Jang Yu-bin of Korea tees off on the second hole during the first round of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, May 2. Yonhap
Korean golfer Jang Yu-bin announced Tuesday he will return to the domestic tour next year after an unsuccessful lone season in LIV Golf.
In a statement released by his Seoul-based agency, All That Sports, Jang said he will not enter the LIV Golf Promotions, the annual qualifying tournament for the renegade tour, and will instead rejoin the Korea PGA (KPGA) Tour for 2026, while also playing some Asian Tour events.
In December 2024, Jang became the first Korean to join LIV Golf, which is financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. He played on Iron Heads GC, one of 13 teams in LIV Golf, alongside Korean American captain Kevin Na and Korean-born Kiwi Danny Lee.
After each season, players who finish 49th or lower are relegated from LIV Golf and are released from their teams. Jang, despite high expectations as the reigning KPGA Tour Player of the Year, never found his footing on the new tour and finished 53rd in the standings in 2025. In 13 tournaments, Jang did not have a top-10 finish.
While Jang was among the longest hitters in LIV Golf, he ranked near the bottom in fairways hit percentage, putting average and scrambling.
His on-course struggles aside, Jang, 23, described his LIV Golf season as “an important asset for my playing career.”
“I think the most important thing for me now is to return to the basics and focus on each and every tournament on the KPGA Tour,” Jang said. “I will try to take incremental steps on the KPGA and Asian tours to get better, and then I will look to challenge myself on an even bigger stage when I feel I am ready to do so.”
Jang apparently hinted at taking a crack at the PGA Tour down the road. He had been scheduled to enter the PGA Tour’s qualifying tournament last December before withdrawing at the last minute to join LIV Golf. If he had signed up for the LIV Golf Promotions this year, then Jang would have been subject to a one-year suspension from all PGA Tour-sanctioned events.
By virtue of winning the 2024 KPGA Player of the Year award, Jang has a five-year exemption on the Korean circuit. He also has eligibility to play on the Asian Tour for 2026.
LIV Golf, which has successfully lured some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names since its launch in 2022, has been trying to poach another Korean player this winter. Two veterans, Kim Si-woo and Im Sung-jae, have both shut down rumors linking them to LIV Golf.
