PGA Tour told how to deal with LIV Golf stars amid Saudi tour trouble | Golf | Sport

Ryder Cup-winning captain Paul McGinley has called on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour to show no mercy to LIV Golf stars if the rebel tour ceases to exist. The future of the breakaway circuit has become increasingly uncertain.

As the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) backed rebel tour stages its event in Mexico City, speculation has mounted it’s on the verge of collapse. A well-informed outlet recently claimed a “bombshell announcement” is anticipated regarding the tour – an assertion which did not receive a denial from any LIV official – while the Financial Times also reported the tour’s Saudi backers may withdraw its funding. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil recently sent an email stating, “Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle” but uncertainty persists. Should the tour cease operations, McGinley insisted the PGA and DP World tours must prioritise their remaining members, before rushing to welcome back any defectors.

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Speaking to Sky Sports, McGinley, who guided Team Europe to Ryder Cup glory in 2014, said: “Everybody who went to LIV went with a huge amount of risk attached. They got paid a huge amount of money to take a massive risk, to leave behind the safety net, if you want to call it, of the tours behind them.

“The tours are members organisations remember, so not only were they going to LIV and getting paid a lot of money, they were harming the model that they left behind. At the time, they all justified it as a tough business decision and they made that decision looking out for themselves.

“So now, if this is the case, the roles will be reversed and the tour can play really hard ball back against them and say, ‘Sorry guys, your spots have been filled and we are going to play hard ball in return.’ So, if this does happen, it will be interesting to see what Guy Kinnings (CEO of the PGA European Tour) and Brian Rolapp (CEO of the PGA Tour) in particular have to say about it, if they are going to bring the guys back in again and give them an opportunity.

“As I say, those spots have been filled and the loyalty has to be to the guys who did not go to LIV, not the ones who did take that risk and obviously got paid a lot of money for doing so.”

Koepka made his return to the PGA Tour via the remaining members programme, which required him to donate $5m to charity as a condition of rejoining. The same route was made available to the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, though both chose not to take it up.

Nevertheless, McGinley suggested this opportunity may not present itself again should LIV collapse entirely. He added: “What the players have taken advantage of over the last number of years, not just the LIV players but the PGA Tour players as well, is leverage. Phil Mickelson said that word on the way out of the door, that for the first time ever, what professional golfers have now got is leverage, including the PGA Tour players now.

“I think it’s quite clear that Brian Rolapp is coming in and his job is to try to create more money in golf. It’s not an easy thing to do and he’s got a lot of challenges in that regard, but one of the ways to do it is to cut your overheads a bit and play for more realistic prize funds.

“I’d love to be playing in this era, it’s unbelievable how much money these signature events are giving out, what, four, four-and-a-half million for the first prize and all of the way down with relatively short fields and it’s the same on the DP World Tour.

“We’ve obviously got a very strong underpin with the PGA Tour and the players are playing for record prize funds year after year. That’s not affected by any kind of a downturn in the economy. It’s a great time to be a player but it’s unrealistic and Saudi has created this false economy, so maybe a period of adjustment is needed.”