Major champion explains why PGA Tour ‘needs’ LIV stars to return

The re-integration of LIV Golf players back onto the PGA Tour has been one of the thornier issues relating to the sport’s proposed peace agreement.

Right now, the players who jumped ship for the Saudi-backed breakaway league are indefinitely banned from competing on the American circuit.

That has left a divided talent pool at the elite level of the men’s professional game for over two years – and the consensus is that it’s not sustainable.

It is unclear just how LIV’s big names like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm would be assimilated back to the PGA Tour if the proposed deal between the Saudi Public Investment Fund eventually passes the scrutiny of the US Department of Justice.

• Former Ryder Cup star fails to land LIV move

• Rory McIlroy: Why match against LIV stars has bigger meaning

But Lucas Glover believes that’s what needs to happen – at the Signature Events at least.

The Signature Events are the eight showpiece tournaments on the PGA Tour’s calendar that have elevated prize purses and the best fields.

But 2009 US Open champion Glover, who banked $3.6million from his win at the FedEx St Jude Championship during an incredible renaissance last year, insists that limiting access to LIV players in these events would only hurt the PGA Tour’s product in the long run.

“If you’re going to put a top-end event, there’s some top-end, huge talent playing LIV,” Glover said on his Sirius XM Radio Show. “Players that would obviously benefit the PGA Tour.

“If we’re going to have a for-profit money-making organisation, then we’re going to need those guys, and golf needs them too. If that’s unification, if that’s playing head-to-head, whatever they come up with, the best players in the world need to be playing.”

Uncertainty, however, also surrounds how many LIV golfers would want to make regular returns to the PGA Tour in what would be a completely different landscape.

Speaking to bunkered.co.uk last week, Cam Smith suggested he does not miss the PGA Tour while competing in 14 $25m LIV events per season, as well as making other starts in Australia.

“That mindset for me has been and gone,” Smith said. “There’s a couple (PGA Tour) 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.”

• LIV Golf reveals first signing ahead of 2025

• 6 notable names who could win a PGA Tour card this week

Glover, meanwhile, also re-emphasised his frustration that some of the biggest tournaments on his longtime circuit have turned into no-cut, limited field events.

“It should be a fuller field if you’re putting up $22 to $25 million for one of these events, or maybe even more, who knows, but limiting the fans and limiting the TV audience to 70 to 80 players, it really limits the story lines,” the 45-year-old added.

“It limits the drama. It limits the overall competition, in my opinion, because the more bodies, the more golfers, the more competition. That’s just common sense. And on top of that, you take it one more level. It’s better for the fans on site, because then you get golf all day.”

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.