Victor Perez has given the real reason he took the move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, as he said he was “not really capitalizing” on events in America
Victor Perez says he was frustrated on PGA Tour as he joins LIV Golf(Image: Getty Images)
Victor Perez was the first player this year to join LIV Golf and close the door on the PGA Tour.
Perez had membership on both the PGA Tour and the European tour, and had three victories on the DP World Tour. He played in just the French Open this year as of events not on the PGA schedule, and his best finish was a tie for ninth at the RBC Canadian Open.
Perez withdrew from the RSM Classic, signed with LIV Golf and joined the Cleeks, and shared his reasons for the decision. It comes after Si Woo Kim made his final decision after lengthy negotiations with LIV.
“It’s hard to know how my level compares to everyone else’s because it’s my first season,” Perez told Today’s Golfer.
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“I’m obviously very excited and I guess the other guys are going to have to adapt back to 72 holes, which kind of plays into my hands a little bit. I’ve always been really consistent – my scores have been really compact – which is probably something that will be useful on LIV with four scores counting for the team.
“We saw last year with the Cleeks Golf Club that one player could pretty much hold the team down if their performances are not up to the standard, so my goal is to improve my personal level and post some solid scores, one after the other, that will hopefully lift the performance of the team.”
Perez noted how much he struggled in the 2025 season.
“It wasn’t that I played poorly,“ he said, earning one top ten and then hearing that changes within the PGA Tour would make it more difficult to qualify for events.
Victor Perez says real reason he switched to LIV Golf
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had the best two seasons in America,” admits Perez, who earned full status on the PGA Tour because of his 2023 Race to Dubai ranking. “I played decent, but I didn’t have high enough finishes to be in a position to contend. And I just felt the way the PGA Tour was ranking events was putting me at a huge disadvantage.
“Not being in the Signature Events was a big sticking point my end. I could have played better, obviously, but at the same time, I felt like it was really ‘top heavy’. And once you start falling outside the top 10, you’re not really capitalizing on the weeks, which is a little bit of what happened to me.”
Perez played 28 events on the DP World and PGA Tours in 2024, but that number dropped to 25 in 2025. Perez also would have needed a top-five in the final event of the fall series to earn full status on the PGA Tour for 2026.
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“On a personal note, it was quite difficult to get to the PGA Tour in ’24 and [see] the rules changing right away,” he told Today’s Golfer.
“It started with the elevated events, which I wasn’t in, and then this year they were like, ‘Oh, we’re only going to have 100 cards, instead of 125.’ And it seems like another change is coming next season, or maybe the following season. So I struggled with that instability. They changed CEOs, and there are plenty of things that have happened that have made it quite difficult to really believe in the product.”
