The fifth season of upstart LIV Golf teed-off today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  This year’s season opener is being played in the home country of the league’s $1 trillion owner, the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

LIV Golf will feature some of golf’s top names like Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, Spain’s Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, and Australia’s Cam Smith.  Each is a major championship winner.

Differentiating themselves from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf starts each round at the same time for all players.  With 57 golfers in the field, they are positioned at each of the 18 tee boxes as a shotgun start begins play.  The daily playing conditions are identical for all golfers.  I really do like that concept.

You’ll still find LIV Golf’s unique 4-player team concept this season, too.

A significant pool of prize money is paid to the top three golf teams which have the lowest composite scores at the conclusion of each tournament.  This encourages every golfer – from first to last place – to try harder to help their team’s score.

You will continue to hear music being played over loud speakers around the course during play. It doesn’t seem to affect the players one way or the other.  LIV Golf seems to think the music turns their golf tournament into a party for the fans.

SwampSwami Rant ALERT!  LIV Golf’s US TV viewers must play “FOX Sports Whack-a-Mole” to watch the action this season

The 14 LIV Golf events in 2026 (with only four being played in the US) will be televised again by FOX Sports.  Good luck trying to find the action on television from day to day.

Today’s first round in Saudi Arabia began on FS1.  Two hours later, viewers were told to migrate over to FS2 to continue watching the golf action.

Note to LIV Golf.  Not many US cable providers carry FS2 unless you pay for the highest price option.  I don’t. 

To watch LIV Golf on television again this year, you will need a combination of the following channel options from day-to-day during their tournaments:

Your local FOX TV affiliate

FS1

FS2

Fox Business Network

Fox Sports App (internet)

The same issues occurred last year.  Sadly, it is being repeated in 2026.

The US channel-surfing options might be more tolerable if LIV would simply offer a simulcast of the entire televised round via an internet (perhaps on a LIV Golf app?) as a service to viewers.

LIV Golf needs the ratings support, so please make viewing as easy as possible. This maddening game of “Fox Sports Whack-a-Mole” is a major pain for American golf fans.  This should have been addressed and resolved during the lengthy off-season.

These golfers said “Goodbye to LIV”

In late December, it was five-time golf major champion Brooks Koepka walking out of LIV Golf’s door as he has announced a decision to rejoin the PGA Tour.

Last week, former Masters champion Patrick Reed announced that he was no longer under contract with LIV Golf for 2026. 

He wants to return to the PGA Tour just like Brooks Koepka.

Keep in mind that LIV Golf doled out over $150 million in signing bonuses – just to snare both Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed less than four years ago.

Koepka worked a deal with the PGA Tour and competed at last week’s stop in San Diego.

Patrick Reed’s defection from LIV Golf came just one week before his former LIV Golf four-player team called the 4 Aces was set to start the 2026 golf season.

That left LIV Golf’s 4 Aces a card short today.

Team captain Dustin Johnson and Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters scrambled to find a sub to take Patrick Reed’s spot in this week’s season opening event.

Reed pocketed over $42 million in tournament earnings over his four seasons with LIV Golf starting in 2022.  That money was in addition to his initial signing bonus.

The PGA Tour will not allow Patrick Reed to return for at least 12 months after his last appearance in a LIV Golf event (August, 2025).

In the meantime, Patrick Reed quickly scored a victory ten days ago while playing on the DP World (formerly European) Tour.  He plans to enter several more European events this spring and summer until he is cleared to return to the PGA Tour in late summer.

Na, Na, Na, Na…Hey, Hey, Hey…The LIV story…of Kevin Na

Five-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Na also took the leap to LIV Golf in June, 2022.  The 42-year old Na had quietly amassed $38 million in PGA Tour earnings over his 17-year career.

Kevin Na was made team captain of LIV Golf’s Iron Heads Golf Club four-man team in 2022.  He did not win a tournament at LIV Golf but still managed to pocketed more than $11 million in four seasons.

Surprisingly, South Korean-born Kevin Na was recently booted off of his own LIV golf team!

He was replaced with journeyman PGA golfer Ben An.  The LIV Golf team then renamed itself the “Korean Golf Club” for 2026.

Ironically, one of the team’s current players is New Zealand citizen Danny Lee.

Lee was born in South Korea.  His family moved to New Zealand when he was eight years old.

Upon getting booted from LIV Golf, Kevin Na has also requested to be allowed back onto the PGA Tour.  His reinstatement status has not been announced.

