The PGA Tour Is Playing the Long Game With LIV Golf

This week Tiger Woods revealed that the PGA Tour’s plan for LIV golfers was in the works for a long time. It’s the latest turn in the ongoing rivalry between the tours, writes Bob Harig. Plus, Bryson visits Augusta and Vijay makes a cut.

The PGA Tour has created a path for Jon Rahm and three others to leave LIV Golf and return to the Tour. | Aaron Doster/Imagn Images

Tiger Woods hinted last week that the path for Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour was not in fact tossed together in a few days.

Sure, it might appear that way, given the fast timeline that saw Koepka announce he was leaving LIV Golf on Dec. 23, reapply for PGA Tour membership on Jan. 9 and get reinstated on Jan. 12. That last piece included the news that he will be playing next week at the Farmer’s Insurance Open.

While Woods said he and other members of the PGA Tour Policy Board worked through various issues during the holidays, he also suggested that a plan to bring players back has been in motion.

“We've been rolling through scenarios for a very long time,” Woods said when he spoke to the media on Tuesday night following the TGL match in South Florida. “Ever since our talks at the White House last February to now, there was always ways in which how do we make our sport unified again.

“Is it total unification, some type of integration, how do we do it, where do we do it? Different tours are involved. But this is a first move, which is a great move.”

Remember when the Tour seemed on the verge of a deal with the Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf? PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan seemed confident. There were two White House meetings, and an alliance appeared imminent.

And then it didn’t.

The deal blew up to the point that there have barley been talks since. CEO Brian  Rolapp, who was hired in June, focused internally. It is unclear if he’s ever met with the PIF.

But for there to even be a hint of an agreement, there had to be a plan in place to start bringing LIV players back to the PGA Tour. And obviously it would start with major winners who have status. That’s why Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith are part of the Tour’s new and very narrow pathway.

Negotiations broke down for reasons beyond player pathways. It likely centered around issues that the PIF didn’t like, such as the Tour’s valuation of the league and compromises that it wasn’t willing to make.

Thus, the two entities have gone their own ways. But there was always going to be some plan, even if it was stuffed in a drawer somewhere, for how to bring back and integrate former LIV players.

One misconception remains: one year bans. Those have been applied only to players who never have been part of the PGA Tour and played in a LIV event, including the recent Promotions tournament. That has been widely criticized, but the Tour’s intention is clear: to deter LIV Golf participation from prospective new Tour memebers.

Those who played on the PGA Tour are clearly being treated differently. Hudson Swafford, who last played for LIV Golf in 2024, said he’s not allowed to play PGA Tour events until next year. The Tour said it has reinstated former LIV golfer Pat Perez, who turns 50 in March, but he is currently not able to compete. His return date has not been announced.

Woods has been part of all of these talks and is on both the Policy Board and the Enterprises Board as well as the Future Competitions Committee. He wore his corporate boardroom hat when speaking Tuesday night.

Given the timing—LIV Golf was holding its annual preseason media gathering just a few miles way—it was a shrewd move to have Woods address the issue on the back end of a TGL event. Since he wasn’t playing, Woods normally would not have done those media interviews.

Tiger Woods met with the media after a TGL event earlier this week. | GREG LOVETT/PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But Woods agreed to take a few questions on the issue, and when Tiger talks, people listen.

And right away he was asked about the process to bringing Koepka back. It elicited one of the longest answers you’ll ever get from him.

It went on for six paragraphs, the end of which was:

“That says a lot about the PGA Tour, where we're headed, what we have done, what we accomplished and the players who have stayed and who have supported the Tour. Having another world-class player that these guys are going to try and beat, that's what the fans demanded. That's what the fans wanted for our fan initiative program, and I think we've addressed that.”

Woods went on to say that Koepka’s return only helps the current group of PGA Tour players, many of whom now have a chance to earn equity stakes in the business. In theory, Koepka brings eyeballs and attention that translates into revenue.

Of course, the next step is Koepka’s game. He fell off considerably in 2025, missing the cut in three majors and failing to win a LIV Golf event. But the interest will be considerable either way, and if Koepka finds his form, it will be one of golf’s stories of the year.

