{"id":408052,"date":"2026-02-04T20:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408052\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:55:07","slug":"tour-star-exasperated-by-liv-golf-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408052\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour star ‘exasperated’ by LIV Golf signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tA PGA Tour winner\u2019s surprise move has been called arguably the most \u2018disappointing signing that LIV has made\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n

The current WM Phoenix Open champion is not at TPC Scottsdale to defend his title this week.<\/p>\n

Instead, Thomas Detry is in Saudi Arabia preparing for his LIV Golf debut in the league\u2019s season-opener<\/a> under the lights at Riyadh Golf Club.<\/p>\n

The Belgian, who made an imperious breakthrough with his seven-shot win last year in Arizona, made a late decision to join Dustin Johnson\u2019s 4Aces<\/a> for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Detry is the highest-ranked player to join LIV since Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton two years ago and, in a recent interview with TG<\/a>, admitted that missing out on his title defence was \u201creally sad\u201d.<\/p>\n

But after multiple chats with his close friend and fellow countryman Thomas Pieters \u2013 also a 4Aces player \u2013 Detry concluded that he could not turn down LIV\u2019s advances. <\/p>\n

The decision not to pursue a burgeoning career on the PGA Tour, however, has also left Detry open to scrutiny. DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell addressed Detry\u2019s move to LIV on the latest episode of The Chipping Forecast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just exasperated at that, but there we are,\u201d Pepperell sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Thomas and he\u2019s a wonderful golfer, but I\u2019m not sure I can think of a more disappointing signing, actually, that LIV has made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s somebody who really should be a top-10 golfer in the world. I know he lacks a bit of self-belief \u2013 I think he\u2019s been open about that in the past [on] his troubles performing under pressure \u2013 but he overcame that obstacle last year by winning the Phoenix event<\/a>. I thought at that point he was going to kick on and become this player we all know he could and should become.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy going to LIV he certainly ruins that opportunity for the foreseeable future and I just find that really disappointing as a golf fan and as a fan of him and his game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detry says his move was centred around providing a more comfortable lifestyle for his young family. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was about to head over to the US and get ready for the season to start on PGA Tour,\u201d the 33-year-old said. \u201cI was in a pretty comfortable situation on the PGA Tour last year, so I had two years\u2019 exemption. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing pretty well. But I had this phone call from Thomas [Pieters] just before Christmas. It had never really crossed my mind to join because there has to be a spot available. He said there\u2019s potentially a spot available and I didn\u2019t really think that much of it, but it was still in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a wife and two small children, and we\u2019ve pretty much been living like [nomads] all around the US, going from tournament to tournament. We live half in Dubai, half in London, and then we sort of slowly came around the idea that it actually could fit our life much better. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel a little bit more at home when we\u2019re in London and Dubai rather than spending six months on the road, living out of a suitcase with two children.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A PGA Tour winner\u2019s surprise move has been called arguably the most \u2018disappointing signing that LIV has made\u2019\u2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-408052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}