Count Bryson DeChambeau among those with LIV Golf displeased with the tour’s decision to move to a 72-hole format beginning with this weekend’s opening tournament of the season.
From its inception, LIV tournaments had been only three rounds and 54 holes (hence the LIV name), differentiating itself from the PGA Tour.
“It’s definitely changed away from what we had initially been told it was going to be,” the two-time U.S. Open winner told Today’s Golfer’s Ben Parsons. “So there is some movement that we’ve all been, I would say, interested in, and going, ‘Why that movement?’ Because we were told it was going to be [54 holes]. So that’s definitely made us have some different thoughts about it.”
The 32-year-old DeChambeau is heading into the final season of his contract with LIV and indicated the change to 72 holes would impact his thinking on the future of his career.
“I’ve got a contract for this year, and we’ll go through it there and see what happens after that,” DeChambeau said. “Look, it’s 72 holes, it’s changed, but we’re still excited to play professionally and play for what we’re doing and go across the world. I think it’s going to be great for our [Crushers GC] team. Is it what we ultimately signed up for? No. So I think we’re supposed to be different, so I’m a little indifferent to it right now. Hopefully it weighs positively on me over the course of time, but you never know. I’m not sure. We didn’t sign up to play for 72.”
Along with Cam Young and Jon Rahm, DeChambeau is one of three golfers who could apply for reinstatement under the PGA’s Returning Member Program. Former LIV golfer Brooks Koepka rejoined the PGA Tour last month using that pathway. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, will also rejoin the PGA full-time next season while playing DP World Tour events through August when he will make his PGA return.
The Returning Member Program is only open through Monday, making it very unlikely that the Modesto, CA native will apply.
But not every member of LIV shares DeChambeau’s opinion. Two-time major winner Rahm is all for the 72-hole format.
“When I joined, it was very, very early on and it was a rough product,” the 31-year-old Arizona State product said.. “If you go tournament per tournament, compared to the big tours where they have 40 plus events a year, we’ve had three seasons of 14 and one of eight. Basically a season and a half in compared to the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour. So take it like that, they’re making a lot of strides.”
British veteran Lee Westwood also sees it as a positive.
“It ticks a lot of boxes, world rankings, things like that,” Westwood said. “I’ve always felt a long time between turning up on a Monday at tournaments and teeing off on Friday as well, having played 72-hole tournaments for 30-odd years.”
LIV begins its 2026 season on Thursday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.