With the 2025 golf season done and dusted and 2026 on the horizon, the world of men’s professional golf remains fractured, with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf making little progress toward reunifying the sport.
Recently, both Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau cast doubt on the possibility of a deal being finalized in the coming months. LIV is full steam ahead as its fifth season nears. The breakaway league recently decided to move to 72 holes and is hopeful it will soon be OWGR-accredited. The PGA Tour, meanwhile, is in the early stages of reshaping itself under new CEO Brian Rolapp.
The grand reunification of men’s professional golf appears to be on the back burner for now. But there is one looming question that might hold the key to unlocking the path for the game to come back together. What is the pathway back to the PGA Tour for those who went to LIV?
2 LIV Golf stars won in 2025. Their reward was major questions to answer in 2026
While none of the big names who left for LIV have tried to return to the PGA Tour yet, rumors have swirled about Brooks Koepka’s future with the breakaway league for over a year. Early last year, Fred Couples suggested that Koepka was preparing to exit LIV and return to the PGA Tour. Earlier this month, Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter reported that Koepka might sit out the 2026 LIV season to serve a 12-month PGA Tour suspension before returning.
The rumors swirling about Koepka’s future illustrate how important it is for the PGA Tour to figure out a pathway back. The decision is above Justin Thomas’ “pay grade,” but he hopes it’s sorted out soon so the best players can finally play under one umbrella again.
“I think a lot of us, I think even LIV included, just like the tour players are over this, and we just want a scenario or situation where we’re all playing,” Thomas told Trey Wingo on the Straight Facts Homie podcast.”Of course, they have so many great players, and the top players in the world. So, why wouldn’t we want them? I don’t know what that path back looks like. I think it’d be nice to figure out whatever that is.
“Hopefully, sooner rather than later, there’s something that happens, just for the betterment of everybody wanting to watch golf,” Thomas continued. “I think the noise is at least settled of how bad it was a couple years ago or whatever. But, I’m sure, some of those guys, maybe didn’t go how they had planned or how they had hoped, to where I’m sure you’re looking, like how bad Jon Rahm would love to be playing Torrey Pines and Riviera and The Players and stuff like that. I think he’s even said that. I’m not sure what that looks like, but hopefully, you know, it it can look like something at some point, right?”
In August, Rolapp, who was then 22 days into the job, said he had not yet spoken to anyone from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund about reunification.
“I think my primary focus is going to be on strengthening the Tour, and blank sheet of paper means blank sheet of paper. Whatever does that, I’ll pursue aggressively. That’s how I view it,” Rolapp said.
“I’m going to focus on what I can control. I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA Tour. I think there’s a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I’m going to lean into that and strengthen that. I will also say that to the extent we can do anything that’s going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we’ll do that, and I’m interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.”
In November, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said he and Rolapp had discussed the future of golf and were on the same page. However, he gave no indication that a merger was close.
“Generally we have a common view on what could be or should be the landscape of golf over the next several years,” O’Neil said at Sportico’s Invest in Sports Conference. “There’s an opportunity for the whole golf world to come together and grow this pie.”
At least for now, it appears the two tours are content to sail in their separate directions.
The PGA Tour season will begin at the Sony Open on January 15-18. LIV will begin its season in Riyadh on February 4-7.
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