Hudson Swafford, who was relegated off the LIV Golf League after playing for three seasons, said he will not be able to rejoin the PGA Tour before 2027, having been hit with a suspension that covers a five-year period from when he first started with the rival circuit in 2022.<\/p>\n
Swafford, 37, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour who had hoped to come back to the PGA Tour after sitting out this year, told the Golf.com Subpar podcast<\/a> that he\u2019s \u201chad some good back and forth with the PGA Tour, but then some wishy-washy. It\u2019s still not set in stone.\u201d<\/p>\n As a past winner, it is possible that Swafford could get some starts as part of a past champions category.<\/p>\n But he told podcast host Colt Knost that he believes he is being penalized one year for each of the five tournaments he played via LIV Golf in 2022 for which he did not receive a conflicting-events release before he resigned his membership.<\/p>\n Sign Up Now. SI Golf Newsletters. Sports Illustrated\u2019s Free Golf Newsletters. dark<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He also said he believes that 2027 might be tied to other LIV player contracts expiring.<\/p>\n \u201cI know they\u2019re basing that on a couple people\u2019s contracts being up after the \u201926 season,\u201d Swafford said, referring to LIV golfers. \u201cSo then they can kind of change rules in favor of everybody coming back.<\/p>\n \u201cI know some guys who didn\u2019t have any status on the PGA Tour, it\u2019s a hard one-year [suspension], not PGA Tour-sanctioned events, but then you can come back and play. But problem is if I come in and talk to them, it\u2019s like, \u2018O.K., I can come back and play in \u201927, but what does \u201927 on the PGA Tour really look like?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt is no more opposite field events? They\u2019re already reducing fields. So I would go ahead and bet and say that the past champions category is pretty much done going forward after this year. We can agree or disagree. but it just seems like that and they\u2019ve kind of told me.\u201d<\/p>\n Swafford would be eligible for very few events and said he could try to Monday qualify, but figured he\u2019d basically having to wait for the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament late in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how you can come up with a five or five-and-a-half year suspension based on I played five events while the PGA Tour season was going on in \u201922 that I wasn\u2019t able to get media-released for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Swafford said the decision to go to LIV Golf in 2022 was not an easy one. He agonized over it. (He missed most of 2023 with a hip injury). But he felt that the disruption was good for the game, and that the PGA Tour needed to change some of its ways\u2014issues he said had been prevalent and talked about among players over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew there would be some repercussions,\u201d he said when asked if he believed he\u2019d be suspended when playing in the first LIV Golf event in June 2022. \u201cKnew I\u2019d be suspended for a little while. Didn\u2019t know how long. There were definitely some unknowns there. I didn\u2019t think it would be this fractured this long, to be honest with you. I don\u2019t think any of us did.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think it needs to come together. I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to come together. As a golf fan, you want to see the best playing together. I don\u2019t think this fracture is good for the game. But on the flip side, the PGA Tour needed to be shanked up a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Swafford was one of 11 LIV golfers in 2022 which sued the PGA Tour for antitrust violations<\/a> in the wake of their suspensions for playing on the rival circuit. Swafford, Talor Gooch and Matt Jones also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to play in that year’s FedEx Cup playoffs<\/a>, as they were inside the top 125 in points by virtue of their play before leaving for LIV. The motion was denied. <\/p>\n\n