LIV Golf funding rumors spark questions about players' PGA Tour return

“Does it become case by case?” Spieth wondered. He noted that not all penalties should be equal given that some had never been Tour members while others renounced their membership. Some tried to sue the Tour, others made a more diplomatic departure. “You can’t forget about that,” Spieth said, noting the lawsuit by 11 pros who originally alleged that the Tour used monopoly power to stifle competition and wrongfully suspended players. “I’m not petty, but it was a big deal. At the time, the Tour was a non-profit, so, you were directing suing the players or charity.”

One caddie predicted that Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith’s management team’s had to be reaching out to the Tour to see if the offer they declined before a Feb. 1 deadline could be back on the table. Let the negotiations begin.

And what should LIV players do if the writing is on the wall that the party is just about over? If you’re David Puig, a young Spaniard with a lot of game, do you cut bait and pass up winning big bucks in the remaining LIV events or take advantage of your DP Tour card and go the Reed route? He could chase the top 10 and be reinstated on the PGA Tour next May. But for Marc Leishman, Charles Howell III and other LIV players, they may be relegated to Q-School and Asian Tour events if LIV ceases to exist.

“We’ll have to figure something out because adding some of those guys will put our Tour back where it belongs with our TV contracts coming up. That would be a good position to be in,” Harris English, a member of the Player Advisory Council, said. “I like where the Tour is right now, I like what Brian Rolapp is doing in his limited time so far. I know we’ll have a lot of conflicting opinions on who comes back, how do the exemptions work but I have faith in not only Rolapp but Keith, Mav, Adam and Tiger when he gets back.”

Will DeChambeau, Rahm and perhaps another player or two be given preferential treatment to return? “Potentially,” English said.

Spieth, for one, had another name in mind that he thought would make the Tour’s product better.

“I miss Feherty,” he said.

Bring back David Feherty? “Yeah,” he said. “For sure, of course.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LIV Golf funding rumors effect on players returning to PGA Tour