President Donald Trump has backed the reintroduction of LIV Golf players onto the PGA Tour after the league announced the withdrawal of funding from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
The PGA Tour are currently playing the Cadillac Championship on the president’s Trump National Doral golf course, with LIV Golf scheduled to play on the Trump-owned Potomac course in two weeks’ time.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights from the first round of the Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami.
When asked whether the PGA Tour should welcome defectors to LIV back with open arms, Trump said; “Well I do.
“I do believe that all of the great golfers should be playing against each other.
“I want to see Rory [McIlroy] playing Bryson DeChambeau. I want to see big Jon Rahm playing Scottie [Scheffler].
“They have great players on the LIV. But it’s almost like people want to see that. That’s why the Masters were so good, because you saw everybody together.
“The tour wants the best players. You can’t have the best players if they’re boycotting.”
What do PGA Tour players think of the return of LIV Golfers?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Kaveh Solhekol explains why Saudi Arabian funding will be cut from LIV Golf and where this leaves the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
Play began at the Cadillac Championship around the same time that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it will end its funding for LIV Golf at the end of the 2026 season.
Former world No 1 Jordan Spieth was asked after his opening round about the potential process that could take place should more LIV players want to return to the PGA Tour.
Spieth said: “I’m not sure if it should be the same for everyone. I know olive branches were given out a couple of months ago. Brooks took them up on it. So, I’m not sure what would now change.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean that LIV’s not going to still move on, too. I think there’s just too many unknowns for me to have a good gauge on what would happen there.
“But I think, 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.”
Is there a way back for all LIV players?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Eamon Lynch tells Golf Today on the Golf Channel that a return to the PGA or European Tours for Jon Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau will prove to be very difficult for the pair and that LIV Golf will struggle to continue without investment.
Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir:
“I think we can say with a degree of certainty that no one is going to pump the amount of cash that PIF did into LIV. They’ve spent close to $6bn with very little return on investment at all. Nobody in their right mind is going to finance a failing business.
“The big question is where it leaves the players. We know for a fact that multiple players are exploring exit strategies. They’re likely to play out the remaining seven events of this LIV season and then look to cancel their contracts and trying to get onto the regular tours.
“We can’t paint all the players with one brushstroke There are some players who are multi-millionaires – Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood – who might decide that they’re done with professional golf.
“I think we can say with some certainty that we’ll never see Phil Mickelson on the PGA Tour again. As one American commentator put it yesterday ‘that bridge has been burned, decimated, destroyed.
“Then there are eight players – the highest profile being Tyrell Hatton – that have DP World Tour cards. So presumably the path is open to them that Patrick Reed has taken.
“Then you have a larger category of players who are the rank and file tour players. They don’t put bums on seats. They are going to find their path back a little bit tougher.
“For Rahm and DeChambeau in particular, I think it’s going to be very intersting to see their pathway back. The offer that was made to them and to Brooks Koepka in January was a one-time offer.”
Watch the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, majors and more live on Sky Sports, with the PGA Championship (May 14-17), US Open (June 18-21) and The Open (July 16-19) all exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract.
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
