Major winners Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith all committed to stay with LIV Golf in 2026 on Tuesday, turning down the chance to follow Brooks Koepka back to the US PGA Tour.
Five-time major winner Koepka announced his return to the US circuit on Monday under a new program that created a pathway back for stars who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. It was open to those players who had won either a major or the Players Championship between 2022 and 2025, meaning American DeChambeau, Spain's Rahm and Australian Smith would have been eligible to make the move back from LIV. But none of them were interested.
"Look, I'm contracted through 2026, so I'm excited about this year," said two-time US Open champion DeChambeau at a LIV Golf media day in Florida.
Asked if he shared the sentiment, Rahm, who won the US Open in 2021 and the Masters two years later, replied: "I'm not planning on going anywhere. Very similar answer to what Bryson gave. I wish Brooks the best."
Smith, the 2022 Open winner, was similarly keen to stay with the breakaway tour. "I'm going to stay," he told reporters. "I have made my bed and I'm gonna sleep in it. I feel like I am in a really good place in my career and my life, my family life, and I don't need to change it."
PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said this week Koepka's decision to leave LIV last month had prompted officials to consider how they handled the issue of embracing players who wanted to rejoin.
The result was the PGA Tour's new "Returning Member Program", which came with "severe and justified consequences".
That included a five-year forfeiture of rights to participation in the PGA Tour's player equity program, while Koepka had agreed to make a $5 million charitable contribution to a recipient which will be determined jointly by Koepka and the PGA Tour.
Launched in 2022, LIV Golf's emergence led to bitter divisions throughout the sport as several of golf's biggest names left the PGA Tour after signing big-money deals.
LIV Golf signs Belgian Detry, re-signs twice major winner Johnson
LIV Golf has signed Thomas Detry, who last year became the first Belgian to win on the PGA Tour, to its roster while former world number one Dustin Johnson has re-signed with the league, the Saudi-funded circuit said.
World number 58 Detry, who picked up his lone PGA Tour victory at last February's Phoenix Open, is joining the 4Aces team captained by two-time major champion Johnson, who signed a multi-year extension with LIV.
Detry is arguably the biggest LIV signing since Rahm and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton joined the league ahead of the 2024 season. "There’s an amazing vibe around the 4Aces that you feel right away,” said Detry. "You can see they play with confidence and there’s a definite swagger coming from all the guys... feeling like you belong on the biggest stages. That’s exactly the type of environment I want to be a part of.”
The 33-year-old Detry is coming off a career year during which he made the cut in 19 of the 24 events he played, including at the Phoenix Open where he romped to a seven-shot victory.
For the first time, Detry also played every major in the same calendar year in 2025, missing the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship before earning a share of 23rd at the U.S. Open and finishing joint 45th at the British Open. Johnson, who did not meet the criteria for PGA Tour reinstatement under a new and limited program announced this week by the U.S.-based circuit, has been with LIV Golf since its launch in June 2022.
He was LIV's first season-long individual champion in 2022 and his 4Aces also won that year's team championship. The 41-year-old American, whose peak years are behind him, missed the cut in the first three majors of 2025 before earning a share of 23rd at the British Open.
