LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA | The news about Patrick Reed’s impending return to the PGA Tour was rippling across the property at Torrey Pines and lighting up social media by the time Adam Scott finished his nine-hole pro-am Wednesday at the Farmers Insurance Open.
One of six players on the PGA Tour’s all-powerful policy board, Scott is deeply involved in the tour’s business but, just before noon, he had not heard the Reed news.
Given a quick breakdown of the key points related to Reed’s return, Scott, as he generally does, took a moment to consider the situation before offering a response.
“It sounds like he is using the pathway that has been there for players returning,” Scott said, cutting through the clutter that has tended to surround Reed through his sometimes tumultuous career.
Whether more players seek to return to the tour – Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford and Kevin Na have re-established their tour membership and face various waiting periods before they can return to competition – the cycle of LIV contracts expiring has created possibilities.
Reed’s return is about one player – Brooks Koepka’s return from LIV Golf came through a one-time offer made to four recent major championship winners – but its impact reaches beyond what happens when the 2018 Masters champion regains his PGA Tour eligibility on Aug. 25 of this year.
It’s about optics and options. It’s a second recent example of LIV Golf losing a key player, a reversal of fortune for a league that created itself by coaxing players away from the PGA and DP World tours. It doesn’t necessarily cast LIV’s future in doubt but it does reinforce the notion that the PGA Tour has a plan for this eventuality.
Whether more players seek to return to the tour – Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford and Kevin Na have re-established their tour membership and face various waiting periods before they can return to competition – the cycle of LIV contracts expiring has created possibilities.
The Koepka path – open only to him, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith with a hefty financial penalty attached – was a quick reaction to a sudden opportunity to re-enroll one of the game’s top players over the last decade.
Reed’s case is more fundamental, a player wanting to come back after fulfilling his obligation while cashing in on LIV Golf’s largesse. The tour’s ground rules, Scott said, were put in place long ago in anticipation of such a moment.
“I guess we’re just dealing with it for the first time in this cycle. It’s hard having a crystal ball and looking ahead to how things work out. In fairness to the tour, they had a pathway back for guys. Patrick might be the first to get back through that. The other one was created for this small group of people,” Scott said.
“I guess it possibly continues to happen with the way the LIV tour is structured, guys under contracts. Contracts will end when they end. I feel good as part of the tour that we had a policy in place that’s now getting used. Hopefully, it works well.”
The Reed story has the added element of his controversial backstory. He had rules issues (it was five years ago this week he was embroiled in a firestorm after an embedded ball ruling at Torrey Pines) and his brashness rubbed some the wrong way.
Reed sued multiple people including media members and when he joined LIV, he cited the league’s limited schedule as an opportunity to spend more time with his family yet he played more than 30 global events last year.
His return, however, is built on the rules put in place by the players and their leadership, understanding not everyone will like the second chances being offered.
Reed made a choice not every PGA Tour player had, and many of those who did made a different choice.
“If you’re doing it (seeking to return to the PGA Tour) the right way and you want to come back, I have no problem.” – Ludwig Åberg
“I do understand certain situations are going to be a little bit different, everyone’s going to view it a little bit differently and I think everyone’s going to make the best decision for their personal career. When [joining LIV] was an option for me, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t anything that I wanted to be a part of,” Ludvig Åberg said.
“If you’re doing it [seeking to return to the PGA Tour] the right way and you want to come back, I have no problem.”
That was paramount, Scott suggested, to constructing a re-entry plan for players who left the tour. There are multiple factors to consider – 11 players sued the PGA Tour while some others resigned their tour membership before accepting LIV’s offer – and the biggest may be how the rank and file feel about allowing players who turned their back on the tour to take guaranteed money from LIV can find their way back with limited resistance.
“As one of the player directors, we’re really aware of how sensitive that is for the whole membership. Things were said some years ago and now, four years down the track, you have to look at what’s best for the tour and the membership going forward,” Scott said.
“Not everything can hold firm forever. We have to remain open-minded. As player directors we are definitely first conscious of the entire membership but we are listening to what the people want to see at the PGA Tour as well.”