For every multi-million dollar contract signed with LIV Golf, there was an implicit gamble on its future. With that future now in question, the PGA Tour holds all the cards, and its CEO, Brian Rolapp, just hinted at how he might play his hand.

“I’ve always said on this subject that I’m interested in doing whatever makes the PGA Tour better. Fans want the best players playing together. I’ve always said that from day one when I took the job. Having said that, I don’t know what the circumstances are. Once there’s clarity, we’ll cross that bridge, and we’ll get to it. But we’re clearly not there yet,” Rolapp said in a conversation with Trey Wingo. 

“I’m like everybody else, I’m just reading things as they come across. I don’t know what’s going on. It would be premature for me to speculate. So, I don’t have a lot to say. I just see the same stories everybody else sees. And as I’ve said, we’re pretty focused on what we’re doing here and how we’re making the PGA Tour better. That’s clearly where my focus is,” said Rolapp of these rumors. 

Currently, rumors are there that LIV Golf is supposedly losing the Saudi Arabian PIF’s backing. Although the LIV Golf CEO, Scott O’Neil refused to add fuel to these speculations and kept his team’s morale high through an urgent email, many golfers believed it to be some kind of a merger. Meanwhile, Sergio Garcia recently claimed that the governor of PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, was still supporting the league. 

To make things worse, the LIV Golfers’ performance at Augusta National further raised concerns. DeChambeau, Bubba Watson, Cameron Smith, Carlos Ortiz, and Tom McKibbin missed the cut, raising questions about the legitimacy of LIV’s players, as they often score impressively well in their league, with a notable example being DeChambeau’s two consecutive wins.

The best-performing LIV Golf pro at the Masters was Tyrrell Hatton, who finished tied at third, having carded 10 under across 72 holes. However, the inclusion of players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cameron Smith on the PGA Tour would undoubtedly elevate the competition and improve the stakes.

But there was a time when Rolapp and the team offered them a chance to return. However, they unanimously refused.

Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm of LIV Golf previously refused a return ticket to the PGA Tour

The 2026 season began with talks of LIV golfers returning to the PGA Tour, following in the footsteps of Brooks Koepka. The five-time major champion came back under the Returning Member Program.

According to that specific program, former elite players who have joined LIV Golf can return, provided they won a major championship or THE PLAYERS Championship between 2022 and 2025. And apart from Koepka, the eligible candidates were Rahm, DeChambeau, and Smith.

DeChambeau, in a conversation with Ben Parsons of Today’s Golfer, said, “I’ve got a contract this year, and that’s just going to be an ever-evolving conversation. Hopefully, I’m back next year. I’m excited for the potential of LIV. It just has to make sense for both sides, and we’ll move forward in a cool direction if that’s the case. I certainly don’t want to let [my Crushers teammates] down.”

Rahm also had a similar opinion. He told LIV’s Matt Vicenzi that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Meanwhile, Smith claimed that he’d be with the Saudi-backed league for years to come.

However, if they still wish to make a return, it doesn’t seem like Rolapp will stand as a hurdle. All they’d have to do is bear a suspension and pay some fines, but that is only if the rumors around LIV Golf’s future stand true.