The players who turned down vast sums of money to join LIV Golf could yet reap the rewards of their loyalty to the PGA Tour.
According to the Times, players such as Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm could receive payments to ensure they aren’t out of pocket when compared with their colleagues who moved to the LIV Golf League.
After the PGA Tour announced its stunning new alliance with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, one of the standout details was the vow to make a pathway for players to reapply for PGA Tour and DP World Tour membership.
This could see LIV Golf players return to the tours they once belonged to, with the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson having already earned reported nine-figure sums for joining Greg Norman’s rebel tour.
It has not been disclosed how much these PGA Tour stars would receive, nor what this payment structure would look like either.
At last week’s RBC Canadian Open, one-time tour winner Chesson Hadley told the media he’d like to be rewarded for remaining on the US circuit, while McIlroy echoed this sentiment in Toronto.
“The simple answer is yes. The complex answer is how does that happen, that’s all a grey area and up in the air at the minute. It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens.
“Removing myself from the situation, I see how this is better for the game of golf. There’s no denying that. But for me as an individual. there’s just going to have to be conversations that are had.”
The Northern Irishman has been the tour’s most vocal advocate in the last 12 months and after expressing his hatred for LIV last week, he also said the rebels wouldn’t be welcomed back with open arms.
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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has also vocalised his intention to reward the players who stayed put, while also stating they made the right decision to reject the lures of LIV.
“I’m going to spend every single waking hour as we move forward here, we finalise this agreement and we move into the future, that the players that have created the PGA Tour, have created this pro-competitive, legacy-driven juggernaut, that have articulated and supported the direction that we’re going – I believe, is going to make it better for all of our players, and loyalty, ultimately, as a leader, always needs to be rewarded,” Monahan told Golf Channel.
“How that manifests itself is something I’m going to spend a lot of time working on. And I think when we’re having this conversation down the road, that’s something I look forward to being more specific about.”
After coming under intense scrutiny since the announcement of the deal, the tour revealed Monahan will be absent from his duties as CEO to “recuperate from a medical situation.”
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