Jon Rahm found LIV Golf’s restructured terms entirely unacceptable. Following his attorney’s announcement in federal bankruptcy court, the Spanish star has decided to leave the breakaway league, immediately sparking speculation about a possible return to the PGA Tour. However, the road back is far from straightforward, not just for Rahm but for other LIV defectors as well.
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Several obstacles stand in their way. CEO Brian Rolapp has already made it clear that the pathway that brought Brooks Koepka back to the Tour will not be reopened for other players. Beyond these organizational hurdles, there is also the question of how PGA Tour members feel about welcoming their former rivals back, a divide that Xander Schauffele recently shed light on.
“There are 225 with Tour cards, and if you sat down and interviewed all of them, you’re going to get probably three or four boxes of how guys feel. Some don’t care. Some guys are really ticked off. Some guys want them to have a huge fine. Some guys would let them back tomorrow,” Schauffele said at the Baycurrent Classic in Yokohama, where he was responding to a reporter’s question about whether the PGA Tour and LIV defectors could eventually reach a compromise.
Rolapp has confirmed that the PGA Tour has no plans to bring back the Returning Member Program that allowed Koepka to return in January 2026. The one-time program was open to only a few major champions and came with strict conditions.
Koepka had to give up his Tour equity for five years, forgo the 2026 FedEx Cup bonus money, and make a $5 million charitable donation. With the window now closed, other LIV defectors cannot use the same route to return immediately.
Rahm and the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith did not accept the terms during the brief January window, and that opportunity has now passed. Any LIV player looking to return to the PGA Tour must now serve the standard one-year suspension.
Addressing the divide among PGA Tour players, Schauffele did not take either side. He has not publicly called for LIV defectors to be fined, suspended, rewarded, or welcomed back to the Tour.
“Where I stand in those boxes, I really don’t know. I’m sort of, I try to mind my own business most times,” Schauffele said.
When LIV Golf launched in 2022 with backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), it did more than create a rival tour. It divided professional golf. Some PGA Tour players opposed LIV’s financial backing and its approach to the sport, while the Tour suspended players who joined the breakaway league.
Those who left also clashed with the Tour. At the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, Sergio Garcia was caught on camera saying he couldn’t wait to leave following a rules dispute. Now, with LIV facing financial uncertainty and a new structure offering players less pay but more equity, its golfers may have to consider other tours to continue their careers.
That being said, why does Schauffele want to stay out of the discussions? Well, partly because it’s a diplomatic answer with no safe reply. But it also fits his usual pattern of response.
On LIV players returning, he has mostly stayed neutral. In 2024, he said his guess was that “we would all be playing together again,” and that he had no regrets about playing.
Additionally, when Koepka made it back to the Tour in January, Schauffele said it “helps bolster the Tour”, even though there was some backlash from other golfers.
“I’m puzzled that the PGA Tour didn’t explain anything to the players. At the very least, I didn’t know that such a rule was in place. While there has been a financial hit, what about the non-monetary aspects?
“What happened to the rule that players who participated in LIV were not allowed to compete for a year?” Hideki Matsuyama, who rejected a big money offer from LIV in 2022, said in an interview with Golf Digest Japan.
Similarly, former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark told ESPN in January that he and other players might have joined LIV if they had known they could spend a year and a half in Saudi Arabia earning big money before returning to the PGA Tour with few repercussions.
On Rahm’s exit from LIV, Schauffele was measured. He said Rahm is doing what’s best for himself, guessing he’ll now play on the DP World Tour and wondering whether the Tour has offered him a spot like the earlier window.
The path back to the PGA Tour could be more complicated than simply leaving LIV Golf. Patrick Reed and Pat Perez have already parted ways with the breakaway league without securing immediate reinstatement. Reed has instead returned to the DP World Tour, winning twice in 2026 while targeting a PGA Tour comeback in 2027. Garcia and David Puig have also explored routes through the European circuit
With that in mind, the competition on the DP World Tour has been ever-increasing. Next in line is Eugenio Chacarra, another LIV alumnus with a staple 2026. Add Rahm and Garcia possibly, and those 10 cards get a lot harder to win.
For now, only Garcia’s return to the PGA Tour is a possibility, but Rahm’s position is undetermined. Whether the Tour holds its line or locker rooms three or four boxes lead to a compromise remains to be seen.