Schupak: Rickie Fowler isn't holding grudges to LIV players returning to PGA Tour

The soap opera that is the world of professional golf has been spinning faster than the globe in the opening to the show “As the World Turns.”

What we know for sure is that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will end its funding of LIV Golf at the end of the year, leaving LIV’s CEO Scott O’Neil scrambling to find some new sugar daddy to keep the renegade circuit afloat.

It has resulted in a rush of stories debating how LIV golfers will be welcomed back and integrated into the PGA Tour should LIV fold. Some pros are willing to let the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm waltz back in the way Brooks Koepka did because they will increase viewership and thus boost the price tag for the next media rights deal. As long as it helps line players pockets, all is forgiven. But there is also a camp that is saying wait a minute, some of these guys sued us, talked smack against us and tried to bring us down, and it’s retribution time for these mercenaries with shallow core values wishing to come back to the PGA Tour.

Dressed in his Sunday orange, Rickie Fowler plays his approach shot on the second hole during the final round of the 2026 Cadillac Championship.

Somewhere in the middle is Rickie Fowler, who has been a voice of reason throughout. Fowler has been one of the savviest businessmen in golf, building a brand and a following that has made him arguably the most attractive player to sponsors, especially for a pro with six wins and no majors on his resume.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Fowler said of LIV players, such as his old Golf Boys pal Bubba Watson, returning to the Tour’s mothership. Fowler understands having the best playing together more often is better for business, and he concedes LIV has a handful of players that golf fans still care about and want to see.

“I’m not against it but it’s not going to be like, ‘Oh, you had full status when you left, well, come on back and pick up where you left off,’” he said.

Those who still have status such as Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau, Rahm and Cameron Smith, he can see being given preferential treatment. “It’s so individual, every one’s situation is different,” he said.

Fowler has been up front he was offered a mind-boggling number to jump ship to LIV. He shared last week that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan visited him at his house during LIV’s buying spree and made an effort to try to understand why Fowler had met with the upstart league and, of course, attempt to talk him out of leaving, too.