It was meant to be their moment.
The Iron Heads picked January 12 to introduce its bold new identity as Korean Golf Club, drawing on the global momentum of K-culture, emphasising honour, inclusivity and collective strength.
LIV Golf was supposed to present a thrilling new brand to the league in 2026, marking a bright new beginning of hope. Alas, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh.
About three hours before this launch, the PGA Tour selfishly decided to not only announce that ex-LIV rebel Brooks Koepka was returning to the US circuit, but to dare Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith to do the same.
If this major-winning trio do form an orderly line at PGA Tour HQ in Ponte Vedra Beach one day, there is every chance Korean Golf Club and the rest of the LIV teams won’t have to trouble themselves with rebranding or recruitment for much longer.
New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp evidently has no interest in what might make people happy. Brooks Koepka is Brooks Koepka and when one of the most popular players in the game, a stone-cold hall-of-famer, wants back in, he will come back in.
| What has actually happened? |
| On December 23, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka told the PGA Tour that he’d left LIV Golf, and applied to reinstate his PGA Tour membership |
| This resulted in the PGA Tour creating the Returning Member Program, announced on January 12, designed to form a path back for past members ‘who have achieved the highest accomplishments in the game’ |
| Eligibility requires winning any of the four majors or the Players Championship between 2022 and 2025 (meaning Koepka, Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith) |
| On January 13, Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith all pledged their future to LIV Golf |
| PGA Tour fields will be expanded where necessary, so Koepka will not take away any player’s spot from events. He cannot get sponsorship invites and must earn spots in Signature Events through performance |
| Koepka will not be allowed to benefit from the PGA Tour’s Player Equity Program for five years, with the tour estimating he misses out on between $50-$85 million. |
| Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith have until February 2 to make a decision. Rolapp has said, “Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.” |
| Koepka plans to play at the Farmers Insurance Open (starting Jan 29) and the WM Phoenix Open (Feb 5) |
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The rules said Koepka should’ve waited until August, a year on from his last appearance in the Saudi-funded league which he joined in 2022 for a nine-figure sum. Rolapp didn’t write those rules, though, having taken over from Jay Monahan in June. He has written his own which say, under a heavy financial penalty, top players can return to the PGA Tour.
Rahm and DeChambeau are the key players here, you feel. Cameron Smith won The Open on the Old Course at St Andrews, which only the greats can say they have done, and is certainly a needle-mover in Australia where he is from. He is also a Players Championship winner, and a super talent.
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But with LIV Golf on the cliff-edge now that Koepka has left, Rahm and DeChambeau are the people and the brands that have the force to push it off, while Rolapp and Tiger Woods, head of the tour committee that oversees its competitive model, watch on from the background.
Rahm is a generational talent, a US Open champion and a Masters champion. He is a Ryder Cup stalwart for Europe and a relentless winner at his peak. He sent shockwaves through the game when moving to LIV at the end of 2023, after telling everyone he didn’t play golf for money and that he had ‘fealty’ for the PGA Tour.
He is a pillar holding up LIV. He is a point of interest for even the most cynical golf fans who can’t bring themselves to watch the new league. And then there is DeChambeau, the player every single fan on the ground wants to watch at a golf tournament, with equal pull to grand-slam winner Rory McIlroy.
Winning the US Open at the iconic Pinehurst in 2024, beating McIlroy to the post, caused a huge spike in popularity. He suddenly became a man of the people having been a polarising figure when on the PGA Tour and when he joined LIV four years ago.
On YouTube, he has over 2.5 million subscribers and has produced vlogs with President Trump, basketball icon Steph Curry and the great and good of LIV’s roster and other YouTube stars.
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Is LIV Golf in trouble?
He is reportedly negotiating with LIV as his deal lasts through 2026, so Koepka has surely done wonders for DeChambeau’s bargaining position. He can either return to the PGA Tour, or ask for a few more 0’s from the Public Investment Fund to prop up what seems to be a tumbling LIV tower, and become the face of it all.
If LIV cannot hang on to its biggest stars, those who genuinely matter to people, the PIF that bankrolls the league might begin to prioritise other investments.
On January 13, on a media day in Florida, all of Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith pledged their futures to LIV. So it looks as though they shall stay put, for now. Rahm and DeChambeau markedly used the words ‘this year’ when assuring everyone of their futures in a press conference.
DeChambeau might have one issue if he ever wishes to go back to the tour. He was one of the 11 players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tour, when they were suspended after first joining LIV way back when. Koepka wasn’t part of that lawsuit, and hadn’t burned any bridges with the tour in his time away.
Having Bryson back would enhance the tour, which is Rolapp’s main aim, but he might need to grovel more than Brooks who says he will speak to players behind the scenes as he reintegrates.
The mood among existing PGA Tour players, and those who turned down LIV Golf, is another factor. Rolapp and the tour have made sure that their competitive livelihoods aren’t impacted, so, while there will almost certainly be some players snarling at Koepka’s seamless return, a chunk of goodwill has been banked.
But, at the same time, there is an assumption Koepka has had to give up part of his LIV signing fee, having left with a year to go on his contract. The 35-year-old won’t be on the streets any time soon, but the financial penalties handed down have been severe, even for someone who has everything. Perhaps a stark indictment of LIV.
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What we should all realise, reading between the lines, is that February 2 isn’t the real deadline. There was enough vague language in Rolapp’s statement to suggest that although a marker has been laid down, his office door will almost certainly be open throughout this year, and in the future.
“Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again,” it read.
“We will continue to aggressively pursue anything that enhances the fan experience and makes the PGA Tour stronger.”
If Rahm wants another year with LIV and then fancies a PGA Tour reunion, that will make the PGA Tour stronger in 2027, and the same can be said of DeChambeau and Smith.
Rolapp and the tour have identified the gunmen. It is up to them when they pull the trigger.
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Is LIV Golf in trouble? Is LIV Golf in trouble to the point where it could go away in the near future? Does this Brooks Koepka LIV Golf news mean the other stars will follow? Tell us on X!
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