The PGA Tour found itself in a unique position ahead of the 2026 season with a number of former players leaving LIV Golf and seeking a return.
Of course, the headline news concerned Brooks Koepka‘s decision to leave LIV Golf in December. Koepka was offered the chance to make an immediate return to the PGA Tour having won the PGA Championship in 2023.
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Meanwhile, Patrick Reed will be able to tee it up in PGA Tour events from August. The 2018 Masters champion does not qualify for the Returning Member Program, so is unable to play within a year of his most recent LIV event.
Pat Perez, however, will not be able to play again on the PGA Tour until the start of 2027.
Pat Perez explains why he cannot play on the PGA Tour until 2027
Perez joined LIV in 2022 before continuing to play over the next two seasons. He spent 2025 as a broadcaster with the league, which makes his penalty seem particularly harsh.
But speaking to Subpar, Perez explained the reason why he cannot return to the tour in August.
“So those guys resigned from the tour. I didn’t resign because I didn’t want to resign. I just didn’t know exactly what was going to happen,” he said.
“The way I looked at it was if you resigned from the tour, that means they’re going to have to reinstate you at some point. They don’t actually have to do that, and the way it looked at that point, it didn’t look like they were ever going to do that, or want to do that. So I just thought, you know what, I won’t resign, I’ll let it go.
“But then finding out when I didn’t sign the papers you sign every year in ’23, you were already not a member. So I’m actually paying the penalty for playing those tournaments.
“Those guys resigned, so they don’t face any penalty because they weren’t members. It’s like this loophole type thing where you resign and now you don’t face any penalties because you fall into this non-member category, but then you get to come back.
“They basically told me if you had resigned, you’d be able to play in August.”
The PGA Tour had to dig their heels in somewhere after welcoming Brooks Koepka back
It does appear to be an unfair situation. While the PGA Tour appears to have handled Koepka’s return as well as possible, it is difficult to argue with the idea that they have worked harder to make sure the biggest stars are able to return.
Perez is in the twilight of his career and largely focused on playing on PGA Tour Champions. So it would have done the PGA Tour little harm to allow him to play in the fall events.
While it was a good dilemma to have, the PGA Tour put itself in a difficult position. It is right that they send a message to those who jumped to LIV. But the opportunity to bring Koepka back was clearly too good to turn down.
Unfortunately, that appears to mean that there is less opportunity for leniency when it comes to players in Perez’s tier.
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