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mark schlabach
multiple authors
CEO Brian Rolapp said Monday that the PGA Tour will consider additional avenues to bring back LIV Golf League players who want to return to the circuit.
While reports emerged last week that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is on the verge of pulling its funding, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neill said his league has the support of the PIF this season.
“Listen, we’re reading all the same headlines you’re reading,” Rolapp said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. “We don’t know what’s going on there. We know those guys are under contract. We’ll honor that.”
Five-time major championship winner brooks koepka and 2018 masters champion patrick reed Left the LIV Golf League before this season.
Koepka and LIV Golf agreed to early termination of his contract. He returned to the PGA Tour in January under the Returning Member Program, which allowed LIV golfers who had been away from the PGA Tour for at least two years – and who had won the Players Championship or one of the four major championships (Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship) through 2022 – to return under certain conditions and with no severe financial penalties.
Koepka agreed to forfeit any player equity shares for the next five years, and he will not be eligible for the $100 million FedEx Cup bonus program in 2026. Koepka, at the request of the PGA Tour, also agreed to donate $5 million to charity.
Reed could not reach a new contract with LIV Golf. He is expected to return to the PGA Tour on August 25, when his one-year suspension expires.
“Brooks came back on tour because he made a call and said, ‘Look, I’m out of my contract, I’m ready to come back,’ so we’re thinking about it,” Rolapp told McAfee. “We will respond when we have an opportunity to respond, but right now, we are focused on making the PGA Tour better.
“But listen, I’ve said it publicly and I’ll say it again: I’m interested in anything that makes the PGA Tour better. That’s my job. That’s what I’m interested in doing. There are no limits. That’s how I’ll focus.”
If the LIV Golf League doesn’t get additional funding and shuts down, it’s unclear how long the stars will keep doing so john rahm And Bryson DeChambeau Will have to wait to return to the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau, Rahm and cameron smith Returning members were eligible to return to tour under the program, but the deadline expired on 2 February.
When Koepka returned, Rolapp described the event as a “one-time, defined window” and “not a precedent for future situations.”
Former NFL executive Rolapp said, “I think LIV did what the AFL did for the NFL years before, maybe years before the USFL did for the NFL.” “It’s basically competition [that] Can make it better. I think whenever you get competition, you figure out what you do well, what you don’t do well.
“I think LIV highlighted some things that maybe the PGA Tour can do better, how can we make it better for fans, how can we make it better for professional golfers, how can we make it better for our television partners. That’s a good thing.”
