tour – however solely throughout a restricted window that expires on February 2.
“Different eligible gamers concerned with searching for PGA Tour reinstatement should achieve this by the point the returning member program closes on Monday, February 2,” Rolapp mentioned.
“It is a one-time outlined window and doesn’t set a precedent for future conditions. As soon as the door closes, there is no such thing as a promise that this path might be out there once more.”
Launched in 2022, LIV Golf’s emergence led to bitter divisions all through the game after a slew of golf’s greatest names left the PGA Tour after signing big-money offers.