LIV Golf star Ian Poulter couldn’t resist taking a dig at the PGA Tour as his former employers announced the 2027 season would not include an event in Hawaii – with the Sony Open to be moved
10:41 ET, 21 Apr 2026Updated 10:42 ET, 21 Apr 2026
Ian Poulter joked about the PGA Tour’s schedule(Image: Getty Images)
The PGA Tour is looking at scheduling changes for the 2027 season, and LIV Golfer Ian Poulter couldn’t help but poke fun at each golf situation right now.
Poulter joined LIV Golf in 2022 alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, but it’s now reported that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund could withdraw its funding from the league after the end of the 2026 season.
Poulter and other LIV Golf stars have no solidified way back to the PGA Tour if they choose to do so at the end of the season, with the window opened by Brooks Koepka now closed – for now – and the PGA Tour is also making changes such as getting rid of the Hawaii swing, which means no Sony Open or the Sentry.
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Reacting to the report about the PGA Tour moving the start of its season from Hawaii and possibly making the Sony Open a Champions event, Poulter wrote on X: “Here comes the cost-cutting exercise from Private Equity funding.
“Next up you’ll tell us all something silly like the PGA Tour are going to lay off 500 members of staff.”
Change is inevitable, as LIV Golf’s future currently stands unknown while CEO Scott O’Neil attempts to calm the waters.
Poulter joined the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022
“I know there’s some people rooting against LIV Golf,” said O’Neil. “I understand that, okay. But is golf better without LIV Golf? Should all the best events in the world be in the Continental US? Is that right?
“Should we be targeting 60-year-old men, or should we put some focus on the global game? Should we put some focus on this next generation of fans?
“If I am a PGA Tour player, I want LIV to survive. These prize purses are pretty good. Competition is good for business.
“If I’m a television network, I’d love LIV Golf to survive. It’s good television. If I’m a reporter, it certainly makes the news a little more spicy, or has occasionally.
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“If you’re a fan, you want more golf around the world. If you’re outside the US, we are outside the saturated market and we’re in markets that are dying for this kind of action. So I think there’s a lot more to gain with LIV Golf here than LIV Golf gone.”
Players, including Rahm, are riding out with the Tour until told otherwise.
“Until the people in charge told me whether the rumors were true or not, for me, it didn’t make sense to think about it or waste time thinking about it,” Rahm said. “We were here; we knew we were going to play, so the idea was to prepare for a tournament. And that’s it.
“Since everything happened so suddenly and so quickly, I wasn’t very worried about it because normally, before the rumors start, we already know something. There’s always someone within the league who knows something; it happened so fast that I really didn’t worry about it.”