‘Don’t expect to come back and play on our tour’: What newest LIV Golf star Brendan Steele told Saudi defectors just WEEKS ago when he claimed he had ‘no interest’ in joining breakaway – before eventually caving to their cash
Brendan Steele insisted he had ‘no interest’ in joining LIV Golf and its wealthy breakaway league just weeks ago – but has now decided to quit the PGA Tour and take their big-money offer.
The American is one of the three golfers this week deciding to join the Saudi-backed tour – alongside Thomas Pieters and Danny Lee – but his career move comes shortly after he insisted he had no plans in leaving the PGA Tour.
In comments from December that have now resurfaced, Steele, 39, told reporters on a conference call: ‘I have not been approached. I think the way that it has mostly worked is that guys have gone and sought them out and told them they are interested.
‘For me, it is not something that I’m interested in. So it hasn’t really been any sort of a problem for me. But I don’t hold it against guys for doing it.’
He also added: ‘For me, I’m fine if guys want to go… I think they just have to make the best decision for them. But don’t expect to come back and play on our tour.’
Brendan Steele has decided to join LIV Golf, just weeks after he said he had ‘no interest’ in it
Steele told LIV Golf defectors ‘don’t expect to come back and play on our tour’ a few weeks ago
Interestingly, PGA Tour golfers may now be saying the same to Steele, after he headed to LIV just in time for the start of its new season.
It was reported this week that another of LIV Golf’s biggest stars, Brooks Koepka, is experiencing ‘buyer’s remorse’ after jumping ship last year.
The four-time major winner, 32, bolted from the PGA Tour for the the upstart last year following the US Open.
Since departing for the circuit funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Koepka’s record has been a mixed bag and he is said to now feel like ‘he’s on the outside looking in’ when it comes to the PGA Tour – who have since made a mega-money increase to their prize purses.
Koepka, along with the rest of LIV’s defectors, was suspended from the PGA Tour last summer and he is said to now regret his decision to join the breakaway.
‘I’m hearing a lot of rumblings that Brooks Koepka has buyer’s remorse,’ golf writer Alan Shipnuck wrote in a Q&A mailbag for the Fire Pit Collective.
‘The guy has one of the biggest egos in golf, and as the PGA Tour creates ever-increasing buzz with its elevated events and even the state-sanctioned TGL, Koepka has to feel like he’s on the outside looking in.’
Koepka ditched the Tour for LIV, after claiming he ‘was tired of the conversation’ at the 2022 US Open, for what was reported to be roughly $100 million guaranteed.
Brooks Koepka ditched the Tour for LIV for what was reported to be around $100m guaranteed
Amid the PGA Tour’s elevated events, Koepka ‘has to feel like he’s on the outside looking in’
In response to the threat of the arrival of the rebel series and it’s lucrative deals, the PGA tour announced a number of changes in August, including its elevated events and increased prize money.
The Phoenix Open last weekend was one of Jay Monahan’s new elevated events with a $20 million purse that included $3.6 million to the winner this year, Scottie Scheffler.
In Netflix’s new docuseries on the PGA Tour, Koepka said the Phoenix Open was one of his favorites events and it had to have stung watching the tournament and the rowdy crowd on 16 from home this year.
LIV CEO and commissioner Greg Norman’s son shut down the rumors, tweeting: ‘No. Bs.’