If any star golfers are getting cold feet about joining LIV Golf, they would reportedly have hundreds of millions of reasons to stick it out.
In a lengthy Sports Illustrated story about LIV Golf, the subject of players returning to the PGA Tour was broached.
The story said that most golfers who joined LIV would not wish to play a full PGA Tour schedule in addition to the 14 annual LIV Golf tournaments plus four majors, and that leaving LIV altogether would be quite costly.
“None want to play a full season on the PGA Tour, which is good because their LIV contracts, while not prohibiting them from playing a full schedule on another tour, does force them to honor their commitment to LIV and if for some reason they wanted to leave LIV, the penalty clause is two, three or four times their signing bonus to break their agreement,” the SI story said.
The idea that golfers could compete in both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is hypothetical because the latter has banned the players who joined the controversial Saudi-backed league from its tournaments.
The league’s ratings have been poor and getting worse in its first year being broadcast on The CW.
Presuming the SI report true, the stars on LIV Golf would be on the hook for astounding sums of money if they wished to return to the PGA Tour before their contracts expire in 2025.
Phil Mickelson’s deal with LIV Golf was reportedly worth in the vicinity of $200 million, and Dustin Johnson signed for about $125 million.
Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau also were reported to have received around $100 million.
You take those numbers and multiply them by two, three or four, and all of a sudden you’re talking about some real money.
There had been rumors floating around that Koepka has been having second thoughts about joining LIV Golf.
“I’m hearing a lot of rumblings that Brooks Koepka has buyer’s remorse,” golf writer Alan Shipnuck wrote in February.
Koepka has denied that to be the case.
“I’m fine, I’m satisfied, I’m content with every decision I’ve made,” Koepka said in the SI story.
“I knew everything I was getting into.”
