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Greg Norman has told Fox News in the US he is thrilled that Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm have the choice to return to the PGA Tour, even if the star trio said they won’t access a new pathway back for LIV golfers.

Earlier this week, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp and his board made a significant decision to create the Returning Member Program, which five-time major winner Brooks Koepka immediately accessed and will play the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines within weeks. The program allows “players who have been away from the tour for at least two years and have won the Players Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, US Open or the Open Championship during the 2022-2025 seasons” to return.

Only three LIV individuals qualify under that exemption: Smith (winner of the ’22 Players and ’22 Open at St Andrews), Rahm (’23 Masters) and DeChambeau (’24 US Open). Koepka was eligible for winning the 2023 PGA Championship.

The PGA Tour set a deadline of February 2 for the program. However, during a press conference held at LIV Golf teams week in Florida, promoting the league’s upcoming season, DeChambeau, Smith and Rahm indicated they will stick with LIV as it enters its fifth campaign.

Australian golf icon Norman was the chief executive and league commissioner who launched LIV in 2022, until his departure in 2025. Former world No.1 Norman changed the landscape of professional golf and brought his countryman in Smith, as well as Koepka, two-time US Open winner DeChambeau and two-time major champ Rahm to LIV – among other major winners and stars.

Although Smith, DeChambeau and Rahm have indicated they will remain on LIV, DeChambeau said he was “contracted through 2026, so [I’m] excited about this year”. Meaning, there is an option for the Californian to return to the PGA Tour in some way from 2027 onwards. Although Rolapp placed a February 2 deadline on a decision, there would have to be plenty of appeal in having the YouTube star and wildly popular golfer back after LIV’s 2026 season is over.

DeChambeau, who has not yet announced where he will play golf in 2027, even posted a cryptic photo on social media with the caption, “What would you do?” while shrugging his shoulders and standing in front of an exit sign.

Fox News asked Norman, “So with Brooks going back, do you think the others are going to go back? Bryson DeChambeau, I think his contract expires at the end of the [2026 northern] summer?”

“I read a comment this morning,” Norman said in the interview. “There was a, I think it was teams week we normally have on LIV this week is happening, and I saw the captains had a press conference and the three of them, Bryson, Cam, and John Rahm… All said, “No, we’re staying,” which is great. That’s their choice. They have an option, which is what I love; give the players a choice. Now, they’re under contract, of course, so obligation to that, which I admire. You stay committed to your contract and then you have a decision to make when that’s up.”

Fox News also credited Norman with bringing free agency to professional golf.

“Yeah. Look… that was my ultimate goal,” Norman said. “We’re [pro golfers] independent contractors, right? So to me, to be a free agent, to be able to have a choice about where you wanted to go, how you wanted to go, where you wanted to play, I think it was really important for me. I was an international player. Played on the PGA Tour, [and] loved every minute of it. Obviously it was the formulation foundation of a lot I did. But now, Brooks had his choice. He had a choice of where he wanted to go.”