One of LIV Golf\u2019s rumored targets has committed to the PGA Tour \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n
On Friday afternoon, Si Woo Kim announced that he would be competing in the PGA Tour\u2019s Sony Open in January, ending a week of rumors that placed the 47th-ranked player in the world in LIV\u2019s crosshairs. <\/p>\n
\u201cOkay guys see you in @sonyopenhawaii,\u201d Kim posted to Instagram<\/a> on Friday afternoon, ostensibly committing to the event he won in 2023 and affirming his desire to remain on the PGA Tour at least through the beginning of 2026. Kim\u2019s agent did not respond to GOLF.com\u2019s request for clarification or comment about his PGA Tour status beyond the January Hawaii event.<\/p>\n According to reports from the Flushing It fan account and Alex Perry of Today\u2019s Golfer, LIV had been targeting Kim as a key piece of its offseason acquisition efforts. Kim\u2019s reported pursuit overlapped with the growth strategy outlined by LIV CEO Scott O\u2019Neil in a recent interview with GOLF.com<\/a>. In the interview, O\u2019Neil pointed to LIV\u2019s international growth as its primary target for the future, and mentioned Korea as one of the league\u2019s important markets.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, unsubstantiated reports placed Kim in \u201clate-stage negotiations\u201d to join LIV alongside fellow Korean pro Sungjae Im. Im quickly rejected the reports as false, while \u201can official\u201d close to Kim was quoted in a Korean paper reaffirming his commitment to the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is true that Kim Si-woo, like many Korean players, has been offered a recruitment,\u201d the official told Maeil Business Newspaper<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cHowever, Kim Si-woo finally expressed his intention to refuse and decided to remain on the PGA Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kim\u2019s Instagram post appears to tie him to the PGA Tour into the future, his commitment to the Sony Open doesn\u2019t completely remove the possibility of a late-stage move to LIV. The Sony Open will be played two weeks before the first LIV event of the 2026 season in Riyadh, theoretically leaving time for a change of heart.<\/p>\n