A dozen LIV Golf players would rather stop playing the sport than return to the PGA Tour, according to Anirban Lahiri, a two-time winner on the European Tour over a decade ago
Anirban Lahiri is one of multiple LIV Golf making clear that he would not return to the PGA Tour(Image: Getty Images)
Anirban Lahiri claims to know at least a dozen LIV Golf players who would rather not play the sport than return to the PGA Tour. The two-time European Tour winner admits he is one of them,
Lahiri, 38, says some of the things he learned about the business of golf disillusioned him enough that he does not want to go back. The one-time world No.33 was a seven-year PGA Tour veteran before joining LIV in the summer of 2022.
He is part of the team Bryson DeChambeau captains, alongside Paul Casey. Lahiri has made around £25million since the switch.
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He told The Times that any suggestion that LIV players are now desperate to get out is “the biggest joke ever. I will not name names, but I know at least a dozen players who’d rather not play golf than go back to the PGA Tour.”
Lahiri says he really enjoyed his seven years on the PGA Tour. However, he recalls that: “I learnt a lot about the business of golf and some of the things I learnt disillusioned me.
“I’ll leave it at that. That was enough for me not to want to go back, but that’s me personally.
Anirban Lahiri cannot see a way back for himself on the PGA Tour(Image: Getty Images)
“I’m sure others have different opinions of it, and I respect that as well. But to generalise that everybody is falling over backwards to come back to the PGA Tour is the same kind of propaganda we’ve had for four years.”
Thomas Pieters is another player who is adamant that there appetite for any return for himself. He recently told the Dan on Golf Show: “I’m definitely never going back to the PGA Tour.
“I never liked that life. That’s not me having a go at the PGA Tour; it’s not for me. I tried it, and I just wasn’t happy there.
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“If it [LIV] goes away, I’ll probably try and play some on the European Tour, or I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
He added: “We are just guessing right now, but if we’re playing for $5m next year, or I could play on the DP World Tour for $3m, but be close to home, that’s something I’d have to look at when it comes.
“Possibly, there are guys going. But I think that’s up to Scott [O’Neil, LIV’s chief executive] and his team to get this thing together, and we’ll just have to find out.”
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