LIV Golf In Talks With Recent PGA Tour Winners

The story of LIV Golf’s history with the PGA Tour is well-known among golf enthusiasts.  In 2022, a new world tour league started disrupting the sport with the backing of the Saudi government.  It started poaching players from other long-established leagues like the PGA and DP World Tour, and was sanctioned by the PGA.  The players on LIV are limited in what they can do, and they can’t even earn OWGR points.  However, they are always looking to bring on more players, and recent reporting says that two anonymous players are in talks to move to LIV.

The Report

The report in question comes directly from Golf Digest.  It was part of a larger article meant to warn the new PGA Tour CEO, Brian Rollap, about the risks of making a deal with LIV.  The writer Joel Beal leaned heavily into what the backers of LIV Golf would do to sway public opinion.  As well as how said public is still resistant. Beal then dropped the bomb that LIV has at least two players who have representatives talking to them about joining.  Beal wrote:

“Sources tell Golf Digest that representatives of two recent tour winners are in discussions with LIV. Other rank-and-file names are angling for one last career payday. None of them is a high-profile get.  Jon Rahm remains the only major star to defect in four years, but they are recognizable enough to trigger another cycle of “What is the state of the game?” handwringing.”

The news that LIV Golf is planning to bring on more players is no surprise.  The league has the tendency to write up contracts during the offseason.  The real question is, who is part of those negotiations?

Who’s Moving To LIV Golf

At the time of writing, it is unknown who LIV Golf is trying to negotiate with.  All that is known is that the two in question have won a PGA event recently, and that they are two lower-profile players.  All the higher-profile players have already made their choices on who they’ll stick with; Rory McIlroy famously hates LIV Golf.  Naturally, speculation is abundant in online circles with the given information.  Names like Steven Fisk, Cameron Young, and Kurt Kitayama have been thrown around, but nothing definitive has been said.   The players in question won’t be getting massive contracts like previous players have gotten, but it will still be a generous payday.

Will They Stay On LIV Golf?

An issue that consistently arises with LIV Golf is the limited number of players in the sport.  Unless they have been previously established, they can’t get into the majors without going through another league.  The same with OWGR points.  Only the top LIV players are in the OWGR top 100, and that’s because they go through other leagues like the DP World Tour, or they still go to the majors.  

Once a lower-profile player has done what they can on LIV, they have everything to gain after leaving.  Take Laurie Canter, for example, who joined LIV when the league was just getting started, but struggled to make the cut for two years before leaving.  He switched to DP and found himself climbing back up by the time he joined the PGA.  Whoever joins LIV Golf this year may go down the same path, because LIV Golf is very limiting for a golf career.