PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolup made the announcement during an appearance on Monday’s show. ”pat mcafee show” The league is “considering” possible ways for LIV Golf members to return to the PGA Tour. His comments followed multiple reports last week that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund plans to divest from LIV Golf as it reevaluates its financial commitments over the next five years.
“We’re thinking about it. We’re reading all the same headlines that you’re reading,” Lollup said. “We don’t know what’s going on over there. We know they have a contract and we respect that. Brooks (Koepka) came back on tour because he called and said, ‘Look, my contract is up and I want to go back.'” So, we’re thinking about that. If there is an opportunity to respond, we will respond, but right now we are focused on making the PGA Tour better.
“I’ve said it publicly before, and I’ll say it again: I’m interested in anything that makes the PGA Tour better. That’s my job, that’s what I’m interested in. There’s no limit to that. So that’s what I’m focused on.”
Koepka became the first player to officially return to the PGA Tour in early 2026 after a stint with LIV Golf. The PGA Tour concocted a returning member program out of thin air, targeting not only Koepka but also Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. These players were given a decision deadline and ultimately chose to remain with LIV Golf through the 2026 season.
Patrick Reed soon followed Koepka, albeit through a different route. After winning the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic and revealing that he had not yet signed with LIV Golf, the former Masters champion decided to give up playing with LIV Golf in 2026 and play full-time on the DP World Tour with an eye on returning to the PGA Tour in 2027. Reed, who already has status, is ranked No. 1 in the Race to Dubai and will certainly improve his status if he qualifies for a return to the FedExCup in the fall.
While Rolup wants to prepare for the moment when rival leagues disband, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neill said that’s not the case. O’Neill told staff in an email that the league is fully funded through 2026 and will continue as planned for the remainder of the season.
“Let me be clear: Our season will continue at full throttle, as scheduled, and without interruption,” O’Neal said in an email. “While the media world is often full of speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on our turf. We head into the center of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder and more influential than ever before.”
O’Neal was interviewed multiple times over the weekend during the LIV Golf Mexico City broadcast about the current state of the league. While he displayed strength while in the broadcast booth, he revealed the other side of the coin in a conversation with TNT Sports.
“The reality is that we’re funded through the season and then we work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to stay in business,” O’Neal said in an interview that has now been deleted from social media. “But it’s no different than any other private equity business in human history.”
During an appearance on McAfee’s show, Rolup gave a rare compliment to LIV Golf, calling it a change agent that has pushed the PGA Tour toward improvement and comparing it to “what the AFL did to the NFL a few years ago, and maybe what the USFL did to the NFL a few years ago.”
“Competition makes you grow,” he said. “When you go to competitions, you know what you do well and what you don’t do well. … In many ways, I think LIV has been a boon to professional golf.”
