Rolapp will lean on PGA Tour rules when contemplating return of LIV players

ATLANTA — PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp offered a path back to a small number of LIV Golf players at the start of the year with a tight deadline to accept it and a warning that “once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”

It's a hot topic now that the LIV Golf League is done with its shortened season. The speculation is just starting to ramp up on which players might be wanting back, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau chief among them.

Brooks Koepka mutually ended his contract with LIV Golf when he left at the end of 2025, and that would be a starting point now.

“Anyone who’s interested in coming to the PGA Tour needs to demonstrate that they are relieved of their contractual commitments or any tail obligations they might have in that legacy model,” Rolapp said Tuesday. “Brooks certainly did that, and until then, we weren’t really able to consider anything seriously. I would say the same thing here.”

Any path back does not sound like a smooth one. Along with preaching meritocracy, Rolapp brought up rules that applied to the players who bolted for LIV Golf with big signing bonuses. LIV players typically have been banned from PGA Tour-sanctioned events for one year from the time of their last LIV appearance.

“The tour is a membership organization. It has rules. Those rules exist for lots of reasons — for fair, competitive reasons,” Rolapp said.

“Rules only matter if they’re enforced,” he said. “So accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the tour and for the game, especially in a game that prides itself on rules and integrity.”

One of the popular topics for years was looking at the list of players who have earned more than $10 million in their PGA Tour careers without ever winning.

Si Woo Kim is on the verge of passing $10 million in one year without winning. He is at $9,735,444, assured of going over the mark because last place at the Tour Championship pays $355,000.

There hasn't been many last-place finishes for the 31-year-old South Korean.

He has been runner-up three times this year, most recently in the first FedEx Cup playoff event (by eight shots to Scottie Scheffler). He has 11 finishes in the top 10 — only Scheffler has more — and his only missed cut was at the U.S. Open.

“I think it’s the best year for me, like all my golf career,” Kim said. “I’ve been playing so much consistently this year. I haven’t won yet, but even if not win, I still like the way I finished this year.”

The biggest change has been his putting, going to a long putter. It's still well below average — he ranks No. 106 in the key putting stat — but it's his highest ranking in that category, and a big improvement from being No. 161 last year.

“I was struggling with the putting yips pretty much the last 10 years,” he said. “Like shaking hands during putting. First year I got broomstick I won Sony Open after Presidents Cup. Now without the putting yips I think I can play good.”