Jason Burgos
It wasn’t that long ago that the PGA Tour seemed in serious trouble and was forced to agree to a merger with its rival, LIV Golf, to avoid financial collapse. However, the legendary league played the long game, made some smart moves, and now it seems like the Saudi Arabia-backed league is on its deathbed.
Over the last few weeks, rumors emerged that the Saudi Public Investment Fund was planning to pull their funding of a league that has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since it was founded five years ago. That was confirmed on Thursday when LIV announced the PIF was officially out after this season, and they would be forming a new independent board to seek future funding.
Furthermore, ESPN reported Wednesday that LIV players have already begun back-channel talks on the pathways to the PGA because they are also under the impression that the end is near for the young league.
If this does end up being LIV’s final season, let’s look at eight players we can’t wait to see jump to the PGA next season.
Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau is one of the top names PGA fans want to see return to the tour that made him a star. The two-time major winner is one of the most popular players in the sport (he has close to 3 million subscribers for his YouTube channel) and has been playing at his best over the last couple of years, including a US Open win in 2024. He would be a huge return for the Tour.
Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm left the PGA at the height of his powers a couple of years ago, and nothing has changed as he has dominated LIV over the last two seasons. To truly be the best golf league on the planet, you must have the best players. Bringing the 2023 Masters winner back would solidify that fact because the Spaniard is still among the elite golfers on Earth.
Joaquinn Neimann
Not all the major returns from LIV to the PGA will be proven stars. Before leaving the Tour in 2022, Joaquinn Neimann was seen as a talented young golfer with a lot of potential. However, in the Saudi-backed league, he has become a top name and finished with the second-highest earnings in the league the last two seasons — only behind Rahm.
PGA fans definitely want to see if Neimann has elevated his game to a point where he is not just a top star in LIV but one of the best in the world.
Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson was one of the early departures from the PGA that really stung Tour fans. While the 41-year-old is no longer in his prime, the two-time major winner is still a notable name in the sport and is a player that Tour decision-makers and fans will want to see return eventually.
Patrick Reed
Another player the PGA is sure to target if LIV Golf does close is nine-time Tour winner Patrick Reed. The Texas native is still in his prime and finished sixth in earnings for the Saudi league last year. Reed would give the PGA even more depth and help lift the competitiveness of the Tour back to the level it had at the start of the decade.
Anthony Kim
Anthony Kim’s return to the sport two years ago was one of the great comeback stories golf has ever seen. After looking like a rising star in the PGA in the previous decade, he was forced out of the game in 2012 because his body had shockingly broken down, and he was battling mental health issues.
He has rebuilt his body, mind, and game since his return in 2024 and is off to a strong start in LIV. Kim completing the story and returning to the PGA would be a feel-good moment that fans need to see.
Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith taking the bag from LIV in 2022 was a huge gut punch for the PGA because he was one of the Tour’s brightest young stars after winning The Open and Players Championship that season. While there may still be hard feelings about his exit, bringing him back could be just as important as the return of a star like Rahm because he is at the beginning of his prime and still has all the talent to be a top name on the Tour for the next five years.
Sergio Garcia
A key element of the PGA Tour is having stars of the future, present, and past mixing it up. With Tiger Woods no longer a lock to play on the Tour, and Phil Mickelson being the face of the war between the PGA and LIV, there are few great stars left from that era of the tour. Except one: Sergio Garcia.
At 46, he is far removed from his prime, but Garcia is still a solid player after finishing seventh in LIV earnings last year. But more than anything, having a legend from a previous era back on the Tour helps bring back the roster richness the PGA had before the war started.
