Brian Rolapp has stamped his authority on shaping the future of the game after announcing Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour on Monday.
Brooks Koepka will indeed make his first PGA Tour start since 2022 at the Farmers Insurance Open having left LIV Golf at the end of last year.
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- Pebble Beach Pro-Am
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- The Players Championship
- Memorial Tournament
But the PGA Tour has not only opened the door for Koepka, but they have also issued something of an ultimatum to a number of LIV’s biggest stars.
In a statement on Koepka’s comeback, Brian Rolapp announced the introduction of the Returning Member Program.
The players now facing a decision over whether to return to the PGA Tour
Players who have won one of the four majors or The Players Championship since 2022 have the opportunity to return to the PGA Tour under the same conditions as Koepka – provided that they do so before February 2nd.
With that, all eyes will now be on Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith. The trio are the only three players who have the opportunity to return.
It is going to be fascinating to see what the three men do. You would imagine that Smith will be content to stay, while DeChambeau and Rahm will have plenty to ponder.
But crucially, the parameters mean that the PGA Tour may be about to exact some revenge on another LIV star.
The PGA Tour has made sure to shut the door on Phil Mickelson
It is surely fair to say that LIV Golf would not have made the impact it did in 2022 had it not come to light that Phil Mickelson was in talks about defecting to the league.
Mickelson is an all-time great. So it was undoubtedly significant that he was prepared to entertain the idea of leaving the PGA Tour.
The six-time major champion’s departure was perhaps the messiest of all due to his comments about the situation. Mickelson was urged to not play The Masters in 2022 by Augusta National members through fear that his presence would overshadow the event.
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Mickelson is a three-time winner of the event.
Obviously, the 55-year-old is in the twilight of his career. Nevertheless, he remains a superstar. So it obviously felt like a betrayal to many on the PGA Tour when he decided to jump ship.
So it is hard to imagine that those at Ponte Vedra did not notice the significance of opening the door for those who won one of the five biggest events of the year since 2022.
Mickelson, of course, won the PGA Championship in 2021.
LIV Golf would not have made such an impact without Mickelson, but he is now powerless
The future of LIV Golf has perhaps never been more precarious. Should Rahm or DeChambeau take Rolapp’s offer in the coming weeks, it will feel like the beginning of the end for the breakaway league.
There will surely be several more players who look to leave when their contracts with LIV expire in the coming years.
But the PGA Tour do not appear to have forgotten about the role Mickelson played in tearing golf apart four years ago.
He may now be powerless to stop LIV’s decline – and face having to watch from the sidelines as the PGA Tour goes from strength to strength.
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