If LIV Golf ceases to exist, every golfer might not have a place to go. Brian Rolapp has made it clear that only those golfers who can help the Tour would be welcomed back, and for others, the path back won’t be easy. Over-50 golfers, such as Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood, might get overlooked by Rolapp, but Steve Stricker thinks they will be a great fit for the Senior Tour.

Sticker told Golfweek‘s Jim Owczarski on June 9, “There are two ways of looking at it, right? Sure, to have the guys that are 50 now, or close to it, like Lee Westwood, [Ian] Poulter, Pat Perez, some other guys [Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson], they would be hits here on the Champions Tour. This Tour could use that. I look at it from that standpoint. Then I look at it from the other standpoint, like they did leave. And I think each case is going to be taken differently from what I understand. I really don’t know.”

“I look at it both ways, and I’m not sure which way is right. I mean, if I’m a tournament director, I would love to have those guys, and we’re in this business right here [with the AmFam Championship]. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have Poulter and Westwood and Pat Perez and some other guys there, too. It would only help our event, you know? But I also know that there are probably consequences for them if they want to come back.”

The response comes amid the tough times for LIV Golf. PIF has confirmed that 2026 is the last season they’d fund LIV, but the latest reports suggest that LIV Golf might not be allowed to complete the remaining season with four more events to play. Amid the financial turmoil, the likes of Westwood, Ian Poulter, & Co. are still competing with younger golfers like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. While they might not be winning, they still come at the top of the table now and then, and this shows that they still have it in themselves to continue competing.

Poulter and Westwood are cocaptains of the Majesticks Golf Club. Poulter hasn’t had many top finishes on LIV Golf. His best was a T8 at LIV Golf Hong Kong 2024. However, Westwood has been a little more consistent. He has had a couple of top-10 finishes to his name. His last one came in LIV Golf Singapore 2026, where he finished 3rd, two strokes behind DeChambeau.

Phil Mickelson is one of the most popular 50+ LIV golfers. Sure, he has been out of competition most of this year, but he still enjoys a massive fan following. All thanks to his 45 PGA Tour titles and 6 majors. Lefty created history by becoming one of the oldest major winners at the 2021 PGA Championship. Notably, Stricker and Mickelson go way back.

Stricker picked Phil Mickelson as a captain’s pick for the 2017 Presidents Cup, and at the 2021 Ryder Cup, Mickelson served as one of his vice-captains under Stricker. At 45, when Stricker cut back his schedule, it was Lefty who told him that he should be out on the course, and the former even praised Phil for his playing aura.

“He’s definitely played a role in some of my thinking and what I should be doing,” Stricker told the NY Post. “Phil’s attitude toward what he’s doing at 47 has made me rethink what I’m doing. It’s infectious. Watching Phil play so well still spurs me on to play.”

Getting the chance to participate in the PGA Tour Champions will allow senior golfers to relive their glory days. Facing other golfers who are 50 and over will be the ideal setup for them to dominate the course.

Even Jordan Spieth believes that the authorities will take the right decision.

Jordan Spieth is ready to welcome Phil Mickelson & Co. back

With LIV Golf losing its funding, everyone wondered where LIV golfers would go, and then Jordan Spieth shared his views.

Spieth told the media, “If there’s a system for Brooks and a system for Patrick Reed, does that stay the same for guys in the same category as those two coming back, or does it change now? Does it change for guys who sued and dropped their membership? There’s just a lot of different things that happened over the last four years for that. I’m kind of glad I’m not in that room, and I trust the guys that are in that room to make the right decision.”

Phil Mickelson and 10 other golfers filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour to challenge their suspensions. The lawsuit mentioned that the PGA Tour threatened golfers with lifetime bans for participating in the LIV Golf Series. Allegedly, the PGA Tour also threatened sponsors, vendors, and agents to coerce players not to play for LIV.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs have “devoted the bulk of their professional careers to growing the PGA Tour,” and the Tour has done nothing but “repaid them of late with suspensions, punishments, threats, and disparagement for merely playing professional golf for another promoter and embracing competition for their services.”

Given the history, it certainly is a tough decision, but what happens in the coming time remains to be seen.