Jim Nantz’s CBS Pal Says Quiet Part Out Loud About LIV Golf Stars’ Possible Homecoming

CBS analysts Jim Nantz and Dottie Pepper shared their blunt take on whether LIV Golf’s players should be welcomed back to the PGA Tour. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LIV Golf may not be around much longer. As the future of the oft-mocked league weighs in the balance, longtime CBS golf analyst Dottie Pepper believes its players could use a slice of that good ol’ humble pie—and she’s probably not the only one.

Pepper, along with legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz, spoke to The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig about their candid thoughts on whether LIV Golf players should be welcomed back to the PGA Tour with open arms. Or even welcomed back at all.

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It’s the prevailing question on every golf fan’s mind right now, and Pepper, a former LPGA Tour star, offered her moral take on how LIV Golf’s top competitors ought to return to the Tour.

“The way Brooks [Koepka] came back was with humility and ‘I’m gonna earn it.’ The way Patrick Reed’s going to come back? He will have earned it,” Pepper told Herzig. “But to come back with an attitude that I’m bigger than all of it? Nobody’s bigger than that.”

Pepper didn’t name any specific players who might have an attitude problem, though everybody is likely thinking it: Bryson DeChambeau, LIV Golf’s biggest and most childish superstar.

Nantz similarly stressed the importance of integrity in the sport, as the very down-bad LIV Golf reckons with its uncertain fate.

“[Jon Rahm] left with absolutely all the consequences out there, for the public to know, for him to know, for his team to know,” Nantz said. “You’re gonna risk it all, you can’t come back, and you’ve gotta make a decision. ... Golf is a game that, at its core, leans more on its rules and the consequences than any other game. And I’ve covered a lot of them. I’ve never seen a sport that leans so heavily into what a handshake means, what a contract means.”

“The game is thriving without them,” Nantz added.

Pepper probably doesn’t mean that LIV Golf players should come running back with their tail between their legs, but her words may strike a chord with existing PGA Tour stars who did stay the course despite the once-tempting allure of LIV’s riches.

Rory McIlroy delivered a biting remark on LIV Golf players’ potential return to PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy has long been a vocal critic of LIV Golf, and now that the league looks like it’s on its last leg—compared to the flourishing PGA Tour—he didn’t hold back in his scathing presser comments on Wednesday.

“I’d argue, have they brought value to LIV?” McIlroy said when asked whether that league’s stars should be allowed back.

A perhaps tongue-in-cheek rhetorical question from the reigning Masters champ that answers itself.

“I feel like I’ve kept my position consistent that LIV has never been a good thing for the game. Whatever [LIV] 2.0 looks like—if it even happens—they’re saying they’re trying to be more collaborative and all of that, but this is the best platform for the top professional golfers in the world,” continued McIlroy.

The Scotsman also called out recently controversial golfer Phil Mickelson and appeared to partly blame him for leading the mass exodus to LIV Golf years ago.

“Yeah, were there some things at the start of LIV that the PGA Tour could have done better? Sure,” McIlroy said. “... You think back to the start with, like, say, Phil [Mickelson] was unhappy with some stuff or whatever it was.

“Like, surely that just warranted a conversation instead of blowing the entire professional game up and doing something else.”

Rory McIlroy was asked today if he takes any satisfaction in seeing the potential demise of LIV Golf:

"Were there some things at the start of LIV that the PGA Tour could have done better? Sure. But I think that... you think back to the start with, say, Phil [Mickelson] was… pic.twitter.com/z1eoRLAvri

— Nick Stavas (@nickstavas) August 19, 2026

At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be any straightforward solution to the dilemma of merging LIV Golf’s big-name players with those of the PGA Tour, if it comes down to that. LIV is currently struggling to stay afloat after losing its Saudi-backed funding and will play out the final tournament of its turbulent season on Thursday at The Club at Chatham Hills.

Any LIV star possibly side-eying a return to the PGA Tour would do well to heed Pepper’s blunt reminder: No single player is ever bigger than the sport. That includes you, Bryson.

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