‘What precedent are you setting?’ Tour star questions Koepka-Reed’s moves

Viktor Hovland, on a personal level, says he thought three words when he learned that Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, both former LIV Golf pros, were returning to the PGA Tour.

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

And then?

“And then I just go about my day,” he said.

“I have things to do, things to figure out, so it’s about how many calories I’m expending to react to things like that.”

still, seven-time tournament winner said Tuesday that he could understand the moves that have allowed Koepka and Reed to return. The players are undeniably excellent, he said. But, at a press conference earlier this week WC Phoenix OpenHovland wondered if other Tour pros would jump into LIV and then be allowed to return “without major repercussions.”

“What precedent are you setting then?” he asked.

Those thoughts follow announcements last month that Koepka and Reed will return to the PGA Tour after four seasons with LIV, though each will do so differently. Koepka returned last week under the “Returning Member Program,” which was offered to LIV players who had won a major championship in the past four years, and his punishment included making a $5 million charitable donation and not receiving access to the Tour’s equity program for five years nor a bonus program until 2026. Reedsmeanwhile, will serve a one-year suspension that began after LIV’s final event last season, meaning he would be eligible to return on Aug. 25, and he also won’t have access to the equity program until 2030. In the meantime, Reed said he would play DP World Tour events.

In the days since the announcements, many professionals have been asked for their thoughts, as was Hovland on Tuesday.

“I mean, just for my personal perspective, I’d say I love playing against those guys,” he said. “I think obviously with Patrick Reed being a major champion and a major player and Brooks a five-time major champion, it’s a great addition to the PGA Tour. They’re major players and I want to compete against the major players out there.

“I think it just makes the products, the courses better. It puts the tournament in a tricky position now, though. You’ve been saying one thing for a long time and now we’re changing things. What precedent are you setting then for future players now if I can go to a rival tournament, get paid and now apparently come back again without major repercussions.

“I don’t really have an opinion on that, to be honest. That’s something the Tour has to figure out. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who won’t be too happy about it, but at the end of the day, I just want to compete against the best players in the world.

“I’m in a place where I have to figure things out in my game, and that’s basically where I’m focusing. I don’t want to focus on what the Tour needs to do right now.”

Especially, in a story written two years ago by Tom Kershaw i TelegraphHovland said he had told his agent to look into a deal to join LIV, but in the end he stayed with the Tour. “At the end of the day, the question is, ‘What’s going to make me a better player?'” Hovland said of Kershaw’s story. “And hey, in 20 years, if I’m at the end of my career, playing LIV Golf wouldn’t be too bad. It could have been a pretty good opportunity, but, right now, it’s something I think I’d probably look back on and regret.”

On Tuesday, Hovland was asked if the Koepka and Reed moves made him “reconsider any of the decisions” he’s made in his career.

“Not really,” he said.

“I just see the news and go, oh, that’s interesting, and then I just go about my day.”

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