Kevin Kisner outlines the price DeChambeau and Koepka should pay to rejoin PGA Tour

Kevin Kisner may not have many rounds left in his playing career, but he remains an influential voice on the PGA Tour.

During an appearance on the Trey Wingo Podcast this week, Kisner was asked how he would approach the return of LIV players to the PGA Tour.

“The interesting part of that is, like, the guys that are the superstars that you would want back on the Tour have just about played so long over there that they’re not gonna have status on our Tour, even if we let them back yet, right?

“Like, the time gap, I thought, in my little brain in South Carolina said, you know, ‘if LIV goes away in two years, it doesn’t sustain, then Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, they’re still going to be exempt on our Tour. They could probably pay a fine and still be right back to where they were.

“But now that that time’s gone so far, like, what do you make them do? Do you tell Bryson DeChambeau to go to tour school and try to earn his way back? I don’t know.

“I’m not smart enough to figure it out, but if the equity programme that the Tour has unveiled really takes off, then the guys that have made so much money in that can’t complain about the money that those guys took at LIV, because now they’re owners of the PGA Tour, which these guys are not.

“So, maybe you tell them they can never be equity owners, or never gain shares from their performance because of what they did, and they come right back.

“It’s just a thought to throw around. I think that would be a way to allow them back.”

Kisner makes a valid argument. The players who remained loyal have been financially rewarded, especially following SSG’s substantial investment in the PGA Tour last year, which coincided with Rory McIlroy withdrawing from discussions with PIF.

PGA Tour members now hold equity stakes in the league. Excluding returning LIV players from this ownership structure seems like a fair approach.

Brian Rolapp speaks out on Bryson DeChambeau and LIV Golf

During a recent CEO Forum, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp addressed a range of questions, including one about whether DeChambeau would be a good fit for the Tour.

“I think I think Bryson is a star in he’s an amazing golfer,” said Rolapp.

“He’s also amazing for what he does off the golf course, in that, you know, the bulk of his consumption where people see him is on YouTube, by the way. I mean, they don’t see him on television because the other league doesn’t really draw a lot of viewers.

“Yeah, I think everybody wants to see the best golfers compete. But I will say, there’s a complete misconception about the sport of golf that I think is that any given tournament or competition matters, if there’s the same three or four people in it.”

He added: “You want to see the same three or four people in it, but if you look at the depth of talent of the PGA Tour, that competitive parity aspect of it is unrivalled, and there’s no tour on Earth that has the deeper amount of talent than the PGA Tour has. And every sport has stars, but what really makes sports work is also the middle class.”

LIV might have some star power with players like DeChambeau and Koepka. But as things stand today, they do not have much ground to stand on when it comes to negotiating with the PGA Tour.