Getty Image / Ross Kinnaird
Without OWGR points or a fundamental change to the way golfers are selected or eligible for golf’s 4 major championships, within a few short years the ‘exemptions’ for LIV Golf Tour members will begin to dry and up realistically, at that point some golfers will seek to return to the PGA Tour if the status quo remains.
Speaking about this, former US Open champion Webb Simpson told Golfweek‘s Adam Schupak how he believes it will all play out. And for the first time, someone with seemingly insider knowledge has named names of who is on the PGA Tour’s list of LIV Golf members who may be able to return in the future.
Webb Simpson started by referencing the recent partnership between the PGA Tour and Strategic Sports Group (SSG) which injects a $1.5 billion investment into PGA Tour Enterprises. Simpson said:
It’s been almost a month since we signed a deal with SSG. And I think it’s fair to say that SSG, the Tour, us players are all in alignment in the sense that we need to have a conversation: We need to figure out what is the game of golf going to look like in two, three, four, five years? We need to figure that out with PIF.
That’s the multi-billion dollar question, right? What will professional golf look like 5 years from now? Will the PGA Tour sort out a merger with LIV? Seems doubtful at this point but anything can happen.
Moving to how LIV Golfers will be welcomed back, Webb Simpson said “that’s where I scratch my head because somebody’s gonna lose here. Somebody’s gonna have to lose for us to solve this problem. Either there’s less spots, but we create a more competitive product, right? Like field sizes, for example of 156, in my opinion, are just a terrible thing.”
Someone does have to lose but if it’s LIV Golf members returning to the PGA Tour it is going to get tricky. That’s when he named names. Saying:
“And so I think field sizes need to go down to 144. So sure, it’s hard to think about taking spots away from guys, but in terms of a path back for LIV guys, if LIV goes on two more years, you’re only left with five or six guys with any kind of exemption left — two of those being life members in Phil (Mickelson) and Dustin (Johnson). And then you got a few guys like Bryson Brooks, Rahm and Cam Smith, who were under a major exemption. So I don’t know how that’s all going to work.”
“That’s where I think as board members, player directors, we have to get on the ground a little bit and talk to players and see how they feel. Sure, they’re gonna be mad at first if we even hint that we need those guys to come back. But what we’re really talking about is probably six players. The rest will have to go to Q-school or if they want to do something on the DP World Tour.”
Of course, how LIV Golf players return to the PGA Tour could happen in a variety of ways but this is the first time someone on the inside has named names of LIV Golf Tour members who the PGA Tour would be willing to welcome back.
It is worth mentioning that of those 5 names he listed, Phil Mickelson is already 53 years old. The qualifying age for the Champions Tour (Senior PGA Tour) is 50.
He’s in great shape but in another 5 years Phil Mickelson could possibly be eyeballing a senior PGA Tour return versus PGA Tour and at that point, he’s dealing with an older crowd who might be more averse to the change LIV Golf brought to professional golf than younger golfers are. But only time will tell.
Read Adam Schupak’s full Q&A with Webb Simpson here.