Tour Confidential: Answering biggest questions about LIV Golf's future

James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): Good points, gents. My lingering thought was this: We never heard the “don” of LIV Golf, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, say a single word. Whether golf history remembers LIV’s most powerful Saudi benefactor as a hero or a coward (good arguments for both!), it will NOT remember him for saying a single word about the sport. “His excellency” left golf as he entered it: Without a peep.

**At Trump Doral for this week’s Cadillac Championship, several players were asked if LIV members should be wel**comed back to the PGA Tour, and what types of penalties they should face. If you were PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, how would you handle players’ reintegration? Is it different for everyone? Would you not allow certain players at all?

Sens: Open a pathway for guys to play their way back on, with a point system that has some kind of reward for past performance. So that maybe the likes of Bryson and Rahm and Smith can compete in regular Tour events but not elevated events, which they’d still have to play their way into. The washed-up LIV guys would probably just retire rather than face that grind. And the younger guys would be left to try to earn their cards, which is what they’d probably be doing anyway.

Schrock: It’s going to have to be a case-by-case basis. As Rolapp and Jordan Spieth have noted, the PGA Tour extended an offer to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith earlier this year and it wasn’t accepted. The next deal shouldn’t be as forgiving. Both Spieth and Rolapp also subtly mentioned the lawsuit that DeChambeau was a key plaintiff in after LIV launched in 2022. That’s a lawsuit that PGA Tour players had to pay to defend, and the road back for those who signed on to sue the Tour should be harsher than those who went to LIV quietly, like Brooks Koepka, and didn’t rock the boat. Rahm will be the interesting case. His exodus came at a time when LIV was floundering, and it gave the rebel league juice and calcified the two sides’ stances in golf’s civil conflict. That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I’m not sure there’s an easy way to bring either of the big names back without upsetting a big portion of Tour membership, but the Tour would certainly benefit economically from reintegrating them quickly. As for the rest of LIV’s roster, some who resigned their membership, like Patrick Reed, can try to play their way back via the DP World Tour or KFT. Many will disappear with their millions and not even knock on the door at the global home. In all honesty, we’re probably talking about 15-20 players in total that decisions need to be made on.

Colgan: I’d give Bryson a path back. His presence would single-handedly change the PGA Tour’s economics, and he’s probably the only LIV player for whom that is true (Jon Rahm probably deserves consideration here as well). Everyone else would be subject to a lengthy (and expensive) return process through the Tour’s strategic partners at the DP World Tour and the KFT, or a short-term retirement.

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Bryson DeChambeau of the Crushers GC and Jon Rahm of Legion XIII and Cameron Smith of Ripper GC walk down the 1st during day one of LIV Adelaide

Even if LIV Golf receives alternative funding, with the substantial PIF coffers no longer available, does this end any sort of competition that was remaining with the PGA Tour?

Sens: I think so. If LIV taught us anything, it’s that the world does not need more professional golf. At least not for the money these guys think they deserve to be making. Ironically, the Tour’s real competition for eyeballs these days doesn’t come from a league backed by Saudi billions. It comes from a bunch of YouTube bros producing their own content.

Schrock: Yes. Without the $30 million purses and signing bonuses, LIV will cease to be any sort of threat to the PGA Tour. It sounds like it’s close to a wrap, barring an unforeseen bailout.

Colgan: No fat lady is singing. Yet. But it sounds like she’s warming up.

What’s the best-case scenario for LIV Golf going forward?

Sens: Maybe pivot to crypto?

Schrock: Try to merge with the DP World Tour. Other than that, the last one to leave should turn out the lights. LIV can slink along with limited funds, but the product will be even worse than its current form, and there will almost certainly be a talent exodus once the money dries up.

Colgan: I think there’s a vision that could exist with significantly smaller purses at LIV’s previously successful golf-crazy venues (Korea, Australia, South Africa). The problem LIV is going to run into is that every sports league needs significant TV revenue to survive, and they’re not anywhere close to that right now.

Sunday’s golf slate featured two blowouts, as Nelly Korda won by four in Mexico and Cameron Young won by six in Florida. Both have had fantastic starts to 2026, but which one are you taking as most likely to continue this success through the summer?

Sens: I think they’ll both keep rolling, but Young’s summer is going to stand out just a bit more boldly when he wins his first major at Shinnecock.

Schrock: It’s Korda for multiple reasons. The first is that she’s the unquestioned best player on her tour. Young has been fantastic but has to deal with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the blistering hot Matt Fitzpatrick. Korda changed her mentality after a winless 2025 and has been relentless to start this season. The only thing that can hold her back is a balky putter, but her new putting coach seems to have at least made that a net neutral. I expect her to win at least one more major this year and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a three-major 2026 for Nelly.

Colgan: Cam! He’s a no-doubt top-5 player in the world right now, and a maiden voyage PGA Championship at Philly looms.

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