Jim Nantz says LIV players returning to PGA Tour will be tricky: ‘The game is thriving without them’

As the PGA Tour wraps up its postseason while uncertainty surrounding the future of LIV Golf rages on, the game is once again grappling with a highly debated issue: Should star players who left the PGA Tour be welcomed back, and if so, in what capacity?

It’s a question that Jim Nantz, the voice of golf for the better part of the last three decades, has clearly spent time thinking about — as it pertains to both the CBS broadcast he anchors and the values of the sport of golf as a whole. That is why Nantz — who was joined by his CBS colleagues Dottie Pepper and Trevor Immelman — had a candid observation when asked about the dilemma on a Zoom call with The Athletic on Wednesday.

“The game is thriving without them,” he said, noting that last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship had its best broadcast viewership showing since 2013.

“I, like everyone else, am anxious to see how they can sort this out, and how you can make everybody happy, because there are a lot of PGA Tour players who resisted the urge to go take their game somewhere else and cash in on a bounty or a largesse,” Nantz said. “And they’re going to have a strong opinion on this.”

Nantz continued to share that, in all of the sports he has covered in his career, he has never experienced another game so dependent on integrity. He believes that trait cannot be forgotten during this inflection point.

“(Jon Rahm) left with absolutely all the consequences out there, for the public to know, for him to know, for his team to know,” Nantz said. “You’re gonna risk it all, you can’t come back, and you’ve gotta make a decision … Golf is a game that, at its core, leans more on its rules and the consequences than any other game. And I’ve covered a lot of them. I’ve never seen a sport that leans so heavily into what a handshake means, what a contract means.”

Pepper echoed the sentiment, adding that not one personality or player can overpower that aspect of the sport. And actions, no matter who you are, have consequences.

“The way Brooks (Koepka) came back, was with humility and ‘I’m gonna earn it.’ The way Patrick Reed’s going to come back? He will have earned it. But to come back with an attitude that I’m bigger than all of it? Nobody’s bigger than that,” Pepper said.

The LIV players will be feeling the fallout of their decisions, as the breakaway league enters its final event of the season in Indianapolis and its members still lack pertinent information about how it will exist beyond this summer. A possible bankruptcy filing in the U.S. looms, and players may soon see their long-term contracts canceled if they don’t accept equity in the tour instead. LIV’s lead investor, BC Partners, has yet to sign a finalized agreement to inject funds into the league to carry it forward.

A path back to the PGA Tour opened for four LIV members — Koepka, Rahm, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau — earlier this year when PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp created a one-time opportunity for them to return, with a three-week window to decide. Only Koepka, who was no longer under a LIV contract, seized it and paid penalties in exchange for a return ticket. This time around, PGA Tour sources are clear that the tour cannot contact players like Rahm until he proves he is out of a contract, as was the case with both Koepka and Reed. At the BMW Championship, the PGA Tour’s biggest stars said they believe there’s an appropriate price to be paid.

“LIV has a few players that are really good. I think the depth that we have on our tour is bit unmatched, but I think when you look at the higher levels of LIV Golf, there’s definitely some players that would provide a lot of value to the tour, and guys that I love competing against as well,” Scottie Scheffler told reporters. “So I think going forward there obviously has to be, I think, some sort of penalties. What those are, I’ll let Rolapp and all those guys figure it out.”

Rory McIlroy, the voice of much of the anti-LIV sentiment on the PGA Tour when the breakaway league began in 2022, could not resist when asked about what LIV players would bring “value” to the PGA Tour. “Have they brought value to LIV? You know? I think the PGA Tour’s in a really good spot,” McIlroy said.

While making it clear he’s no longer part of those discussions, McIlroy believes the returning member program has come and gone.

“I would say it’s going to be a tough, tough road back,” McIlroy said.

Nantz and Immelman agreed that although the situation is complex, the right people are in the right positions in Ponte Vedra to make the final call. The issue will not be taken lightly.

“I think that the Brooks Koepka move was a very strong and acceptable way of getting him back,” Nantz said. “I trust that Brian (Rolapp) and his team will figure something out that doesn’t cause too much friction for the base that stayed and was loyal to the tour.

“I know both of those guys (Rahm and DeChambeau) really well. I enjoy watching them play, and I know a lot of people would enjoy watching them play, but I’ve got to see what that’s going to be as far as consequences and how the return is set up.”