“That was their choice; not mine.” When you ask around the PGA Tour about LIV golfers, you will usually get the same answer as Scottie Scheffler gave. And we can understand the frustration or the anxiety, whatever you want to call it. It’s been two years since we first heard about the “soon to come” agreement, with the first date being June 2023, between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar Public Investment Fund (PIF) that backs LIV Golf. But here we are, with nothing but more questions amidst awkward silences and minor hints. Here are some thoughts for you:

• What Adam Scott thinks: In March, the player-director on the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council clarified one of the reasons behind the apparent stalemate situation is how the two tours “Work in very different ways.” But as the calendar pages keep turning, the questions are only growing. And with that, comes the blames.
• Rory McIlroy’s indirect point: “It takes two to tango. So if one party is willing and ready and the other isn’t, it sort of makes it tough.” And if you’re wondering which “party” is not willing, Scottie might have clarified it multiple times already.
• Scottie’s guidance to media: “If we want to figure out why the game of golf is not back together, go ask those guys. Go to wherever they are playing this week and figure out when the game is going to come back together.” And well, when they did ask, the signs were, let’s say, not exactly clear.
• Phil Mickelson’s take on the merger: “Is it necessary that there’s a merger? Probably not. But it would be a good thing if there wasn’t any hostility.” For him, LIV has already given enough financial backing and creativity to the game of golf. For him, the merger is not required for that. And former LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman is still not fine with the previous treatment of his players.
• Greg Norman still hung on the past: “The vitriol and the hatred was just disgusting,” when the players first moved to LIV Golf. But for Jay Monahan, having some aspects of LIV Golf can be advantageous to golf as a whole.
• PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s thoughts: Monahan, for what is takes, is looking at some aspects of LIV Golf he might want to “integrate” into the PGA Tour. However, there’s the condition that if it “diminishes the strength” of the Tour’s platform or its “very real momentum,” they might not go ahead with the “real” reunification talks.

So, as it stands, the PGA Tour has players who just want answers themselves. And now, after playing the PGA Championship and getting a congratulatory hug from the reigning US Open winner, Scottie is still on the same page.

During his presser on Wednesday at Colonial Country Club for the Charles Schwab Challenge, a reporter questioned Scheffler. “On behalf of golf fans everywhere, do you have any idea where the tours are in terms of potentially merging so you guys might get a chance to play together more often?”

Scottie was yet again very candid. “I mean, I don’t really know. That’s for the higher-ups to decide. I have said it a few times this year. If you want to figure out what’s going to happen in the game of golf, go to the other tour and ask those guys.

“I’m still here playing the PGA TOUR. We had a tour where we all played together, and the guys that left, it’s their responsibility, I think, to bring the tours back together. Go see where they’re playing this week and ask them,” the three-time major winner stated vehemently, clearly indicating some sort of gap between what the PGA Tour and LIV perceive regarding the merger. But Scheffler’s case is slightly different. He is unbothered. Because he had nothing to do with the split.

Scheffler has nothing to prove, and right now, he is a golfer who is miles ahead of any competition. Such has been his domination on the PGA Tour and major stage. If anything, the top talent at LIV Golf needs to catch up to him and prove itself. In the two majors so far, Scheffler has proven himself with ease, carding a 4th-place finish at the Masters and winning the title at the PGA Championship.

Despite his strong lack of opinion regarding the merger, Scheffler had professed previously that the competition is something he cherishes. The two-time Masters champion indicated that despite the PGA Tour being one of the most competitive circuits in the world, players who migrated to LIV would have added an extra edge to it.

Scottie Scheffler misses the competition

“I definitely miss the competition. They got some pretty good players on their tour. I still think the PGA Tour has by far the best players in the world. The depth of our fields and the competition that we have are still, hands down, the best competition that there is in the game of golf. That’s why I’m still playing on the tour. I love the competition. I wish some of those guys had stayed, but at the end of the day, they made their choice,” Scottie Scheffler had stated previously.

LIV Golf’s very first aim when it came to welcoming players was that they should or would be big names in the game of golf, adding an instant spice to its format. So far, the LIV Circuit has 14 golfers who have won a major before or after joining LIV. These golfers have 28 majors amongst themselves, and the list includes six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. There is no shortage of talent on the Saudi-backed tour, which is exactly what Scheffler is trying to say.

“One of the great joys of my career is going up against Jon. He’s a tremendous player, a tremendous talent. I was definitely surprised to see him leave last year, and I for sure miss playing against him. We had some great battles over the years. We had some great battles in the Ryder Cup,” Scheffler further added about Jon Rahm.

Rahm was one of the biggest rivals for Scheffler before his move to LIV Golf at the end of the 2023 season. After Scheffler’s 2022 season, where he won four PGA Tour events along with the Masters, Rahm replicated it by doing the exact same. They would have been slated to compete against each other at a high level if it weren’t for his shift to the LIV Golf. We did get a small glimpse of it at the 2025 PGA Championship.

What do you think of Scheffler’s views about LIV Golf and a potential merger? Do you think that it is on the LIV players to help in finalizing a deal?