Hudson Swafford, the embodiment of the hypothetical query that has consumed skilled golf for almost 2 ½ years, watched final month’s PGA Tour fall finale with a mix of envy and aid.
“I wouldn’t need to be enjoying right this moment,” Swafford laughed as the sphere on the RSM Traditional endured brutally chilly circumstances and winds that gusted off the Atlantic Ocean to 30 mph. “I miss seeing plenty of my buddies, for certain, miss enjoying at residence. Perhaps not the climate they’re having right this moment. Time heals plenty of issues, for certain.”
Sea Island Golf Membership is just some miles from the place Swafford lives on St. Simons Island, Georgia, however on this blustery day the PGA Tour occasion might as effectively have been on one other planet.
Swafford was one of many unique 17 gamers suspended by Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in June 2022, shortly after taking part within the first LIV Golf Invitational Collection occasion, for violating the circuit’s polices on conflicting occasion and media rights releases.
From that first wave of suspensions, the unanswered query has loomed over the skilled sport: Would gamers like Swafford ever be allowed again into Tour-sanctioned occasions?
The preliminary memo from Monahan addressed the outsized elephant within the room, saying, “we’re ready to cope with these questions [if players wish to return to the Tour], and we’ll method them in the identical method we’ve got this whole course of: by being clear and respecting the PGA Tour rules you helped set up.”
Two-and-a-half years later, that pathway again for gamers who joined the Saudi-backed league has been something however “clear” and, due to Swafford, the query is now not hypothetical.
“I don’t know, the Tour has a tough stance on a [one-] 12 months suspension [for players who joined LIV Golf]; there’s some actually gray stuff occurring with LIV and I didn’t know if I’d be again with LIV,” Swafford informed GolfChannel.com. “I attempted to return [to the PGA Tour] final 12 months, talked to [Jason Gore, the Tour’s senior vice president, player advisor to the commissioner] and [Monahan] and thought I did every thing fairly cordially, simply informed them how I felt. They might by no means give me a solution.”
To be clear, Swafford desires to return to the PGA Tour. He’s keen to serve no matter suspension the circuit doles out and even pay fines to return. The Tour, nevertheless, hasn’t supplied Swafford with a transparent path, regardless of quite a few requests.
Based on paperwork supplied throughout the disclosure section of the now-dismissed lawsuit between the Tour and LIV Golf, gamers had been initially informed they might be suspended from competing in Tour-sanctioned occasions for one 12 months following their last LIV Golf occasion. For Swafford, that may imply he can be eligible to compete in Tour-sanctioned occasions, together with Monday qualifiers and Korn Ferry Tour occasions, on Sept. 16, 2025.
A Tour spokesperson declined to touch upon any potential suspension or fines for Swafford or whether or not the 37-year-old would retain his standing as a previous champion.
“Previous champions are getting in a bunch of fall occasions, does my previous champion standing reinstate in September?” Swafford requested. “I can’t appear to get any solutions. It’s fairly irritating.”
A part of that frustration for Swafford is skilled and half is private. After a tough 12 months as a “wild card” participant on LIV Golf, he completed 55th out of 57 gamers and is within the circuit’s “drop zone,” which suggests he might be relegated from the league except he’s provided a brand new contract.
“I’ve been enjoying poorly the final two years with the hip damage. I’ve been struggling, my golf sport has been struggling. Not doing what I used to be good at, scuffling with the motive force,” Swafford mentioned. “That’s the very first thing I need to do is have enjoyable with golf once more after which get targeted with the alternatives.”
With the shortage of readability from the Tour on a path again, his choices are restricted to the LIV Golf “promotions” occasion this month in Riyadh, which would offer a return to LIV, and begins on the Asian Tour’s Worldwide Collection. His skilled limbo is especially regarding contemplating that the framework settlement, which was introduced in June 2023 and ended the litigation between the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, particularly laid the groundwork for a pathway again for LIV gamers to the Tour.
“Topic to execution of the definitive settlement, PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour will work cooperatively and in good religion to determine a good and goal course of for any gamers who need to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour … for figuring out truthful standards and phrases of readmission according to every tour’s insurance policies,” the settlement learn.
Swafford mentioned he spoke with Monahan once more in October on the Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship on the DP World Tour and hopes his plight can pave the way in which for a broader reunification of the skilled sport.
“I really feel like it is a fairly large deal. I do know I’m not the primary man they needed again, however I really feel like they want guys to start out coming again,” Swafford mentioned.
What precisely a return to the Tour for LIV gamers appears to be like like is among the many largest points slowing the talks between the Tour and PIF, in line with one member of the coverage board, and Swafford advised the difficulty could also be much more sophisticated in terms of among the sport’s largest stars who joined LIV.
“I get the laborious one-year sit out from the final LIV occasion, however a man like Brooks [Koepka] and Bryson [DeChambeau] aren’t going to do this to return again to the Tour. They [the Tour] actually don’t know,” Swafford mentioned. “What will get me is guys are returning to the DP World Tour, they paid their fantastic and now they’ve free reign. Why are you going to shut out large names?”
Gamers who joined LIV have been allowed to play DP World Tour occasions supplied they pay substantial fines; though, Jon Rahm has challenged these fines and has been allowed entry to occasions throughout the evaluate course of. Swafford mentioned that pathway again from the LIV abyss for European gamers, together with the PGA Tour’s “strategic alliance” with the DP World Tour, sends gamers a combined message.
“I get [the Tour] has taken the laborious stance, however DP World Tour has gone the opposite method. Bernd Wiesberger was just about in my state of affairs and went straight again to DP World, his suspension was three occasions and obtained to start out enjoying,” Swafford mentioned.
Swafford additionally mentioned he can be curious what occurs if the Tour and PIF attain a deal that’s now almost a 12 months previous the framework settlement’s deadline, however he understands that if he desires to return to the Tour, he should pay his pound of flesh.
“My first aim is to get my golf sport again to the place it was in 2021; it’s been depressing and stuff off the course has impacted that. It’s been a roller-coaster journey, little doubt,” he mentioned. “They want any individual to return again, I don’t assume golf is sufficiently big to be fully separated. One of the best gamers must play in opposition to one another extra usually than 4 occasions a 12 months.”
The pathway again to the Tour is private for Swafford and he additionally understands it’s sophisticated, however because the Tour season wrapped up at Sea Island, Swafford’s need to return despatched a transparent message – this query is now not hypothetical.
