Bubba Watson named in debate over whether PGA Tour should welcome LIV players back if the league folds

SportLocation Golf Desk · 17 Aug 2026

Bubba Watson is part of a wider discussion about what happens if LIV Golf were to fold, with a report asking whether the PGA Tour should take back players such as Watson and Anthony Kim. The story matters because it goes to the heart of how men's professional golf might reconcile after years of division.

Bubba Watson has been pulled into one of golf's most awkward what-if debates: whether the PGA Tour should welcome back LIV players if the breakaway league folds. The report places Watson alongside Anthony Kim and asks a question that reaches far beyond individual careers, touching the future shape of men's professional golf and how much room there would be for reunion after years of tension.

That matters because any return would not simply be a sporting decision; it would also be a test of how the game handles loyalty, opportunity and forgiveness. Watson remains a recognisable figure in that conversation, and the discussion around him reflects the broader uncertainty that still hangs over the professional landscape. Even a simple practice swing on a teeing area can feel loaded when the backdrop is a sport still sorting out its own split.

The source framing is straightforward but significant: if LIV were to disappear, the question would not end there. It would shift to who gets back in, on what terms, and whether the PGA Tour would be willing to make space for players who chose a different path. Watson's name in that debate underlines how much the issue is about precedent as much as personality.

For fans, the appeal is obvious. Golf has always been built on rivalries, reputation and the idea that form can change quickly. Yet this story is less about a single round than about the politics of access and the possibility of a reset. The image of a golfer working through a full iron swing on a clean teeing surface, with an open fairway ahead and trees framing the hole, fits the sense of a game looking down a long, uncertain line.

Watson's inclusion also keeps attention on how the sport would judge past choices if circumstances changed. The report does not pretend the answer is simple, and that is what gives it weight. A return would force administrators, players and supporters to decide whether golf's next chapter should be defined by closure, compromise or a hard line drawn between eras.

In that sense, the story is bigger than a single name. Bubba Watson is one of the players used to frame a wider question about the PGA Tour's future relationship with LIV talent, should the breakaway circuit collapse. However it ends, the debate is a reminder that golf's off-course decisions can shape the game just as much as anything that happens between tee and green.

Sources & further reading

Bubba Watson and Anthony Kim: Should the PGA Tour take them back if LIV folds?