Van Rooyen doubles down: former LIV players should earn their PGA Tour cards

South African golfer Erik van Rooyen on Thursday, 12 November, stood by his criticism of former LIV Golf players seeking to return to the PGA Tour, but softened it for the sport's biggest names. Speaking after an opening 64 at the Austin Championship in Texas that left him two shots off the early lead, he said he had not changed his view, but clarified it.

“I made a comment about saying guys should go back to Q-school. I think it's completely status dependent, right? Like Jon Rahm has no reason to go back to Q-school,” the two-time PGA Tour winner said, according to GOLF.com. Most other former LIV players, he said, should not be handed Tour status automatically. “If a player in my position went and played Sunshine Tour for two years, I'd lose my rights to play here, so I would have to go to Q-school and find my way back, right? So isn't that fair?” he asked. “I have nothing against players that went to LIV, nothing personal at all. But that's just how things work, right? So shouldn't we just follow the rules?”

How it started

Van Rooyen first spoke out a week earlier in Mexico, in an interview with Golfweek published on 6 November. “We were told initially that if you played LIV, you would be banned from the PGA Tour, and the story just kept changing,” he said. “They gave the finger to the Tour. If you're that good, go get it done.”

The question became pressing after the Saudi-backed LIV Golf told a bankruptcy court through its lawyers on 5 November that it would not go ahead with a relaunched league and would wind down and liquidate. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the league's backer, stopped funding it in April.

The route back for former LIV players has not been decided and rests with PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp. GOLF.com reports they will probably have to pay a penalty and serve a one-year suspension. Other players are divided: Australia's Adam Scott has said those who left should qualify again, while Rory McIlroy has suggested they return through Europe's DP World Tour.