LIV Golf's Saudi Backing Ends; Star Players Face Uncertain Return to PGA Tour

Key facts

• Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is withdrawing funding from LIV Golf after 2026.
• Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour via the 'Returning Member Program,' a performance-based pathway for major winners from 2022-2025.
• Only three LIV players qualified for the program: Cam Smith, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau; all declined.
• The PGA Tour has indicated the Returning Member Program will not be renewed.
• Eleven LIV players who joined the antitrust suit against the PGA Tour face additional scrutiny upon return.
• Jon Rahm's Ryder Cup eligibility for 2027 runs through the DP World Tour, where his membership reinstatement is in dispute.
• Bryson DeChambeau sought a new deal from $300 million contract; LIV did not engage.
• PIF has invested over $5 billion in LIV since 2022 with no path to profitability or major TV rights deal.

LIV Golf's Financial Collapse Triggers Exodus Talks

LIV Golf is losing its financial backing from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a development that has prompted representatives for multiple LIV players to contact the PGA Tour about a potential return. The PGA Tour has confirmed that a path back exists, but the conditions will be considerably more restrictive than those granted to Brooks Koepka earlier this year. PIF has reportedly committed in excess of $5 billion to LIV since its 2022 launch, with limited evidence of a path to profitability and no meaningful television rights deal in a major market. LIV is set to inform players and staff as early as Thursday that PIF is withdrawing its funding after 2026, and one of the remaining scheduled LIV events has already been postponed. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has signaled that, should a future exist for LIV, it may not look like the present. The league's ability to secure replacement capital remains an open question, with any prospective investor inheriting a venture that the world's most aggressive sovereign wealth fund concluded was no longer worth sustaining.

The Returning Member Program: A Closed Window

After Koepka announced in January his intention to return to the PGA Tour following his LIV exit, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp unveiled the 'Returning Member Program.' It was a performance-based pathway for players who had been away from the tour for at least two years and had won the Players Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or the Open Championship during the 2022-2025 seasons. Aside from Koepka, only three LIV players qualified: Cam Smith (2022 Players and 2022 Open), Jon Rahm (2023 Masters) and Bryson DeChambeau (2024 U.S. Open). The window closed Feb. 2 with no guarantee of a second offer. All three passed. A PGA Tour source has confirmed that with LIV's funding withdrawal, the Returning Member Program is not expected to be renewed. 'The situation is different now,' the source said. Even players hoping for the path Patrick Reed faces—a one-year ban dating to his last LIV appearance—may not get it.

Navigating Membership Rules and Antitrust Litigation

The PGA Tour's rules and regulations include different categories of membership, and some LIV players violated those regulations on their way out. Patrick Reed, for example, resigned his membership; others never officially did. As a result, the tour will sort returning LIV players into separate categories, such as former members, and those who never played or held status on the tour at all. The 11 players who joined the antitrust suit against the PGA Tour are expected to face additional scrutiny. That group includes DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch and Ian Poulter. Resentment over the litigation persists within the membership. 'I don’t necessarily have scar tissue, but there are plenty of people around our tour who do,' Rolapp said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. 'It has to be accounted for in some shape or form.'

Rahm and DeChambeau: Two Complicated Cases

Jon Rahm is in an ongoing dispute over membership reinstatement on the DP World Tour, an impasse that has added meaning given that his 2027 Ryder Cup eligibility runs through the European circuit. The DP World Tour has been working to find him a path back, although Rahm has not made that easy. At the Masters he was unapologetic and gave no indication of softening his position. The view from PGA Tour players and from Ponte Vedra is narrow and consistent: Rahm's exit at the end of 2023 may have prolonged the conflict by a full year. LIV was on the ropes; the framework agreement was advancing. Then Rahm crossed over, delivered the Saudi circuit the validation it was running out of time to find, and the tour was caught flat-footed. Should LIV collapse in 2027, Rahm's only option may be a humbled return to the DP World Tour—assuming a door is still open at all. Bryson DeChambeau's situation is more complicated. In the weeks before the Masters, his representatives approached LIV about a new deal. He remains LIV's most prominent figure—one of the most recognizable players in the sport and, by most measures, its most commercially valuable. Sources say DeChambeau was seeking a figure well above $300 million contract; LIV did not engage at that level.

DeChambeau's Shifting View and Conditional Openness

In recent months, DeChambeau has been noncommittal about his future, saying that his current deal runs through year's end and tepidly noting 'as long as LIV is here, I would figure out a way for it to make sense.' He was, at one stage, an enthusiastic supporter of the league. Sources say his view has shifted, and that he now regards LIV as having underdelivered on its initial vision. A return to the PGA Tour, the antitrust litigation aside, also presents complications. He has previously described feeling out of place there, restricted by regulations he found at odds with his approach. He is reportedly open to the changes Rolapp has introduced—and earlier this month that DeChambeau’s representatives have reached out to explore his options—though that openness is conditional. Both Rahm and DeChambeau were offered a defined pathway back through the Returning Member Program and elected not to take it. Readmitting them now—not because they have reconsidered the benefits of the tour, as Koepka did, but because LIV's collapse has eliminated their alternatives—would carry a different meaning than a routine reinstatement.

Precedent and Authority at Stake for PGA Tour Leadership

A PGA Tour that includes Rahm and DeChambeau is, on competitive merits, a stronger product. Both rank among the most accomplished players of their generation, and their presence in fields would meaningfully affect ratings, sponsor interest, and the depth of marquee events. Officials around Rolapp recognize that. They also recognize the difficulty of the position. With significant structural changes to the PGA Tour's schedule, governance and competitive model still being finalized, the precedent matters. Internally, there is concern that such a move would signal the tour is willing to revise its own framework under pressure. It’s an impression Rolapp can ill afford as he attempts to consolidate authority and credibility in the early stages of his tenure. The path off the LIV roster may not move as quickly as the path onto it once did. In the interim, there is the potential that LIV contracts may go unfulfilled, more events may be reduced or canceled outright, and that players weighing a return to the PGA Tour or DP World Tour will be doing so against a closing window.

The bottom line

• PIF is ending its funding of LIV Golf after 2026, with over $5 billion invested and no profitability in sight.
• The PGA Tour's Returning Member Program, which offered a pathway for major winners, has expired and will not be renewed.
• Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, who declined the program, now face uncertain and potentially more restrictive terms for return.
• Eleven LIV players involved in the antitrust suit against the PGA Tour will face additional scrutiny upon reapplication.
• Rahm's Ryder Cup eligibility is tied to the DP World Tour, where his membership reinstatement remains unresolved.
• DeChambeau has expressed disappointment with LIV's underdelivery and is exploring options, but his return to the PGA Tour is complicated by past litigation and personal reservations.