Is LIV Golf going in the wrong direction?<\/p>\n
Contracts come to a natural end<\/p>\n
Koepka left LIV with one year to go on his contract. Reed left at the end of his deal, and negotiations didn\u2019t lead to an extension with LIV. Like in any sport, the length of a contract can mark a natural end to an athlete\u2019s ties to their club, or league, in this case. There is no reason to suggest this can\u2019t happen with other LIV players.<\/p>\n
Contracts are new to golf. On the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, you can play for as long as you meet the criteria to be a member. DeChambeau, arguably LIV\u2019s biggest star, is contracted through 2026. This time next year, LIV might be sweating again, trying to secure the future of a player who might now look at Koepka and Reed and weigh up his options.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t clear when Jon Rahm\u2019s deal with LIV runs out, with reports suggesting it could stretch until 2029. That might feel a daunting prospect to the two-time major winner, who could press his face up against the window watching more of his rebel colleagues leave in the distance.<\/p>\n
Lack of competitive motivation<\/p>\n
A trope often levelled at LIV Golfers is that they\u2019ve competitively checked out, and they\u2019ve prioritised a hefty sign-up fee from the PIF.<\/p>\n
If you were sceptical of this theory, then you will be interested to hear what Reed said to ESPN after winning the Dubai Desert Classic and confirming his return to the PGA Tour: \u201cAfter winning, I realised just how much I missed the grind and the dogfight; that\u2019s who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was an extremely damning pill for LIV Golf to swallow. This is a league that would have you believe the players are locked in and concentrated on winning, as if they were playing a major. Reed suggested otherwise, so you would think both he and Koepka view the PGA Tour as a more competitive prospect.<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler<\/p>\n
Off the back of the previous point about competitiveness, this one is a hunch that stems from this. I don\u2019t believe that players such as Koepka, Reed, Rahm and DeChambeau would rather play LIV events instead of standing their games up to Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n
Scheffler won his 20th PGA Tour trophy at the Amex in January, further cementing his position as the world\u2019s best player and upping the volume of voices who compare him to Tiger Woods. He has won four majors in the time LIV has existed.<\/p>\n
A player deserves praise if they win a LIV event, but at the end of the day, they didn\u2019t beat Scottie and other PGA Tour stars like Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele. Rahm had a taste of tussling with the Texan at the PGA Championship last year, but valiantly failed. There must be a part of LIV\u2019s biggest stars that contemplate how good their game really is, while it isn\u2019t in the same field as the man of this era. They had the opportunity to compete with him each week, but looked elsewhere.<\/p>\n
![\"Bryson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/RIY_02_02_26_MVA08806-1024x682.jpg\")
Bryson DeChambeau at LIV Golf Riyadh | Credit: Mateo Villalba\/LIV Golf<\/p>\n
ALSO: LIV Golf must hope TNT\u2019s coverage doesn\u2019t infuriate its viewers quite like the farce of the Ashes<\/a><\/p>\n A new era on the PGA Tour<\/p>\n Jay Monahan\u2019s mixed reign as the PGA Tour commissioner came to an end in 2025, and he was replaced by Brian Rolapp. The civil war with LIV Golf took its toll on Monahan who, at one stage, took time off to cope with the pressure of patching up the professional game which, frankly, he contributed to breaking.<\/p>\n Monahan and the tour never entertained the Saudis before LIV\u2019s launch. In hindsight, who knows what even just one conversation could\u2019ve led to, or what it could\u2019ve prevented? While the tour coasted with the same schedule, the same tournaments and the same formula for many years, LIV burst on to the scene and shook the tour to its core.<\/p>\n After a year of hostility, Monahan joined PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan on US national television to announce a framework agreement\/peace deal on June 6, 2023.<\/p>\n The framework agreement has come to nothing, though, and because of LIV\u2019s inception, Monahan oversaw huge increases in prize money on the PGA Tour, a new Signature Event structure and an equity deal worth $3 billion with a sports investment consortium. LIV and its fanboys claimed victory and that its presence forced overdue change. They had a point, didn\u2019t they?<\/p>\n But from the reactive Monahan came the proactive Rolapp. Less than a year into his tenure, there are already plans for the PGA Tour schedule being split into two divisions, maximising tournaments that matter and eliminating ones that don\u2019t.<\/p>\n He wants to create a competitive product, and so the Returning Member category was made, which invited Koepka, Rahm, DeChambeau and Cameron Smith back to the PGA Tour as major winners since 2022. Koepka capitalised, while the others stayed, but Rolapp outlined which LIV players they believe improve the circuit.<\/p>\n Have Koepka and Reed been impressed by Rolapp? Who knows, but the new tour management evidently isn\u2019t messing around.<\/p>\n What is the endgame for LIV Golf?<\/p>\n Now that we have seen a blueprint for players leaving to return to the PGA Tour, LIV is staring down the barrel. Just like the way some players sat back and watched their peers join LIV, to then help them plot their own defection, players thinking about going the other way can see how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n I have already written about how the departure of Rahm and DeChambeau would be catastrophic for LIV<\/a>. Although they are in a strong bargaining position to squeeze a better contract from the PIF, absence might make their hearts grow so fond of the PGA Tour that a switch is inevitable.<\/p>\n How much more are the PIF prepared to pump in, on top of the $6 billion that these first four seasons have already cost? More and more column inches are also alluding to the sovereign wealth fund\u2019s current priorities, given the astronomical costs of the remarkable Neom project<\/a>, among other things.<\/p>\n It would be easy to say LIV will eventually die. They have earned world ranking points in their events, which is undoubtedly positive. <\/p>\n Next year, LIV will still be LIV \u2013 is my boring but likely true prediction. A doomsday prediction from the Saudi perspective is that Rahm and DeChambeau will have had enough, which could happen.<\/p>\n In years to come, my vague prediction would be LIV becomes of similar quality to the DP World Tour or the Asian Tour, visiting venues around the world with solid, but not outstanding fields.<\/p>\n