Herbert delivered an extended explanation via a podcast ahead of his playing return at the NSW Open next week, including how his run at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where he equalled the major championship scoring record with a second-round 62 and finished tied for sixth, made him realise where his talent could take him.<\/p>\n
He said money was not a factor in his decision and that his ambition to further his career could only happen if he left LIV, with serious questions lingering over the league’s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what it sounds like, it\u2019ll be 10 tournaments. They\u2019re telling us that there\u2019s going to be potentially more events to play outside of those as extra playing opportunities,\u201d Herbert told the Tee It Up podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m unsure how they\u2019re going to make that work. I\u2019m unsure what kind of fields those are going to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what kind of venues they\u2019re going to be able to get access to \u2026 10 events is not enough to build a season around.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could maybe sneak a couple more in there, but the more you play, the sort of lower quality they are. It\u2019s quality over quantity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s not going to give me enough access to the majors, which right now, that\u2019s the priority of my career, and that\u2019s kind of how I formulated the decision that I\u2019ve come to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not super caught up in how much money I play for, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be plenty of people who listen to this will think that I\u2019m talking a load of crap.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut genuinely, for me, I wanted to see my game improve, I wanted to give myself the best chance to play well in majors and compete in majors and have opportunities like I had at Birkdale this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbert said the DP World Tour had been \u201cpretty accommodating\u201d in opening up a playing path for him in 2027 and that the names exiting LIV to join him in Europe would elevate the quality of those events way beyond anything LIV 2.0 could offer.<\/p>\n
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Lucas Herbert’s Open Championship run contributed to his decision to quit LIV. PHOTO: Getty Images<\/p>\n
As the extended deadline for commitments passed at the end of October, Herbert\u2019s Ripper GC teammates \u2013 captain Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Elvis Smylie \u2013 had made no move either way after the termination of their contracts.<\/p>\n
None of the trio have anywhere else to play in 2027, given they face one-year PGA Tour bans from the date of their final LIV event in August. Smylie, who won his first LIV event after joining in 2026, lost his playing rights on the DP World Tour after a year hampered by injury.<\/p>\n
Herbert said he had no inkling what they would do.<\/p>\n
Bubba Watson, David Puig, Brandon Grace, Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters and Adrian Meronk are also set to depart LIV with no real public declarations, just a hint dropped to the right person to get it out there.<\/p>\n
Life update\u2026\u270d\ud83c\udffc https:\/\/t.co\/kdSQIOmxZ0<\/p>\n