PGA star slams Stephen A. Smiths laughable take | Golf News

PGA Tour star Michael Kim fired back at ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith after the sports activities pundit delivered a controversial opinion concerning the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour launched the Returning Member Program as Brooks Koepka rejoined the circuit at the start of the 2026 season. The only other gamers eligible to return under this system are Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm.

Smith also warned that if the PGA Tour strikes to penalize returning gamers, “we should stay in their a– like white on rice.”

Kim was unimpressed with the veteran ESPN host’s evaluation, taking to X within hours to label it a “horrendous take”.

“Players were forced to take multi-million dollar checks and then sue the very tour that gave them the platform to make names for themselves, mostly because they weren’t paid their PIP money.” Kim wrote, “Was everything perfect? Obviously not. But to say they were forced? That’s laughable,”

Kim highlighted the Player Impact Program, a bonus pool established to retain the Tour’s greatest stars. The future of LIV Golf stays in critical doubt, with the circuit’s CEO showing to wrestle to articulate what lies forward for gamers and employees.

“I want to be crystal clear,” wrote CEO Scott O’Neil. “Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.” Rahm is among the few who seems unfazed by the Tour’s current state of affairs and the unsure future it might maintain.

“Until the people in charge told me if the rumors were valid or not, it didn’t make sense for me to think about it or to waste time thinking about it,” he said, in quotes reported by Sky Sports.

“As everything suddenly came out, so quickly, I wasn’t too worried about that, because normally, before the rumours come out, we know something.

“There’s always somebody in the league who is aware of one thing. It was so fast that I did not actually fear about it.”