For potential LIV returnees, PGA Tour CEO doesn’t yet have answers

Brian Rolapp welcomed back Brooks Koepka to the PGA Tour in January. A few weeks later, the PGA Tour gave Patrick Reed a different path back from LIV Golf.

Rolapp, the PGA Tour CEO who has been on the job for less than a year, opened the door for two defectors to walk back to their old tour after doling out a harsh financial penalty to Koepka and a one-year suspension to Reed. Welcoming back Koepka, who didn’t burn any bridges when he left for LIV, and asking Reed to play his way back via the DP World Tour — a feat Reed quickly accomplished — was an easy sell for a new CEO to his membership. The next one might be more difficult.

With the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund officially withdrawing its financial backing of LIV Golf after the 2026 season, questions about how Rolapp will handle the potential reintegration of players like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm have understandably started to swirl. Where Koepka didn’t ruffle any feathers on his way out, DeChambeau was the lead plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, while Rahm’s 2023 exit brought the slow-moving unification process to a virtual halt. Those two might be harder sells for Rolapp should he have to make them. But that day hasn’t arrived yet.

On Friday, Rolapp went on The Rich Eisen Show and admitted that the PGA Tour has had talks with some players who are trying to get a sense of what the future might hold.

“I think it’s natural that there’s a lot of people trying to figure out what their future might look like,” Rolapp said. But overall, the PGA Tour is not focused on what a road back for LIV players would look like if the league folds. Not yet.

“The good news is we don’t have to [balance management’s wants vs. membership’s desires right now],” Rolapp said. “I know what you know. I know what I read. I know what I see. LIV has talked about having funding until the end of their season. I think they are working hard to figure out what life is after that. The reality is all of their guys are under contract. Until they are not under contract, it’s not really an issue we need to worry about. So we’re not really spending time a lot of time thinking about it honestly. We’re spending most of our time talking about our future and how we make the Tour better.” 

Ever since he took over, Rolapp has been consistent in his belief that he wants to do what’s best for the PGA Tour. But he acknowledges that while he isn’t scarred from golf’s great fracturing, many of his members are. That’s something he has to take into account should LIV fold and players seek a way back.

“There’s a reality that we have a membership,” Rolapp told Eisen. “Anything we do to make the PGA Tour better, we need to balance that with the interest of our current golfers.”

This week at LIV Virginia, Rahm noted that he doesn’t see a way out of his contract with LIV and that it isn’t currently at the forefront of his mind as the rebel league tries to secure funding for life beyond 2026. DeChambeau spoke with several outlets, including ESPN and Sports Illustrated, and admitted his team has spoken to the PGA Tour, but he wouldn’t divulge the nature of those conversations. The two-time U.S. Open champion said that he has a plan should a path back to the PGA Tour not work out.

“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau said. His YouTube channel has 2.7 million subscribers. “I would love to. I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.”

DeChambeau, whose contract with LIV ends after 2026, later told Skratch that he knows a potential path back to the PGA Tour will only materialize if the membership gives it the OK.

“I think there’s a way to solve any problem. It’s really about if the membership wants me back and if they just want me back. That’s what it’s about,” DeChambeau told Skratch. “I don’t even think it’s [PGA Tour CEO] Brian Rolapp or anybody like one of the top executives, it’s really if the players want me back and if not, then I understand that.”

DeChambeau also told Skratch that the PGA Tour’s policy governing players’ creation of social media content at tournaments was one of the biggest issues preventing his Tour comeback. While that policy reportedly is being tweaked, it’s clear that DeChambeau’s interests and the PGA Tour’s might not align.

For Rolapp, his job is to put together the best Tour — one that includes the world’s best golfers who are committed to the vision and plan he and the PGA Tour are putting together as they begin their for-profit era. What that vision looks like won’t be for everyone.

“The PGA Tour may not be for everybody,” Rolapp told Eisen, speaking broadly about hypothetically reintegrating LIV players. “What we are building, I’m really excited about, our members are excited about, our fans are excited about. It may not excite some people. … We ultimately want people who are really excited about what we are building. I think, over time, we’ll just see how that plays out.” 

While LIV’s future and the future of its players are up in the air, what is clear is that the Returning Members Program that was offered to Koepka — the one that DeChambeau, Rahm and Cam Smith turned down — isn’t coming back. That door is closed. The path Reed took back via the DP World Tour could be open for players who, like Reed, resigned their membership on the way out and didn’t break any PGA Tour regulations. For others who did not, they’ll be at the mercy of Rolapp and the membership. Whether or not they choose to open additional doors in the future will be decided when the time comes.

“We were clear that when it comes to the [Returning Member Program], that was a particular program for that specific time that has gone away,” Rolapp said. “We’ll react when we have to react, depending on the circumstances. For us, it’s business as usual until the dust settles.”