The golf world has been worked into a frenzy after a new program, that creates a pathway back to the PGA Tour for stars who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, was revealed on Tuesday after five-time major winner Brooks Koepka announced his comeback.

Koepka, who confirmed last month he would play no part in LIV Golf’s 2026 season, said in a statement on X he accepted returning to the PGA Tour would come with financial penalties.

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“When I was a child, I always dreamt about competing on the PGA Tour, and I am just as excited today to announce that I am returning to the PGA TOUR,” Koepka said.

“Being closer to home and spending more time with my family makes this opportunity especially meaningful to me. I believe in where the PGA TOUR is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake.

“I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”

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PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp chief executive said Koepka’s decision to leave LIV last month had prompted officials to consider how they handled the issue of embracing players who wanted to rejoin the tour.

The result was the PGA Tour’s new “Returning Member Program”, which Rolapp said would come with “severe and justified consequences”.

“The Returning Member Program mandates heavy and appropriate limitations to both tournament access and potential earnings that we believe properly holds returning members accountable for substantial compensation earned elsewhere,” Rolapp said.

The program is open to returning members who have who won either The Players Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open or British Open between 2022 and 2025. Koepka won the PGA Championship in 2023.

That means the program is also aimed at recent major winners Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, while it excludes the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, whose most recent major wins were in 2021 and 2020 respectively.

That specific criteria was causing the biggest stir in the golf world, with experts pointing out how it intentionally excludes all but the stars the PGA Tour actually wants.

“I was kind of kidding when I wondered if they were gonna write the criteria out to specifically only invite back the guys they really want. And they went and actually did it!! This is incredible. Truly, what a world,” the No Laying Up podcast wrote.

FILE – Brooks Koepka laughs while talking with Justin Thomas, left, on the 15th fairway during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)Source: AP

Author Alan Shipnuck said the move to exclude Mickelson had the handprints of long-time rival and PGA Tour policy member, Tiger Woods, all over it.

“4D chess by Woods, who never forgets or forgives,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, others pointed to the incredible leverage that Koepka’s move gives DeChambeau in his negotiations with LIV.

CBS’s Kyle Porter said DeChambeau is poised to become “the richest golfer of all time”, while PGA Tour insider Dan Rapaport wrote: “If I’m Bryson DeChambeau, I’m going into that LIV contract negotiation asking, with a straight face, for 500 million U.S. dollars (A$745m). If he leaves, it’s over.

“Leverage on leverage on leverage.”

Speaking on the Golf Channel podcast, Ryan Lavner said the deal on offer was a “masterstroke” move by the PGA Tour.

He said that Koepka’s former LIV Golf colleagues now must decide between money and reputation.

“Apart from Bryson, who is a historic and transformative figure unto himself, none of those players are more popular right now than when they were on the PGA Tour. I think that’s indisputable,” he said.

“So they have to make the calculus on their own about what does that reputation hit cost?

“Maybe they can’t get out of their LIV deals and it’s a moot point, however, at least in the court of public opinion, this is what Rolapp is telling these guys: ‘Here’s a mulligan, here’s an off-ramp, you have to decide whether you made a mistake and actually care about your competitive legacy, or are you signalling to golf fans that ‘what I really care about is money. Lots and lots of money. Money you can’t even know’.”

“To me that’s a masterstroke because it really puts these guys in a vice in determining how they will be perceived … I think it’s a real subliminal message Rolapp is trying to send here.” 

Under the program rules, other LIV Golf players who could now be eligible for a return to the PGA Tour would be 2024 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm and Australia’s Cameron Smith, who won the 2022 Players Championship and Open Championship.

Rolapp added that the program’s limitations included a five-year forfeiture of rights to participation in the PGA Tour’s player equity program. Rolapp said Koepka’s absence from the equity sharing program could mean him missing out between US$50-85 million in potential earnings.

Should the figure be US$85 million (A$127m), and all four players take the deal, then the total penalty — including charitable donations — would tally about A$530m.

Cameron Smith of Australia waves to the fans on the 17th green during the final round of the Australian Open golf tournament at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne on December 7, 2025. (Photo by William WEST / AFP) /Source: AFP

Rolapp said Koepka had agreed to make $5 million charitable contribution to a recipient which will be determined jointly by Koepka and the PGA Tour.

Rolapp meanwhile said the program would be open to other LIV stars mulling a switch back to the PGA Tour – but only during a limited window that expires on February 2.

“Other eligible players interested in seeking PGA Tour reinstatement must do so by the time the returning member program closes on Monday, February 2,” Rolapp said.

“This is a one-time defined window and does not set a precedent for future situations. Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”

Launched in 2022, LIV Golf’s emergence led to bitter divisions throughout the sport after a slew of golf’s biggest names left the PGA Tour after signing big-money deals.