PGA Tour Commissioner Currently Has No Plans to Offer LIV Golfers 'Returning Member Program'

Despite the uncertainty about LIV Golf's future, the PGA Tour is not planning to offer players who left to join the upstart circuit a path back.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp explained the Returning Member Program isn't being considered at this point that would allow LIV golfers an opportunity to back on the Tour.

"No, currently there's no current plans for [the] Returning Member Program like you saw earlier this year," Rolapp said.

The PGA Tour adopted the Returning Member Program in January, citing fan research that showed a "clear desire" to see the best players competing more often and "timely inquiries" from non-PGA Tour players who had an interest in returning.

Under the rules of the program, players were eligible who participated in "unauthorized tournaments", have not been part on the PGA Tour for a minimum of two years and won at least one of THE PLAYERS, Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and/or The Open Championship anytime between 2022 to '25.

Players had to apply for the program between Jan. 12-Feb. 2 and it only applied for the 2026 season, meaning they could not indicate now in order to return to the Tour in 2027.

The program requires participants to appear in at least 15 cosponsored and approved tournaments during the 2026 PGA Tour season. There were also financial penalties attached, including a $5 million donation to charity.

Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith were four players who left to join LIV Golf and were offered the chance to participate. Koepka was the only one who accepted the offer.

Per The Athletic's Gabby Herzig, Koepka's estimated financial penalties could end up between $51-85 million because he won't qualify for the player equity program until 2031 and doesn't receive any share of FedEx Cup bonus money this year in addition to the charitable donation.

LIV Golf's future has been unclear in the wake of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund announcing it was pulling its funding. LIV CEO Scott O'Neil said in a statement released on Aug. 5 that the league has an "agreement in place" with a lead investor and they "anticipate finalizing terms in the coming weeks, with the goal of entering a transaction in September" to keep it going at least through 2027.

The 2026 LIV Golf season ended one week early with an event in Indianapolis over the weekend because the planned team championship event in Michigan that would have been played from Aug. 27-30 was canceled.

It marked the second canceled event on the schedule for LIV this year. New Orleans was set to host a tournament from June 25-28 that got was officially postponed due to what it said was an attempt to "avoid the peak summer heat" in the area.

LIV Golf was founded in 2021 and played its first season the following year. The league attempted to become an alternative to the PGA Tour and signed several top stars away with incredibly lucrative contracts.

Rahm was believed to be the highest-paid player on the circuit with a deal worth $300 million, followed by Phil Mickelson at $200 million and Koepka at $130 million. DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson both received $125 million.