Former U.S Open champion Wyndham Clark said he was frustrated Brooks Koepka could take Saudi money to play on LIV Golf and then return to the PGA Tour, and he thinks several other players might have left for the rival league if they had known they could come back.
Clark said Wednesday on the “Gravy and the Sleeze” show on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio that he received an offer from LIV in 2024, a year after winning the U.S. Open.
“And if you would have told
me that I could have gone for a year-and-a-half, make a boatload of money and then be able to come back, play on the tour, I think almost everyone would have done that,” he said to co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stolz.
“So it's a little frustrating that happened,” he said. “Are people going to now see what the tour has done and then go do that anyways? You know, they reach out to LIV and say, ‘Hey, I want to come play LIV,’ knowing that hey, you go take a bag for a year or two and you're able to come back. Yeah, it's an interesting decision because I think there could be guys that have that mindset and kind of challenge the system and then come back say, ‘Well, you let Brooks do this, why can’t I do it?'”
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp described the case of Koepka, a five-time major champion and former No. 1 player in the world, as a “unique situation.”
The “Returning Member Program” was created for players who won majors or The Players Championship since 2022 and had to be at least two years removed from the tour. Koepka has to make a $5 million charity donation and cannot receive tour equity grants for five years.
Rolapp also said it was a one-time program “with no promise that this path will be available again.”
Tiger Woods, the central figure among player directors on the PGA Tour's policy board, said Tuesday night after a TGL match: “We're not going to satisfy everyone. We know that."
“But the whole idea is to make our tour better than what it was,” Woods said. “With Brooks’ addition to tour, it does. It makes it a better place to play. Now with players who have earned equity — and there are four more years of potential earning of equity for these players — the fact that they own the tour, if Brooks plays, it puts more money in their pocket. It’s a win for everyone.”
Clark said he likes Koepka and believes the decision was good for the PGA Tour — and ultimately for him if Koepka's return adds value — but he wishes there had been more repercussions.
Rolapp's offer for three others — Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith — expires on Feb. 2. All three have said they are staying with LIV Golf.
Clark said of the hard deadline, “I just hope they stick with that and they don't waiver on that maybe in like a year or two.”
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