So what lies behind the PGA Tour going on the offensive, and how big a challenge is it to LIV?
Back in 2022, the PGA Tour had called LIV “an existential threat” after its offers of lucrative contracts threatened a civil war between the two organisations.
However, the following year a framework agreement was announced, ending the threat of litigation and appearing to pave the way for a shock merger.
Crucially however, the PGA Tour then agreed a private equity deal worth around £2.3bn with a group of American investors led by the Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool FC, with golfers who remained loyal receiving equity in a new profit-seeking enterprise.
The PGA Tour said that its deal allowed for co-investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV. But even though US President Donald Trump – whose courses have staged LIV events – then hosted what the PGA Tour called “constructive” talks over the “reunification” of golf at the White House, the conversation stalled, and ratification of the framework agreement never materialised.
“Ever since our talks at the White House last February, there were always ways [to] make our sport unified again,” PGA Tour player director Tiger Woods said this week when asked about the American circuit’s attempt to lure back some of its former stars.
“Is it total unification, some type of integration, how do we do it, where do we do it? Different tours are involved. But this is a first move, which is a great move.”
Perhaps mindful of their investors’ desire to generate as much interest in their product as possible, and feeling emboldened since their arrival, the PGA Tour’s new approach proved crucial to the return of Koepka. “I believe in where [it] is headed with new leadership, new investors and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake”, he said.
With some of golf’s major sponsors known to want an end to the fracture running through the sport, it will be interesting to see if the Europe-based DP World Tour offers a similar olive branch to the likes of Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, both of who are currently appealing against sanctions imposed for playing in LIV events.
It seems much now could hinge on the charismatic and big-hitting DeChambeau, the most followed golf star on social media, and who – with one more season left on his LIV contract – now finds himself in the strongest of bargaining positions.
The American is reportedly demanding $500m (£372m) to stay with LIV, and when asked if he might follow Koepka, simply said, “I’m contracted through 2026, so excited about this year”.
It did not sound like a long-term commitment. By then DeChambeau had posted a cryptic photo of him staring next to an ‘exit’ sign, along with a message asking his followers ‘What would you do?’