Three players in the LIV Golf ‘Open Zone’ were not retained this season – and one of the departures has raised eyebrows…

LIV Golf’s tumultuous offseason was dominated by Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour – but another surprise departure from the league has also caused some consternation.

It can be argued that one of the most unlucky men in professional golf right now is Jinichiro Kozuma.

The Japanese golfer was one of four players who finished outside the top-24 in the league’s standings for the 2025 season – meaning he was vulnerable to being replaced.

Kozuma was not relegated, but discovered he would not be retained by the league despite being the highest ranked player from the Iron Heads GC in the standings.

Despite missing the first five events of the season, he managed to finish 32nd in the standings, with the highlight a joint runner-up finish in Dallas.

But Kozuma was dispensable and has been moved on as part of a major shake-up to the rebranded Korean Golf Club. Longtime captain Kevin Na was dumped in favour of former PGA Tour player Byeong Hun An, with 2025 reserves Young-han Song and Minkyu Kim joining Danny Lee to complete the team.

It appears that Kozuma was informed he would not be retained after LIV Golf Promotions, the qualifying event on which he first earned his spot onto the league in 2024.

In an email exchange translated by his manager, Kozuma told Sports Illustrated he had been blindsided by some of the changes.

“There were definitely a few parts of the process that surprised me,” Kozuma explained. “For example, I only found out recently that Kevin Na would no longer be the captain, so that was unexpected for me as well.

“Also, since last year, I personally didn’t receive any direct communication from the Iron Heads organization. Because of that, there was a period where it was difficult to fully understand what the situation was. So overall, the way things unfolded was a bit unexpected, and I was simply trying to stay patient and figure out the best next steps.

“Toward the end of last year, I heard that there was a possibility the Iron Heads might transition into a Korean-based team. At the same time, I was also told that if that happened, there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to remain with the team. 

“After that, however, there were a lot of rumors and the situation seemed to change from time to time. So for a while, I wasn’t completely sure what the final decision would be.

“The moment I clearly understood that I wouldn’t be playing for the Iron Heads moving forward was when I saw the official Instagram post announcing the Korean team [on January 12]. That was when everything became clear for me.”

Instead, Kozuma now plans to play this season on the Japan Golf Tour, where he is a three-time winner. In a post on X after his exit was confirmed, he pointedly wrote: “I’m looking forward to seeing if they’re a better player than I am.”

Kozuma called his two years on LIV a “truly valuable experience”, but his unusual case has drawn criticism by fans as the league’s continues its pursuit of Official World Golf Ranking accreditation.

“Rather than receiving a clear, official explanation like, ‘this is the specific reason we are not renewing your contract’, I felt that team restructuring and overall direction played a major role in the decision,” Kozuma added.

“To better understand what the options might be for next season, I reached out directly to several general managers to see whether there could be an opportunity for me to join their teams.

“What I found was that teams seemed to be building their rosters not only based on results but also based on team identity and the type of player profile they were looking for. In that sense, I think it was simply difficult to find the right fit for me within the available team openings at that time.”