These LIV Golf stars give telling response to PGA Tour return

It’s been at the centre of the talks between golf’s warring factions that have languished for over 18 months.

But as the PGA Tour attempts to finalise a unification deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf under the scrutiny of the US Justice Department, the thorny issue still remains.

Just how can players who joined the breakaway league be re-assimilated back onto the American circuit they are currently indefinitely suspended from?

That particular question continues to cause headaches in the sport’s corridors of power as we approach the one-year anniversary of the first deadline on which a peace agreement was supposed to be completed.

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However, as the stalemate goes on and LIV continues to plough its own furrow, the uncomfortable truth is that the appetite from players in returning to their old domain appears to be wavering.

That was, at least, the impression given by some of the league’s best performers during their jaunt to Saudi Arabia for last week’s Saudi PIF International, the LIV-backed Asian Tour finale.

Just ask Cameron Smith.

The 2022 Open champ, once torn before accepting Greg Norman’s call to join the league shortly after his famous win at St Andrews, hardly speaks with the air of a man pining for his old life back.

“That mindset for me has been and gone,” Smith told bunkered.co.uk when asked what he misses about the PGA Tour.

“There’s a couple events I would like to play but I’m very happy out here to be honest. I really enjoy my time in Australia and playing a couple extra events this year was pretty cool.”

Abraham Ancer, the one-time PGA Tour winner who reached a high of No.11 in the world rankings, did not have the luxury of a longtime major exemption like Smith when jumping ship for LIV.

But while the 33-year-old hopes of more chances to compete in the ‘Big Four’, he too is not missing the type of fierce competition that LIV critics would argue the 54-hole league lacks.

“If I can make my own schedule and live in my own wonderland, the 14 LIV events, the four majors and maybe sprinkle some events here and there around the world,” the Mexican says. “The International Series events are pretty cool. That’s about it. I would cap it around 23 events.”

So where does the PGA Tour fit into Ancer’s dream schedule?

“If it’s one tour all over the world and it doesn’t matter tour wise, there’s definitely some golf courses that I played on the PGA Tour that fits my game and I enjoy,” he continues. “Absolutely, there would be some events there for sure. Sawgrass, for example. That golf course fits my game.

“But I feel like the competitiveness and the feel of the tour is there (on LIV). I don’t miss that, I miss some of the people and the courses and the camaraderie. But I’m very happy we’re I’m at.”

Talor Gooch, LIV’s top prize money earner, concurs.

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“I’m really happy with what I’m doing now,” the American says. “As we continue to see how the LIV schedule settles and how the majors look, that will dictate other parts of my season. 

“Around that 20-tournament mark is the perfect sample size for me for a season. Especially having a little bit more of an offseason like we’re experiencing now. If you’re going from February through September and you’re playing 15 to 20 tournaments, that’s a good amount of golf. It’s good to have that off time.”

It should not be forgotten that Gooch and Ancer were among the 11 LIV defectors who tried to sue the PGA Tour in an antitrust lawsuit when challenging their suspensions back in August 2022, claiming the circuit was harming their careers.

Since then, Gooch has banked $58million across his three seasons on LIV and has been investing his spare time and money in building a sports team empire.

Ancer, meanwhile, won his first LIV event in Hong Kong this year but, like Gooch, has been frozen out of the majors without access to world ranking points.

“That’s kinda hard to answer,” Gooch admits when asked about his own desire for a Tour return. “I’m not staunchly against playing the PGA Tour. I’m not saying one way or another is better or worse.

“We’ll see how things play out.”

There are, of course, other top performers on the LIV tour who would reject such ambivalence and would love the freedom to split their time between the $25million LIV events and the PGA Tour’s historic tournaments.

In an ideal world, Jon Rahm would play on his old circuit twice before the LIV season kicks off in February, while Joaquin Niemann also asserted his desire to play “four or five” PGA Tour events a season.

An increasing number, however, are just happy to call the lucrative playground of LIV home. Any sense of buyer’s remorse among the defectors is certainly not being inferred as the league gears up for it’s fourth season.

As Smith insisted in Riyadh: “I made my bed, and I’m very happy to sleep in it.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.