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PGA chief says 'no current plans' for LIV stars to return / Photo: Justin Casterline - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
PGA chief says 'no current plans' for LIV stars to return
The PGA currently has no plans to offer LIV Golf stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm a pathway back from the struggling breakaway tour, chief executive officer Brian Rolapp said Tuesday.
Launched in 2022, LIV caused shockwaves in the golf world as it spent billions of dollars luring top players away from the traditional PGA, but its survival is now deeply uncetain.
Having lost their Saudi investors, LIV organizers have promised a slimmed-down "2.0" version next year with new investors, but several key players have been linked with exits.
While the PGA Tour offered a temporary path back for some LIV players -- five-time major winner Brooks Koepka in January took advantage, paying financial penalties -- no repeats are planned, said Rolapp.
"Currently there's no current plans for Returning Member Program like you saw earlier this year," he said, ahead of this week's season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.
The PGA has banned LIV players from its events, insisting any player wishing to return must first entirely cut ties with LIV, and Rolapp told Tuesday's press conference that "rules matter."
"Accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the TOUR and for the game," he said.
Rolapp said it was impossible to speculate on if and how other LIV players could one day return to the PGA because "I don't know the future of LIV."
"We've been consistent. Anyone who's interested in coming to the PGA TOUR needs to demonstrate that they are relieved of their contractual commitments or any tail obligations they might have in that legacy model," he said.
"Brooks certainly did that, and until then, we weren't really able to consider anything seriously. I would say the same thing here."
LIV organizers have vowed to return next year with a slimmed-down schedule, smaller prizes and new investors.
Speaking at LIV's season-ending Indianapolis event Sunday, DeChambeau said he was "proud" of what the tour has achieved, and said he had "great thoughts about what could happen next year."
But on Monday he published an enigmatic post on Instagram -- photos of several LIV victories, with the caption "It was a good run."
T. MacDonald--SMC
