AUSSIE GOLF STAR CAMERON SMITH BREAKS HIS SILENCE ON A POTENTIAL RETURN TO THE PGA TOUR
Cameron Smith has joined Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm in flatly denying that he could apply to rejoin the PGA Tour.
Speculation had been bubbling that LIV stars Smith, DeChambeau and Rahm could follow Brooks Koepka and reapply for membership with the PGA Tour through the newly announced Returning Member Program.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s latest venture included conditions that meant that players who had won a major before 2022 or those who had won The Players' Championship, are eligible to participate in the program.
The careful wording of the program means that the policy applies to the aformentioned players, who, like Koepka, would only be able to return under special restrictions that include multiple financial penalties.
The trio have until February 2 to take up the offer, with Rolapp stating that this was a ‘one-time, defined window’, before adding that there were ‘no promises that this path will be available again’. Interestingly, the deadline for their applications comes two days before LIV commences its 2026 season at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia.
Tiger Woods revealed on Tuesday night during Jupiter Golf Links’ TGL defeat by New York that the PGA Tour had been reaching out to the three LIV players.
However, Smith echoed DeChambeau and Rahm's responses when asked on a potential PGA Tour return, insisting he was committed to the breakaway tour.
‘I mean, I really don't have any thoughts,’ the Ripper GC captain said.
‘I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. But I know I'm here to stay.
‘I'm here to support LIV. I'm a captain of a great team and a great group of people.’
Smith won the Players Championship, Sentry Championship and The Open in 2022, before the 32-year-old Queenslander put pen to paper on a reported A$150million (£74m) deal to join LIV.
He has three individual victories in LIV, notably beating his team-mate and fellow Aussie Marc Leishman and 2018 Masters Champion Patrick Reed to win LIV Golf London in 2023.
‘I'm happy where I am. I'm proud of where I am,’ Smith added.
‘I think we do many great things, particularly in Australia, and I can't wait for this league to keep growing.’
Smith added that he was disappointed to see Koepka leave.
'Is it a shame to have him go? Absolutely,' Smith said of Koepka.
'He's a star of the game.
'On one side, I'm sad to see him go; he's a good friend and it's not good.
'On the other side, I'm really looking forward to what we're doing out here (at LIV).'
While 2023 Masters champion Rahm also added that ‘he wasn’t going anywhere’, all eyes will now turn to DeChambeau.
Questions are rising over whether the maverick US star, who has previously been dubbed the ‘Mad Scientist’, could use the Returning Member Program as a way to leverage a better deal from LIV.
DeChambeau is currently attempting to negotiate a new contract with the Saudi-backed golf league and is contracted until the end of the 2026 season.
On Tuesday, he joked with fans on Instagram about whether he should stay or go.
He published a photo of himself standing next to a sign that read ‘exit’ and featured a picture of a man walking down some stairs. He added a question box on the story, which asked his followers: ‘What would you do?’
The Telegraph reports that the 2024 US Open champion is now expected to have his A$747million (£372m) contract demands met by LIV.
It came as Bryson reaffirmed his commitment to LIV during a captain’s press conference on Tuesday.
‘I mean, look, I'm contracted through 2026, so I'm excited about this year,’ the 32-year-old long driver said.
DeChambeau has, according to Front Office Sports, recently put pen to paper on a new partnership deal with US exchange and prediction market Kalshi, which will see the former US Open champion appear in the TV commercial, social media posts and help promote the brand.
He told the outlet on Wednesday that it could be ‘viable’ for him to step away from both LIV and the PGA Tour and simply work on growing his YouTube channel following.
He was then pressed on his LIV contract, stating: ‘We’re negotiating now and hopefully we can come to a solution that will make sense for the long term.
‘If not we’ll play this year and see what happens.’
Woods: ‘Brooks is not taking a spot away from any player’
Woods justified the PGA Tour’s position on Koepka’s return to the US circuit on Tuesday night, claiming that he would ‘not be taking a spot away from any other player’.
It is no secret that rumours of Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour had been rumbling before it was revealed that he had reapplied for membership last week.
A pathway of how players could return to the PGA Tour from LIV has been debated since the breakaway league's inception.
One of the major sticking points related to whether returning PGA Tour players would be able to simply return to the league at the expense of a player who has worked hard to gain their tour card.
But Woods, who was appointed as a player director on the PGA Tour’s Policy Board by Rolapp in August 2023, insisted that this was not the case with the Returning Member Pathway.
‘We've been rolling through scenarios for a very long time,’ Woods, who revealed his injury rehabilitation was progressing nicely, said. ’Ever since our talks at the White House last February to now, there was always ways in which how do we make our sport unified again.
‘Is it total unification, some type of integration, how do we do it, where do we do it. Different tours are involved. But this is a first move, which is a great move.’
Woods said that the board worked relentlessly through the holidays to find a solution after receiving a letter from Koepka that he wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour on December 23.
‘[We] tried to implement a plan that would be fair and adequate, that justifies Brooks' time away from our tour, the penalties served, the fines if necessary, what the integration would look like on our tour, and obviously the bonus payouts, yes or no.’
The five-time Masters champion added: ‘We're not going to satisfy every player. This plan was created for a very select few players that met the criteria. You know the names.
'As far as his integration, he has the right, I think, in our sport, with our meritocracy that we have on the PGA TOUR, that he has the right to earn his way into Signature Events, and if he plays well enough, he has a chance to earn his way into the playoffs.
'But he's not going to get the bonus pool from that. But he has a chance to earn his way into those fields.
‘Plus on top of that, he's not taking a spot away from any player.
'That was one of the main concerns and one of the big things that myself and the other player directors demanded, that that was never going to be the case.
'He's an additive, and then on top of that, to fill out the group, or if it happens to be in the summer where it's twosomes or if it happens to be threesomes, there's two more players that could get in.
Returning Member Program explained
Koepka is now returning to feature at the upcoming Farmers Insurance Open which commences at Torrey Pines on January 29. He is also expected to tee up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on February 5 at TPC Scottsdale, an event he has won twice in the past.
But given how golf’s civil war has panned out over the past four years, Koepka isn’t returning without consequences.
The PGA Tour announced that as part of his return, Koepka will have to fulfil multiple conditions, one of which includes forfeiting A$7.5m (£3.72m) to a charity, which will be determined by both the Tour and Koepka.
He will also be ineligible to receive FedEx Cup bonuses throughout 2026 and will be unable to use a sponsor exemption to gain access to one of the PGA Tour's eight $20m signature events.
Koepka will not receive equity grants in the competition for the next five years, another major restriction that could cost the American dearly.
Rolapp anticipates the combined financial penalties could set the nine-time PGA Tour winner back between A$75m (£37m) and A$127m (£63m).
The tour further stated that his addition to the tour will not ‘impact any other player’s eligibility.’
Koepka is eligible to earn official FedEx Cup Points and can earn official and unofficial prize money and he must now also participate in a minimum of 15 co-sponsored tournaments during the 2026 season.
Alongside those obligations, Koepka added that he had some making up to do with other members on the PGA Tour.
‘I’ve got a lot of work to do with some of the players,’ Koepka said.
‘There’s definitely guys who are happy, and definitely guys who will be angry.’
‘Am I nervous? Yes. Am I excited? Yes,’ Koepka said, as he reflected on building bridges with those PGA Tour members.
‘In a weird way, I want to have those conversations… I was going to be sitting out possibly a year, and I’m extremely thankful the tour gave me this opportunity.’
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