Pat Perez packed-up his LIV Golf bag, too

Former LIV golfer Pat Perez (a three-time PGA Tour winner) is also seeking his PGA Tour reinstatement.  The 49-year old Perez was cut by LIV Golf after a dismal 2024 season but returned as their on-course television announcer in 2025.

Like Kevin Na, Pat Perez is waiting to hear when he will be allowed to tee-it up again on the PGA Tour.  Perez will turn 50 in March and may opt to play on the PGA Champions (senior) Tour at some point.

The biggest question remains – Will LIV’s top draw Bryson DeChambeau stay or go after this season?

The charismatic 32-year old Bryson DeChambeau won the US Amateur title and later added two US Open major championships to his trophy case.

In 2022, DeChambeau pocketed a reported $125 million signing bonus from LIV Golf to join the fledgling golf tour.  He has earned another $50 million in tournament winnings during his four seasons playing for LIV Golf.

Bryson DeChambeau has worked hard to build his own personal brand.  His YouTube channel attracts millions of mostly younger viewers.

DeChambeau’s popularity has been one of the few bright spots for the LIV Golf brand.  His four-man LIV Golf team called the Crushers is a fan favorite, too.

Bryson DeChambeau’s contract with LIV Golf will expire at the end of the tour’s 2026 golf season this August.

Word has it that he is asking for upwards of $500 million to sign a contract extension to remain with the Saudi-backed golf group.

LIV Golf didn’t help matters if they wanted DeChambeau to stick around

One recent change for the 2026 LIV Golf season has not set well with the popular Bryson DeChambeau.

LIV (which is “54” in Roman numerals) played 54-hole golf tournaments over three days in previous years.  This helped to differentiate the league from the PGA Tour’s 72-hole four-day events.

A stodgy organization calling itself “Official World Golf Rankings” assigns numerical rankings to professional golfers.  Their board of directors was unwilling to grant any points to top finishers for the LIV Golf for the past four years due to its 54-hole events.

That issue has been a sore spot for LIV golfers since the league’s first season in 2022.

The OWGR rankings are used to determine which golfers receive invitations to play in some of golf’s four major events.

The LIV golfers have earned zero ranking points the past four years.  Top players keep falling down the world rankings list.

LIV’s Jon Rahm was ranked #1 at the time he signed with LIV Golf three years ago. 

Despite winning twice over the past three seasons and rarely finishing out of the top ten, Jon Rahm had dropped all the way to #96 in World Golf Rankings this week.

To appease the overlords of rankings, LIV Golf will start playing 72-hole events this season.

The World Ranking body announced Tuesday that LIV Golf’s top ten weekly finishers will now be awarded points for the new 72-hole events.

Bryson DeChambeau spoke up recently that the initial premise for LIV Golf was to be different than the PGA Tour.  He had been in favor of maintaining the 54-hole tournaments to bring more focus and urgency to golfers on the course each day.

“It’s definitely changed away from what we had been initially told it was going to be,” said DeChambeau.  He added, “We didn’t sign-up to play 72 (holes).”

What happens if Bryson DeChambeau decides to leave LIV Golf after this season?

DeChambeau is one of the league’s biggest draws.  His enthusiastic personality and famous length off the tee has been a fan magnet for LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour won’t admit it publicly, but they would love to see Bryson DeChambeau return to help put the proverbial nail into LIV Golf’s coffin.

Yes, LIV Golf would still have former World #1 golfer Jon Rahm under contract as its best player.  Australia’s Cam Smith and 53-year old Phil Mickelson still have plenty of LIV fans, too.

Though LIV Golf has lost an estimated $2 billion during its first four seasons, the Saudi Public Investment Fund seems quite proud of simply owning a worldwide golf league.  

Oil money literally flows out of the ground and right into their bank to replace the massive losses of LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour has started to lure several of its more popular golfers by offering a more family-friendly US-based tour.  LIV Golf’s far-flung worldwide events have made it difficult on golfers with young families like Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.

The reputation of LIV Golf is starting to sink as more top golfers bail-out and return to the PGA Tour.

The loss of Bryson DeChambeau after the 2026 LIV Golf season would be quite difficult to overcome.

This would seem to be a great time for LIV Golf to broker a peace deal with the PGA Tour.  Allow golfers on both pro tours a chance to participate in a limited number of events on either tour every year.

While you’re at it, please fix the “Fox Sports Whack-a-Mole” LIV Golf TV coverage, too! 

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