LOS CABOS, Mexico — Four words summed up Erik van Rooyen's feelings about the future of former LIV Golf players:
"Go back to Q-school."
The 2023 World Wide Technology Championship winner did not mince words Thursday when asked about the collapse of LIV Golf and whether players who defected from the PGA Tour, or DP World Tour for that matter, should be allowed an easy path back.
"We were told initially that if you played LIV, you would be banned from the PGA Tour, and the story just kept changing," van Rooyen said. "They gave the finger to the Tour. If you're that good, go get it done."
His comments reflected a sentiment shared by several players competing at this week's
FedEx Cup Fall event at El Cardonal at Diamante, where the news of LIV Golf's financial demise became a major topic of conversation.
On Thursday, LIV Golf confirmed in court that it would shut down and liquidate its remaining assets after B.C. Partners withdrew from a proposed $300 million investment that had been intended to keep the league afloat and facilitate its restructuring.
The timing wasn't lost on some players. LIV's demise came during a PGA Tour event that was itself uprooted by the Saudi-backed league's arrival. The World Wide Technology Championship moved to Los Cabos after Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, chose the wrong horse to partner with in LIV Golf.
For the South African van Rooyen, any return to the PGA Tour should come with consequences.
"I have nothing against those players, but if I went home and played the Sunshine Tour for three or four years, I'm not being welcomed back with my old spot on the PGA Tour," he said.
Colombian veteran Camilo Villegas, a player director on the Tour policy board, acknowledged the issue would require careful consideration, especially given the long-term implications for the Tour.
"We've got a board meeting in a couple of weeks. I have my opinions, but it's not the time to share them," Villegas said.
While Villegas was non-committal, fellow player director Adam Scott, who is competing this week in the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, fell in the van Rooyen camp.
“I think the fairest thing is that they all re-establish themselves in the system that they want to go to,” Scott said. “They left and gave up those privileges. So, you know, I think they should re-qualify themselves.”
Lucas Glover, the Player Advisory Council chairman, will join the Tour Policy Board as a player director next year, and he struck a more measured tone, recognizing both the personal and professional fallout from LIV Golf's collapse.
"A lot of people lost their jobs, people with families and bills to pay, so, from a human being standpoint, it sucks," Glover said. "From a golf standpoint, it kind of sucks for the guys that committed to that, but the writing has been on the wall for a couple of months. With the guys that left, it was going to be a tough sell."
Still, Glover made clear that any return should not be automatic.
"I do think penalties need to be served," he said. "I don't know what the stipulations will be. I'm not sure the Tour does, either. I'm not being coy about it. I just don't know, and I don't think they do either."
Asked whether he would welcome stars such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm back to the PGA Tour, Glover didn't hesitate.
"If they meet the criteria to come back, sure," he said. "It makes the Tour more appealing."
Peter Malnati offered perhaps the bluntest assessment of why LIV Golf ultimately failed.
"It didn't take too much to see that that wasn't a viable economic model," Malnati said.
He also questioned the league's original intentions.
"If their goal was truly to be additive to the golf space, they went about it in a strange way," adding, "If their goal was to be disruptive, they did a heck of a job."
Malnati believes the Tour emerged stronger despite the upheaval created by LIV's challenge.
"The PGA Tour emerged from what was truly an existential battle in a position where I think we are stronger now than we were before LIV came around," he said.
He acknowledged that the Tour's response came with its own financial costs but argued that leadership ultimately found a more sustainable path through difficult decisions and long-term planning.
Now, with LIV Golf headed for liquidation, men's professional golf appears poised to enter another defining chapter.
The financial battle may be over, but the debate over loyalty, eligibility and punishment for players who left the Tour is just beginning.
Some believe those players should be welcomed back if they meet the necessary requirements. Others believe a steeper price should be paid. And if van Rooyen's four-word message is any indication, forgiveness will not come easily.
Go back to Q-school.
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 'Go back to Q-school' PGA Tour players tell LIV stars
