Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The PGA Tour will not roll out the red carpet for Australian Cameron Smith and other LIV members who wish to return in 2027, as it becomes clear they will have to play at least a year solely on the DP World Tour.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour chief executive, did not need prompting before addressing the elephant in the room. “In terms of where we are today, we are not currently contemplating a returning-member program like the one you saw in January,” Rolapp said.
At the start of the year, Brooks Koepka was allowed to regain his card immediately, albeit with event entry restrictions and a $US5 million ($7 million) fine he had to pay to charity. The same deal was offered to Smith, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as major-winners from the past five years.
However, that trio declined and a few months later they were perhaps left wishing they had not been so hasty after the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced that, after investing more than $US5 billion ($7 billion) into the breakaway league, it was pulling funding from LIV in August.
Last week, LIV went into bankruptcy, with Rahm its biggest creditor. It is believed the Spaniard is owed a nine-figure sum from his $US300 million ($420 million) contract. But as LIV tries to relaunch for a 2027 campaign, its lawyers are trying to get the courts to reject the remaining player signing-on deals.
That motion is regarded as almost certain to be granted, at which point Rahm is expected to leave LIV, as is his Ryder Cup partner Tyrrell Hatton. There will be no instant route to the US circuit, but Rolapp did reveal that there would be a direct pathway through the DP World Tour – but only after a year on the circuit.
The issue is complicated by the fact that, at the end of the next campaign, the PGA Tour is splitting into two tiers – known as the Championship and Challenger Series. And from 2028 there will only be promotion and relegation on an annual basis and these first and second divisions will be kept separate.
The DP World Tour is presently renegotiating its “strategic alliance” with its American counterparts and part of the bartering is how many US cards will be up for grabs on the European money list. For the past three years, the top players not already exempt have earned playing privileges on the PGA Tour, but Rory McIlroy on Tuesday explained why this system should be ripped up.
“I don’t see any reason why a DP World Tour player would go to the Challenger Series,” he said. “I don’t see that as an upward move in your career. I see it as a very lateral move. So it’s just OK, how many cards is reasonable to give to the DP World Tour for the Championship Series?”
It is understood that this figure could be up to five, and Rahm and Hatton would be confident of finishing high enough in next year’s order of merit. For now, the duo cannot comment on their plans as they remain under contract. “There’s a legal process they [LIV] have to go through before a lot of things fall into place,” Rahm said at Wentworth.
Rahm and Hatton are two of six LIV members teeing it up on the West Course at the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship event, that begins on Thursday. McIlroy has been drawn alongside his fellow 2026 major winners, England’s Aaron Rai and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
The Telegraph, London
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