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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cam Smith have all indicated they do not plan to apply for reinstatement of their PGA Tour memberships, in the wake of Brooks Koepka’s swift return to the tour.
“I’m contracted through 2026, so excited about this year,” DeChambeau said at a captain’s press conference at LIV’s preseason Teams Week.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere,” Rahm said. “I’m focused on LIV for this year.”
DeChambeau, Rahm, and Smith are the only three LIV players eligible to apply for PGA Tour reinstatement under the new “Returning Member Program,” which was officially rolled out on Monday.
To qualify, players must not have been PGA Tour members for at least two years, and also won one of the four major championships or the Players Championship between 2022 and 2025. There is a Feb. 2 deadline to apply for reinstatement.
“I made a decision to come here and I stand by it,” Smith said earlier Tuesday.
Rahm said he wasn’t surprised by Monday’s news and that he had heard rumors for a few weeks about a potential announcement regarding a pathway back to the PGA Tour.
“There’s been quite a few rumors I’ve heard about for a while,” Rahm said. “So, not really surprised at all by any news yesterday.”
DeChambeau has one year remaining on his LIV contract. Rahm’s deal, which was signed ahead of the 2024 season, is believed to have multiple years remaining. Specifics of Smith’s deal are not clear. All are believed to originally have nine-figure deals to join LIV, like Koepka did.
The reaction from PGA Tour players about Koepka’s return has been mostly positive so far. LIV’s Sergio García told Front Office Sports he wasn’t surprised the PGA Tour allowed Koepka back so quickly.
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