Details are still few and far between with regard to the proposed deal signed by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create a new global golf entity, even after the framework agreement leaked earlier this week.
One of the biggest questions is how LIV Golf players will be brought back into the fold on Tour. Will there be suspensions? Fines? For how long and how much? On top of that, do players even want to return to the Tour?
Depends who you ask.
“I’ve been pretty happy with my decision to be here at LIV. I’ve enjoyed it. I’m not going to speak for everybody else, but I would say everybody is pretty excited, and everybody is pretty happy with where they’re at right now,” said Brooks Koepka ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Andalucia event in Spain. “It’s tough to look into the future and say — I don’t have any control over what other guys do, but I know I’m happy where I’m at right now, and just take it one day at a time.”
Koepka has long been rumored as a player who has fancied a return to the Tour. Dustin Johnson left without much fuss and would seemingly fit back in with relative ease. That said, Johnson is pretty happy with his smaller schedule and larger paydays.
“I’m excited for the future. I think with this agreement, the only thing that’s going to happen is LIV is going to get even better than what it is now, which it’s already great,” said Johnson. “I’m happy exactly where I am, and I’m definitely not looking to play more golf than I’m playing now, that’s for sure.”
“If everything goes according to plan like we expect it to be, I will not be playing much at all on the PGA Tour because I don’t plan on playing 30 events a year,” echoed Sergio Garcia. “That’s not something that is in my mind at the moment. Obviously as things settle and we know exactly where we all stand, then we can make decisions. But I wouldn’t think so. Not at the moment, I guess.”
Players are smart to not close off a return to the Tour. Who knows what the schedule could look like over the next few years if the deal is passed by the PGA Tour board and allowed by the U.S. government.
“We don’t really feel the need to publicly posture our position,” explained Phil Mickelson, who has never been shy to share his opinion, no matter the subject. “There’s really no need for us to talk about things publicly but to just let it play out.”
But will fans see Lefty back out on Tour, or maybe even on the Champions tour? Don’t hold your breathe.
“Rather than saying yes or no, I know that from a player experience, all of the difficulties and challenges and things that take a lot of excessive energy and output throughout the week have been fixed at LIV,” said Mickelson. “So the player experience here is incredible.”
“I just can’t envision a better scenario for me as a player than playing out here on LIV.”
