The future relationship between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf remains unclear, with talks over a potential merger stalling around the Saudi-funded league’s insistence on keeping its team format.
The ongoing stalemate has fuelled fresh debate about whether LIV golfers could one day return to the PGA Tour – and what that might mean for the sport.
Billy Horschel has weighed in on the possibility, offering a nuanced perspective shaped by the growing pressure from both sides.
Lucas Glover made headlines this week by flatly rejecting the idea of LIV players returning.
Meanwhile, the central sticking point of the negotiations appears to be LIV’s refusal to drop their team format, which they view as a core identity of their brand.
Both sides are holding firm. LIV, bolstered by high-profile stars like Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, believe they have enough drawing power to maintain their position – even if a merger doesn’t materialise anytime soon.
Billy Horschel finds middle ground in LIV-PGA Tour merger debate
Known for his level-headed takes on issues dividing the game, Horschel once again offered a thoughtful assessment when asked about LIV players returning to the Tour – and he made a point that will strike a chord with some fans.
“I have always said that I am not afraid of the competition,” Horschel explained. “I think competition breeds excellence and makes people have to make changes to still be competitive and be the best.
“I have always felt the PGA Tour was going to win out. We have the history, we have the product, we have so many things in our favour.
“So competing against LIV was never an issue for me. I said at the time in 2022 I said in five years I felt we would figure out a way to come back and make it all work and we are 18 months away from that.
“I thought when the deal got announced 18 months ago, it was going to be a lot quicker than I thought. But I do believe there will be something at the end of the day and at the same time I do believe there may not be anything at the end of the day. We may continue to go on our own paths and the stronger organisation will win out.
“At the end of the day there are great players over there and they are still a lot of my friends. I don’t fault them for making that financial decision and I’m happy for them. I just didn’t feel like when they boasted early on they were the future of professional golf, 54 hole tournaments, shotgun start was what professional golf was going to become.
“I was like listen, there are decades and decades that show that is not going to happen. There may be an appetite for that to happen but at the end of the day the way we have always judged ourselves is a 72-hole individual event.
“I do believe there is a window for team golf in some aspect to be successful but that is not going to be the future of the game of golf. So I would love to see some of the guys come back. There are guys in golf that would love to see Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka, even Joaco is playing well, what he has done over there has been impressive and he has always been a talented player. I think guys would love to see what Joaco could do now on the PGA Tour.
“Patrick Reed, love or hate him, he brings eyeballs through playing that villain role. Not that he tries to play it but that’s what he’s been labelled as, so I would like to see them come back.
“I thought a global tour would have been formed and created but I don’t think that will ever be created for the sole fact that American players just don’t have the appetite to travel. They don’t need to. The financial reward of playing in America is enough and I think the loss of history of events around the globe just isn’t there with American players.”
Billy Horschel reveals what he asked the PGA Tour hierarchy about LIV in 2022
When LIV Golf hit the scene in 2022, players who made the switch were suspended from the PGA Tour. Horschel discussed how things might have been done differently.
He said: “I don’t think I have ever expressed this publicly, I may have once, but I asked a question to the PGA Tour executives back in 2022. I said I understand suspending them because you didn’t give them their release to go and play, but if these guys really want to be a part of the PGA Tour, let them have to play 15 or 14 events over there and figure out the schedule and play 29 events each year.
“If they are able to achieve the requirement and still play well on the PGA Tour and keep a card, there is a side of me that says okay that’s fine let’s do that. But there’s other side that understands a little bit of why the PGA Tour did that.
“So I do believe that could have happened but at the end of the day we all would have seen the writing on the wall if they did that for one year, I think they all would have said we will go to LIV and play 14 events and get paid handsomely and do that, which is their prerogative and I have said that from the very beginning.”
Despite the recent debate sparked by the potential merger, it remains unclear whether LIV and the PGA Tour can reach an agreement for the future. For now, it doesn’t seem like something easy to achieve.
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