Lanny Wadkins Says LIV Golfers Must Face 'Repercussions' Before PGA Tour Return

Lanny Wadkins doesn’t see an easy way back to the PGA Tour for LIV Golfers.

The 21-time PGA Tour winner voiced his concerns on the Golf Channel’s Golf Today show, where he explained it would be difficult to see LIV Golfers being reintegrated without sanctions of some kind, even though he would welcome their return.

He began: “I would like to see Jon Rahm and Koepka and DeChambeau play more often, that would be nice, but there’s also got to be repercussions.”

In particular, Wadkins, who retired from his Golf Channel role as a PGA Tour Champions commentator in January, thinks the lucrative deals players accepted to join LIV Golf would be a major sticking point in their return.

“I don’t think you can just go to LIV, take $100m and walk back in and expect to have the same status you’ve always had on this tour,” he said. “That’s not fair to the guys who supported the tour and have been here the whole time.”

But what would any sanctions look like? Wadkins, who won the 1977 PGA Championship, isn’t sure – and he doesn't know how the issue can be resolved either. He added: “In my mind there’s got to be repercussions, whether it’s fines, suspensions, whatever for it to work and I’ll be damned if I can figure it out. Good luck to the guys trying.”

The efforts to rubber-stamp a framework agreement, which would see the PGA Tour and LIV Golf come together, have been going on for almost two years, and though there have been moments along the way when a breakthrough seemed imminent, it has remained frustratingly out of reach.

Back in September, Bloomberg reported that, similar to Wadkins’ concerns, LIV Golf player payments were a sticking point, with Rahm’s deal, thought to be around $300m, proving a particular issue for some PGA Tour stars.

The report stated that the players would like the Spaniard and other LIV Golfers to repay the money they have made since joining the circuit, while other proposals included paying fines to play in events, making donations to charity, or agreeing to forfeit any future career winnings on the PGA Tour. It went on to say that: “Rahm and other LIV Golf players have refused to agree any terms that would penalize them for taking a risk and leaving the PGA Tour.”

Early in April, The Guardian’s Ewan Murray reported that the PGA Tour had rejected the conditions of a $1.5bn investment offer from the PIF, which would have seen LIV Golf remaining as it is and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan become co-chairman of the new PGA Tour Enterprises company.