In the sports world there has been a lot of controversy in the golf industry. The two major leagues, the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League, have been in major conflict over the past few years because there is a lot of controversy with the LIV League’s financial backing. Golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Justin Thomas are some of the players that blatantly disagree with the league.

Players’ contracts have started expiring in the LIV league and they have been faced with the decision to stay or to look to join the PGA. Players who played in LIV endured a ban from the PGA tour for competing in this league. To help these big name players get back to the PGA tour they announced a returning member program. This includes paying five million dollars, ineligible for FedEx Cup bonus payouts and they have to have won a major championship in the past five years. Players like Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith and Bryson Dechambeau are all eligible to be in this program. Koepka and Reed are both entering this returning member program. Koepka competed in his first PGA Tournament last week where he fought to make the cut. There have also been rumors about Bryson Dechambeau joining the PGA after his contract is up.

People speculate that the LIV golf league isn’t as competitive as the PGA tour because of a shortened tournament schedule and the league only competing in fifty four hole events compared to the PGA tour competing in seventy-two hole events. Controversy such as this has greatly divided the golf industry because players feel that they are forced to pick sides. Overall, this has hurt the golf industry because professional players have the issue of deciding about which tour they want to support.