Bryson DeChambeau and Augusta

Before the last two years, Bryson DeChambeau’s record at the Masters was hardly impressive. He was the low amateur in 2016 when he tied for 21st. But starting in 2018, when he qualified as a pro for the first time, his results were poor through 2023: he missed two cuts and his best finish was a tie for 29th.

But in 2024, DeChambeau was the first-round leader and eventually tied for sixth. Last year, he worked his way into the final group with eventual winner Rory McIlroy. He had a frustrating final round, but still tied for fifth.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but in both of those years, DeChambeau made an early-season visit to Augusta National.

He did so again two weeks ago, making a Jan. 3 trip to the home of the Masters along with his caddie, Greg Bodine. DeChambeau said he used an Augusta National caddie, as is required, and his own caddie came along to chart the course and make decisions to try and hone in on victory in April.

“I was there just for a day,” DeChambeau said in an interview last week at LIV Golf’s preview days. “I played in October (after the club opened for the season) but that was with a friend. I wasn’t there to grind. We were there to have some fun. But the golf course is in great shape.

“It’s funny, little things can inspire people. This going in January thing has become a little bit of a tradition. Helpful. It’s just to get my mind focused on the task at hand this year. I need to take care of the job that week.

“We just get a better understanding of where things are and get really comfortable early on. You kind of go over the greens, see what has changed, what surfaces and the wind conditions. It’s getting more comfortable and understanding different wind conditions. It’s fun to be there in October and then January gets a little different wind.”

DeChambeau endured a disappointing Masters Sunday last year, but his play at Augusta is on the rise. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

DeChambeau said the conditions were chilly, which he welcomed. “It’s nice to be playing cold conditions because then when it get hot, (the ball) goes forever. That’s the easier situation.”

Throughout the 2025 tournament, DeChambeau lamented his iron play, which he said caught up with him in the final round when he briefly took the lead from McIlroy but fell back, shooting 75.

“I think you always take something away from what happened and just learn from it,” he said. “I know my iron play has to be better than it was this past year. If I get my iron play down, it would have been a different story. It’s something I’ll continue to work on and I believe it is something I’ll have a solution for here soon.”

DeChambeau has not played competitively since the September U.S. Ryder Cup team loss to Europe. He’s spent a good bit of time training and working on his speed, and he said it’s a priority to improve his play on LIV Golf, too. He had one victory in 2025, in Korea, and five other top-10s in 13 events. He ended up third in the individual standings behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemman.

The LIV Golf season begins Feb. 4 in Riyadh followed by an event the following week in Adelaide.

Vijay Singh’s money exemption

World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh created some buzz when he decided this year to use his one-time exemption for being among the top 50 on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list. (He has already used a similar exemption for being in the top 25.) The decision caused some controversy because Singh is 62, hadn’t played in a regular PGA Tour event since 2021, and could take a spot from someone more deserving.

But by the current rules, Singh is deserving. He earned the exemption because he still remains eighth in career earnings with more than $71 million, a number earned well before the current onslaught of increased purses.

The 34-time PGA Tour winner is still ahead of players such as Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele. They’ll likely pass him soon, but the point is the exemption exists for cases like Singh’s, and he chose to use it.

Singh also qualifies as a lifetime member of the PGA Tour because he has 20 or more victories, but because he didn’t play a PGA Tour event in the last year, he is required to go down to the next qualifying level for which he is eligible, which is 300 career cuts made.

Vijay Singh made the cut last week at the Sony Open. | Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

The top-50 exemption has a higher priority and it would get him into almost all regular events on the PGA Tour except for the WM Phoenix Open.

And so, sure, he’s probably less competitive than a younger player who might have those spots.

Although Singh has not been quoted on the matter, it is unlikely he will play a full PGA Tour schedule. If you watched him at the Sony Open, where he made the cut, he was not getting around very well. He withdrew from the Masters last year due to an injury that still bothers him.

It’s quite likely he simply wanted to play that Hawaii event because it precedes this week’s Champions Tour opener on the Big Island, where he can use a golf cart.

At the Sony, Singh finished 11 strokes behind winner Chris Gotterup but he shot par or better in every round and finished a respectable tied for 40th.

We’ll see when he decides to next use the exemption, but it’s questionable just how often he’ll appear on Tour this year.

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