Fred Couples thinks LIV Golfers returning to PGA Tour creates logistical nightmare

In the future, there is almost certainly a world where LIV Golf members can come back to the PGA Tour, but Fred Couples isn’t so sure that’s a good thing. The Tour has been trying to downsize both in field size for tournaments and membership totals, and adding back multiple stars might throw a wrench into everything they’ve done.

Fred Couples says LIV Golf stars returning is bad news

The golf titan said he has spoken at length with LIV star Brooks Koepka and believes he wants to return. He’s sure the Tour would want him and several others, but how feasible is that? Signature Events are designed to house the top players, which many returning golfers would be considered.

Couples said via Golf.com, “But for me personally, there are a lot of guys that are going to be pushed out. … I don’t know how you get an Elevated Event with 72 or 77 people and bring seven superstars in. What do you tell those other seven? And I go, you know, bye-bye.”

If Signature Events have 75 or so golfers, then adding players like Bryson DeChambeau, Koepka, Jon Rahm, and plenty of others only restricts the field size even further. Those on the fringe who make it into these events would be on the outside looking in.

The Tour isn’t going to bring back some of golf’s biggest stars and then leave them out of the most important events, so who’s going to suffer? Those who’ve worked their way to being almost good enough to get into the top events and who were loyal to the Tour all along. It’s a nightmare all around in Couples’ eyes, and he wouldn’t appreciate it if he were one of the ones who got pushed out for a rebel’s return.

Couples has been critical of LIV before, saying, “Sometimes I’ve picked on comments that people have made, and I’ve picked on comments that they talk about the Tour, which I’ve said I have now 44 years invested in, and I don’t want anyone picking on a tour that I think is very good. Now, everything can get better, but let me tell you, if the LIV tour is better for golf, I’m missing something there. But again, I’m not here to bash them anymore.”

So in his eyes, the PGA Tour remains the best and that makes it the best place for some of those stars, but bringing them back is not as easy a solution as the Tour might like it to be.