If you listen to the large majority of professional golfers talk about the discussions between the PGA Tour and the PIF, it is likely that you will hear them speak of a desire to bring the best players back together.
Golf fans have lost out in the last few years, with the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm only facing off against the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler on a few occasions each year.
From the outside, it does feel like a deal is edging closer. But that is only part of the problem, with the powers that be then needing to work out how the golfing landscape will look once all of the tours are on the same page.
As things stand, it seems impossible for the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour to continue as they are while also allowing the best of the best to face off more often. Currently, both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf play the majority of their significant events in the first three-quarters of the year.
LIV Golf stars make demand before returning to the PGA Tour
So compromise is going to be needed. But perhaps one side is not as keen on compromising as the other. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that some on LIV are not at all willing to face punishments which would allow them to play on the PGA Tour again.
“I tend to believe that on the PGA Tour side you are going to have those players who are ‘butt hurt’. I have spoken to plenty of them. Some don’t feel like those who went to join LIV Golf should be allowed to come back, at least without some sort of pound of flesh. Whether that’s suspension or fine or whatever the case may be,” he said.
“On the other side I have spoken with some LIV golfers and they are like ‘no, they are going to have to pay us to come back’. So you can see the gulf in the middle of that. There is no middle ground on that.”
How Jon Rahm has reacted to being fined following LIV Golf move
There has already been an indication that some players would not be happy to pay fines. Jon Rahm’s hopes of being on the European Ryder Cup team for 2025 were in doubt due to the penalties he received from the DP World Tour.
Rahm has appealed those fines and expressed his hope that the appeal will only be dealt with after the Ryder Cup – seemingly confirming that he has no intention to pay those fines even if a verdict comes before Bethpage Black.
Perhaps LIV Golf players believe that they should be praised for taking the risk. And in fairness, those at the top of the game have clearly benefitted financially from the breakaway league starting up.
But given the astronomical sums many of LIV’s signings reportedly moved for, it is remarkably audacious to argue that there should be no repercussions if they hope to play on the PGA Tour again.
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