The winds are swirling once again in the world of professional golf, and LIV Golf is right at the center of the storm. After splashing onto the scene with a billion-dollar bravado and luring away some of golf’s biggest stars, the Saudi-backed league now finds itself at a crossroads. Several contracts with marquee players, including the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau, are nearing expiration. Now, this is raising questions about who stays, who goes, and who might be next to make the leap across the PGA-LIV divide.

It was sometime in May when Johnson’s contract expiration came to light and led the golf world to talk about what’s next for the golfer. During the anticipation, word got out that LIV golf bosses announced that players who would be looking to renew their contracts for the future would no longer be given the huge upfront payments they received before. Dustin Johnson reportedly received $200M in payout, and his peers, Koepka and DeChambeau, received $125M each in 2022. While DeChambeau might be negotiating at the end of this year to renew his contract, the same can’t be said of the other players.

And while the future of these players remains unsure, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil had a rather vague response when he was asked about any new names coming in on LIV to fill the shoes of Koepka and Johnson. “Yeah, not a question I’ll probably answer, but still love your fans and your listeners. Um, I will say this, um, you know, there was a big act of negotiation and, and we stood down for the last year. Predates me. And as that starts to come to finality, it’s likely that we’re going to have to, you know, we have relegation in our league, as you know. So, the bottom six players come out,” Neil said, as Rick Shiels asked him if any big names were knocking on LIV’s doors on his podcast.

Neil hinted at the last six players, including the likes of John Catlin and Max Rottluff, possibly being relegated because they rank at the bottom of the individual points standings during this season. “And so we’ve got to replace those players those six players and, and it’s up to us to figure out how many of those are kind of the next young Josele and, and how much of them how many of them are 20 somes or young 30 somes and, and we’re going through that process now to figure that out,” Neil continued to add, implying that it all depends on the bosses to figure out who is to be replaced, and how many of those are going to coming in from the next generation.

On being asked if players reach out to him directly, Neil responded, “You know, fortunately, it’s a really the golf world is really small, and the elite fields there are really two elite fields now, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Yeah, and so if people are open to it, they oftentimes reach out to me or someone on my team,” implying that if upcoming players are looking to be a part of the elite field in the game, they don’t really have more than two options. While only time will tell what the future holds for most players, Koepka seems to be unsure of where he’s headed once his contract expires in 2026.

Brooks Koepka is unsure of his future

Brooks Koepka may be one of LIV Golf’s crown jewels, but behind the scenes, his commitment to the rebel league is starting to look a little shaky. With his contract reportedly running through 2026, Koepka still has time on the clock—but sources close to the situation suggest he’s growing increasingly restless. Known for his major-first mentality and fierce competitiveness, Koepka’s recent slump has been an indication that he does not seem too happy being on LIV. He is currently ranked 20th on the individual points standings and hasn’t seen a win this year.

“I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does. Right now I’m just focused on how do I play better, how do I play better in the majors, how does this team win, and then we’ll figure out next year and how to play better again,” Koepka said, speaking in light of the talks of the PIF merger.

His recent behavior on LIV and his intent of being noncommittal about his long-term future with LIV have led fans to believe that he is eyeing a return on the PGA tour. But he’s still convinced of where he wants to be and finds himself in a complicated spot.