As PGA Tour heats up, LIV's wattage dims

Family health issue adds Mickelson to the list of stars not starting in Riyadh

Hideki Matsuyama and his PGA Tour mates welcomed Brooks Koepka back (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

While the PGA Tour season heads into the Phoenix Open party week on the heels of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler cleaning up in The American Express followed by 45-year-old Justin Rose going full old-man and telling the rest of the Farmers Insurance Open field to get off his Torrey Pines lawn, LIV Golf is turning the lights on for its fifth season this week in Saudi Arabia.

The start of LIV Golf’s 2026 schedule this week, however, is not exactly the season premiere it hoped to present. The circumstances for LIV Golf Riyadh are less than best.

The big headlines recently have been about major champions Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed leaving the Saudi-backed circuit all but at the last minute.

Then on Sunday, another major champion — and arguably one of LIV’s biggest draws — announced that he’s skipping the first two events in Riyadh and Adelaide, Australia.

Phil Mickelson, 55, announced on social media that he’ll miss the first two weeks due to a family health issue and requires he and his wife, Amy, to stay home in the United States.

That’s a lot of star wattage absent under the lights at Riyadh Golf Club.

On the brighter side for LIV, there may be better news on the horizon. It has been reported — first by the Flushing It social media account and fleshed out by Sports Illustrated — that future DP World Tour fines will be either reduced or eliminated. It’s a DPWT directed reach-out, which would place stipulations that require players to seek a release to compete in a conflicting LIV Golf events along with asking them to commit to a certain number of specified DP World events, the amount of which could differ by player. Any fines that have been accrued through 2025 will still need to be paid.

And there is still a looming chance that the Official World Golf Ranking board, which met last week, might come through with some accreditation. If not full points, perhaps at least some level of acceptance.

If one or both of those developments come through, that will give LIV Golf a boost.

But to the outside world, the draw is name players. LIV Golf’s original intent was to collect as many of the top 50 players in the world as possible. Losing two of them still in the prime of their careers — both Koepka and Reed are both 35 — is a significant blow.

Koepka is already playing on the PGA Tour, having made the cut at Torrey Pines. He will play again this week in the WM Phoenix Open where he’s won twice before.

Reed will likely play a full schedule on the DP World Tour in 2026 before coming back to the PGA Tour next year. He’s got a big start on earning full PGA Tour status for 2027 via the top-10 not already exempt on the season-long DPWT points list. His win in Dubai two weeks ago and his playoff loss in Bahrain on Sunday has him sitting comfortably in second in Race to Dubai standings.

It has been an incredible last month for Koepka. The five-time winner on the LIV circuit as well as a five-time major champion, Koepka was the center of conjecture late in the year when word got out that he was considering a change.

Although he had a year to go on his initial LIV Golf contract, he and the league came to an agreement to let him leave, which was announced on Dec. 23. On Jan. 9, he met with new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and applied to be reinstated. That was granted on Jan. 12 with the stipulation he won’t be able to get sponsor invites into signature events, must pay a $5 million fine that will go to charity and can’t be part of the player equity program for five years.

In his comments at Torrey Pines — where he finished T56 at 4-under in the Farmers Insurance Open, 19 shots behind Rose — Koepka struck a humble, contrite tone.

“Everything. Just the opportunity to be out here,” he said when asked what he appreciated most about being back. “I think that’s the main thing. Just being out here and seeing how quickly this has all kind of come together. It’s kind of blown my mind and I’m just grateful to be out here and have a chance to compete with these guys.”

Reed apparently saw how fast things moved with Koepka and decided to see what might be offered to him, contacting the PGA Tour around the time he arrived in Dubai for the first of two DP World Tour events there, the second of which he won on Jan. 25 at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

“I’m really excited,” Reed said via the DP World Tour after the first round in Bahrain, where he went on to lose in a playoff on Sunday. “With everything that has transpired over the past 48 hours, and really even since Sunday and last week, it’s something that I felt like, with my family and I was the best decision for me.

“I’ve really enjoyed all my time out there on LIV. It’s been a blast. I learned a lot when I was out there playing and hopefully my 4Aces team can go out there and win everything. I will still be pulling for them and watching them.

“I’m really excited to be out here to play on the DP World Tour like always, and really excited to get back to the PGA Tour and start playing close to home. I’m just really grateful and thankful to have the opportunity to play everywhere around the world like I have. Now we’re starting a new chapter and I can’t wait for it to get really rolling.”

Despite playoff loss in Bahrain, Patrick Reed has hot start on quest for 2027 PGA Tour status (Warren Little/Getty Images)

Reed, who didn’t give LIV Golf a heads up about of his decision before announcing it on social media last Wednesday, is playing a fourth consecutive DPWT tournament this week in Qatar and is clearly focused on returning to the PGA Tour via the DP World pathway that grants full exempt status to the top 10 players on the season-ending Race to Dubai standings not otherwise exempt. When players such as Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood begin racking up points, it won’t hurt Reed’s quest as he battles the likes of Jayden Schaper, Daniel Hillier, Nacho Elvira and Freddy Schott for one of those 10 spots.

Reed is allowed to play PGA Tour events in the fall after his year-long window since his last LIV start expires Aug. 25, but you can expect to see him at many of the European circuit stops instead chasing the Race to Dubai, with his PGA Tour membership reinstated in January of 2027. For instance, the PGA Tour fall schedule kicks off Sept. 17 at the new Biltmore Championship in Asheville, N.C., but that’s directly opposite the DPWT’s flagship BMW Championship at Wentworth. The Bank of Utah Championship a week later goes up against the popular Dunhill Links Championship.

The World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico and the new Good Good Championship in Reed’s home state in Austin, Texas, are each opposite the Rolex Series finale events in the Middle East — the Abu Dhabi and DP World Tour Championships.