Source: Some LIV players exploring potential for PGA Tour return

Several representatives of LIV golfers have begun reaching out to the PGA Tour to explore what the return path would look like, a source told ESPN on Wednesday.

A potential return for such players comes amid reports in recent weeks that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will stop funding LIV after the 2026 season, clouding the tour’s future.

Earlier Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that LIV will tell its players by Thursday that the PIF’s funding will stop at the end of the season. telegraph It is learned that LIV team captains have already been informed.

In addition, Sports Business Journal reported on Wednesday night that PIF governor Yasir al-Rumaian, who was behind the creation of LIV, was stepping down as chairman of the tour. LIV plans to announce a strategy for moving forward without the primary financial backer, including plans to seek a new board and an outside financial partner, the SBJ report said.

With LIV’s future uncertain, the PGA Tour is now in a position where it can prioritize how it wants players to potentially return, and even who it wants back.

In January, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rollapp introduced a “Returning Member Program” — a performance-based pathway for players who have been off the tour for at least two years and who won the Players Championship or any of the four major championships from 2022 through ’25. Players have until February 2 to decide if they want to return. Brooks Koepka Accepted with several penalties which include; Other Eligible Players — Bryson DeChambeau, John Rahm And Cameron Smith — decided not to participate.

As the Returning Member Program expires, the PGA Tour is exploring plans for certain players to potentially make their way under new and possibly more stringent restrictions.

“We’re interested in getting the best players who can help us on the tour,” Rolap said in his story to the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday. “Not every player can do that.”

Patrick Reedwho joined LIV in June 2022, did not renew his contract with the tour and is instead serving a one-year ban. He is eligible to return to the PGA Tour on August 25 Henrik Stenson And Pat Perez Also decided to leave LIV and were allowed to return under the same year-long ban from their last LIV event. Both are now playing on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions.

Factors that may affect how the PGA Tour welcomes certain players may include past performance, whether or not a player has resigned his membership (for example, Reed), whether he has played on the tour or has status at all, and whether he has been involved in an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. Rolap told the Wall Street Journal that a lot of people on the tour have “scar tissue” about the players who were part of that case, and he hopes that factor will be considered in “some shape or form.”

Of the 11 players who were part of that suit, DeChambeau is the most prominent.

Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau and two-time major winner Rahm are the players who could offer the most value on the PGA Tour if they return. DeChambeau is in the final year of his LIV contract, worth more than $100 million; Rahm signed a contract worth more than $300 million through 2023.

DeChambeau said in an interview It’s flushing social media Account earlier this month that “as long as LIV is here, I’ll figure out a way to make sense of it.”

LIV’s next scheduled event is May 7-10 at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. Earlier this week, LIV announced that a late June tournament in New Orleans would be postponed, with officials looking at a possible fall date instead.

That path, however, is unclear given the uncertainty over LIV’s future as PIF’s involvement ends.

Al-Rumaian, the current board chairman, has long sought a seat at the table with the game’s leadership. He signed a framework agreement with the PGA Tour and European Tour in 2023 and is set to join the PGA Tour Enterprises board if it is approved.

The agreement was never implemented except to conclude antitrust cases. PGA Tour Enterprises instead received a minority investment from a consortium of North American sports owners.

Scott O’Neill, who replaced him Greg Norman As LIV Golf’s CEO last year, he told employees in an April 15 email that the 2026 season “will proceed as planned, uninterrupted and full throttle.” But he later admitted during LIV’s Mexico City event that Saudi funding was good for the 2026 season and he would “work like crazy” to develop a solid business plan, raising questions about how it would retain its top players.

“The reality is you get funded through the season and then you work like crazy to build a business to build a business and a business plan to keep us going,” O’Neill said. “But it’s no different than any other private equity-funded business in human history.”

Golf Digest first reported the arrival of LIV players’ representatives on the PGA Tour.

This report uses information from The Associated Press.