LIV Golf rumours are swirling about

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

LIV Golf’s off-season means that rumours are swirling about who is going to be tempted away from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join the Saudi-backed circuit. 

For all the talk about peace deals, it looks like that is as far away as it has ever been. 

There has been a huge distraction with LIV announcing that their tournaments will be played over 72 holes in 2026. It is a move quite clearly designed to allow them to move for world ranking points.

There are two sides to this cash-rich breakaway tour. Of course the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are laughing all the way to the bank. 

But then there is the other side of the coin - those who face being cut loose because they have failed to cut the mustard.

One such golfer was England’s Laurie Canter. He was treated pretty shabbily by LIV and made his feelings known. He deserves nothing but credit for rejoining the DP World Tour, paying his fines, working his socks off and enjoying huge success in his second coming. He narrowly missed out on the Ryder Cup and will secure a PGA Tour card for 2026 as a result of his play this season.

Bernd Wiesberger has not been so fortunate. An eight-time winner on the DP World Tour, he finished his season in 118th place in the Race to Dubai, and that means he will almost certainly be playing his golf on the HotelPlanner Tour next year.

When young South African star Aldrich Potgieter withdrew from the recent Bank of Utah Championship after just one round social media was full of speculation that he was about to jump ship. He said that he was unwell and I guess that we have to believe that was the case. He has since moved to dismiss the speculation surrounding his future. We will see.

Rumours also persist that Rickie Fowler may be the next big name to make the move to LIV. It would come as no surprise to me if this turned out to be the case. The former golden boy of the PGA Tour has endured a pretty miserable run of form over the past couple of years but remains a big draw. Cameron Young has also been consistently linked with LIV although his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour and selection for the US Ryder Cup team will hopefully mean he stays put.

However, I remember Rahm saying that he would never join LIV. But they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. 

It has been suggested that Brooks Koepka might be considering rejoining the PGA Tour and after the torrid year he has just endured it would not be surprise me if that turns out to be the case when his current contract expires. Of course golf fans would love to see DeChambeau returning to the PGA Tour but he is apparently now renegotiating his contract with LIV.

Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell looked like he was about to lose his place but it turns out that he is staying with LIV. The Northern Irishman has made it clear that he wants to be considered for the post of European Ryder Cup captain for the match at Adare Manor in 2027. It makes perfect sense for somebody from the Emerald Isle to lead the team if Luke Donald decides that doing the job three times is too much but McDowell? Seriously?

This is what he told Bunkered in a recent interview about the state of the game: "The divisiveness [within the world of professional golf] has come from the best players in the world. It hasn’t came from the 40-somethings like myself that are just trying to eke out a living and staying competitive on an opportunity that was presented to us, which would have been crazy to say no to from a business point of view."

To be clear, when he refers to the best players in the world, McDowell is talking about the likes of Rory McIlroy - the same McIlroy who will be a key member of the 2027 European Ryder Cup team. And let’s not pretend that McDowell is "trying to eke out a living". He is a multi-millionaire.

As far as I am concerned, McDowell has burned his bridges with the DP World Tour and with European golf. If he were serious about staking his claim to captain Europe then he would surely have taken this opportunity to walk away from LIV and pledge his future to the DP World Tour. He has failed to do so. And blaming PGA Tour players for the ongoing division within our sport? Quite frankly, it is laughable.

Europe’s 2025 Ryder Cup team contained two LIV players - Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. They were only able to play because they rejoined the DP World Tour and appealed against the fines and suspensions imposed upon them for joining LIV. When that appeal is ever going to be heard is anybody’s guess. If it goes against them - as it surely will - it would almost certainly mean that they would not be eligible to play for Europe in 2027.

Tom McKibbin won the recent Hong Kong Open and, in the process, earned his place at both The Masters and The Open in 2026. When McKibbin announced that he was joining LIV he was advised against it by none other than Rory McIlroy. He chose to ignore McIlroy.

I have ceased to lose sleep over LIV. There has been much controversy over the vast sums now being played for on the PGA Tour but if it helps to preserve the professional game then I have no issues with it. I do have mixed feelings about the likes of Canter, Marco Penge and Kristoffer Reitan heading to the PGA Tour next year but if they can achieve some success it can only be a good thing for European golf.