We’re at that time of the year again when LIV Golf start making moves to try and poach players from the PGA Tour.
As things stand, LIV has made some solid additions, if not spectacular ones.
Laurie Canter, Max Greyserman, Thomas Detry and Elvis Smylie have all joined LIV Golf.
The PGA Tour won’t miss any of those players, that’s for sure. LIV’s failure to lure real needle-movers to their setup since Jon Rahm’s move at the end of 2023 will be a big concern for them.
Brian Rolapp gives you the opportunity to make one change to the PGA Tour, what are you doing?
What is top of your agenda?
Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im both turned down LIV contract offers in December, allegedly.
Meanwhile, Akshay Bhatia outright refused an offer from LIV as well earlier this week.
From the outside looking in, it really does feel like LIV is fighting for their survival in the world of professional golf, while the PGA Tour continues to go from strength to strength.
However, the PGA Tour might have an issue on their hands in the very near future unless they make one key change.
One rule change the PGA Tour must make for every player who rejects LIV Golf
Koepka could return to the PGA Tour in 2027 and while there has been no official confirmation that the five-time major champion will actually be allowed back, it would shock nobody if he was.
If the 35-year-old does play PGA Tour golf again, he will have got the best of both worlds in essence – a monumental payday from LIV Golf and a return to the best Tour in the game.
How is that fair to the likes of Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im, who have all reportedly turned down mega-money offers from LIV?
The solution to this problem is obvious.
The PGA Tour should hand out TWO signature event starts to every player who rejects an offer from LIV, unless they are otherwise exempt of course.
There are already sponsor exemptions given out, so why can’t the PGA Tour start giving an extra couple of spots for those who are arguably more deserving than the likes of Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth?
The three players mentioned above are eligible to play in all eight signature events in 2026, but what about those golfers who reject LIV but are actually not inside the top-50 of the FedEx Cup standings?
PGA Tour must reward those who reject LIV
If the PGA Tour offer a minimum of two signature event starts to every player who turns down LIV Golf, there will at least be some kind of reward for them.
Who will win more on the PGA Tour in 2026 out of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood?
Will anyone end 2026 with more PGA Tour wins than Scottie?
However, if the PGA Tour do not take action, more and more players may be tempted to jump ship to LIV Golf.
It seems like there could be a future whereby certain players can indeed have their cake and eat it.
It really shouldn’t work that way, though.
Players must be rewarded for remaining loyal to the PGA Tour otherwise what is the actual point in anyone outside the top-50 in the world rankings NOT joining LIV?
Big decisions lie ahead of Brian Rolapp and co and the PGA Tour CEO has to start making more moves to appease those who have rejected moves to the Tour’s biggest rival.
The other way for the PGA Tour to send out a real statement of intent, of course, is to make it incredibly hard for Koepka to return.
Then that in itself would serve as a reward for the players who turned down LIV moves.