The lack of news about negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) speaks volumes about how things are going. So does the return of reports about PGA Tour players considering a move to LIV Golf.
According to Golf Digest journalist Joel Beall, representatives of several PGA Tour players are currently in talks with the Saudi-backed league. The report indicates that there are no household names in the group, but there are a couple of recent winners.
“Sources tell Golf Digest that representatives of two recent tour winners are in discussions with LIV. Other rank-and-file names are angling for one last career payday. None of them is a high-profile get — Jon Rahm remains the only major star to defect in four years — but they are recognizable enough to trigger another cycle of “What is the state of the game?” handwringing,” wrote Beall in his article.
Rumors circulating on social media place the winner of the 2025 Rocket Classic, Aldrich Potgieter, in the group. There is no confirmation about the South African’s actual situation, as he is in Japan this week playing in the Baycurrent Classic, part of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall.
Five regular players were relegated during the recently concluded LIV Golf season, including Majesticks GC co-captain Henrik Stenson, Andy Ogletree of HyFlyers GC, Mito Pereira of Torque GC, Yubin Yang of Iron Heads GC, and Frederik Kjettrup of Cleeks GC.
Until last season, these players could be freely re-signed by their teams or others, one of the biggest criticisms of the league’s recruitment system. The latest information available indicates that this will not be the case this time around, which would open the door for the arrival of five new players.
LIV Golf has not signed any players directly from the PGA Tour since early 2024, when it recruited Tyrrell Hatton to join Jon Rahm’s team. The Spaniard had joined the league shortly before, at the end of 2023.
It is worth adding that Kjettrup and Yang were on their way to joining the PGA Tour. The Korean was in the final stage of Q-School when he decided to join LIV for the 2025 season, while the Dane gave up his membership in the Korn Ferry Tour to take the same step.
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