LIV Golf responds to Koepka/PGA Tour news and it sounds awfully familiar

Officials from the LIV Golf League, undoubtedly smarting from the loss of one of its biggest names in Brooks Koepka, felt compelled to issue a statement on Monday that did not mention Koepka or even the reason for the statement beyond reasserting what it views as its position in the game of golf. Some of it sounded rather familiar.

Some of it sounded, well, desperate.

Koepka, a five-time major champion, was reinstated to the PGA Tour on Monday as part of what the tour calls its Returning Member Program. Any major winners since 2022 who play on LIV have an opportunity to return to the PGA Tour, providing they agree to certain conditions, including a sizable charitable donation—Koepka is giving $5 million—and a five-year forfeiture of potential equity in the tour’s Player Equity Program. Koepka applied for reinstatement last Friday after negotiating an end to his LIV contract in December.

Essentially, the PGA Tour’s newly announced program would enable Cam Smith, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to join Koepka and return to the PGA Tour fold. Smith won the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews and then joined LIV almost immediately thereafter, while Rahm captured the 2023 Masters and DeChambeau won his second U.S. Open in 2024 at Pinehurst No. 2.

“From the outset, LIV Golf has championed an open ecosystem and freedom, for all," LIV Golf’s statement, posted on X, began. "Not just for a limited few. One that supports players’ rights to compete across various platforms, reinforcing the believe that the growth of the game is best served when the game’s best players are empowered to seek the most competitive environments around the world.

“LIV Golf’s vision remained unchanged—to grow the game of golf globally—and that vision gains momentum across the broader golf landscape, the capacity to deliver on it continues to strengthen by expanding pathways and opportunity beyond any single institution or interest.

“As the world’s golf league, LIV Golf continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness on a global scale.

“Long LIV Golf”

Implicit in the statement is that LIV Golf might be prepared to take extra steps to keep its biggest stars—Rahm and DeChambeau in particular—while perhaps trying to cherry pick a few new faces from the tour, something it had been doing since its launch in 2022. It’s not a stretch to think that LIV would consider digging further into the deep pockets of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia to retain Rahm and DeChambeau. In fact, that seems likely.

But did the Koepka defection initiate a crumbling of the, ahem, well-oiled structure of LIV Golf? The LIV statement seems to suggest that the concern is there.

Oddly, when Koepka announced that he was leaving LIV Golf, citing family considerations, the PGA Tour issued a simple statement, wishing Koepka well and then adding that, “The PGA Tour continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness.”

To review, LIV Golf’s final remarks are almost similar, as if it copied and pasted the tour statement. “As the world’s golf league, LIV Golf continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness on a global scale.”

The only differentiation is in the repetitive assertion of its global outlook.

Obviously purposeful given how its place in the golf world appears to have gotten a little bit smaller.