The golfing landscape was blown to smithereens back in June 2022 when many of the PGA Tour’s top talents jumped ship to join LIV Golf.
Greg Norman pioneered the inception of LIV Golf, with big names like five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed and talented young Chilean Joaquin Niemann linking up with the Saudi-backed golf league.
Since then, a merger between LIV and the PGA Tour has been mooted, but no agreement is in sight right now.
In fact, it has been claimed that a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV will never actually get done.
If that does end up being the case, it will be a huge shame for fans of the game, as we will never get to see the best players in the world compete against each other outside of the four major championships.
The formation of LIV Golf has caused a huge divide in the game.
Back in 2022 Rory McIlroy predicted that the LIV Golf league would fail, but in fairness to the Saudi-backed outfit, they are clearly not going anywhere.
However, there is one big problem they face, and it centers around world ranking points.
Three LIV players have proven a PGA Tour return could be possible
Back in July, LIV submitted a fresh application to obtain world ranking points for their tournaments.
An answer has not yet been provided as to whether they will be successful in their request.
However, if they are unsuccessful in their demand for world rankings points, they could lose some of their best players.
Three LIV golfers in particular have proven over the past few weeks that they could well jump ship and make a possible return to the PGA Tour at some point in the near future.
Koepka, Reed and Niemann have all shown their commitment to climb the world rankings by competing on the DP World Tour.
Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau are obvious exceptions to the rule here as they are preparing for the Ryder Cup next week.
But while the likes of Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Sergio Garcia and Cameron Smith have been relaxing at home, Koepka, Reed and Niemann have been competing in Europe.
Koepka is currently playing in the FedEx Open de France – his third DP World Tour event in a row, while Reed played in the Irish Open and at the BMW PGA Championship.
Meanwhile, Niemann was part of the BMW PGA field as well and recorded a respectable top-20 finish.
It’s very clear where the intentions of those three players lie. If LIV don’t manage to acquire world ranking points, the trio mentioned above could well be the first to try and return to the PGA Tour.
But would that even be possible?
When LIV players could possibly return to the PGA Tour
Former PGA Tour and LIV player Hudson Swafford recently claimed that he is currently serving a five-year ban after he decided to join the Saudi-backed league a few years ago.
It’s unclear whether Koepka, Reed and Niemann were handed bans of the same length, but it’s fair to assume that they were.
If that is indeed the case, all three will be able to return to the PGA Tour, but not until midway through the 2027 season.
That said, Koepka, Reed and Niemann are all bigger names than Swafford, so perhaps the PGA Tour would be more open to welcoming them back sooner than 2027.
The future of the sport is quite obviously up in the air at the moment, and nobody really knows how the golfing landscape will look in one or two years’ time.
However, the outcome of LIV’s attempts to obtain world ranking points will have a huge role to play in whether they are able to keep their best players and, indeed, attract new ones.
Koepka, Reed and Niemann have all proven over the past few weeks that they are all still very hungry to prove themselves at the very highest level, and it would be no surprise to see any of them return to the PGA Tour within the next couple of years.
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