The Daily Drive is a reader supported newsletter. Your paid subscription can help sustain our full-time coverage of golf.
Charles Howell getting DPWT invites will rankle some rank and file (Jon Ferrey/LIV Golf)
A purported deadline came and went on Sunday for players to commit to LIV Golf 2.0, a bankruptcy court line in the sand that appears to have been blurred just two days after Bloody Friday, when several prominent players publicly announced their intentions to leave.
Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton were among the high-profile names on Friday to announce their departures. Lucas Hebert, Tom McKibbin and Branden Grace followed shortly thereafter.
BC Partners, the investment company that has announced plans to put up to $300 million in a new version of LIV Golf, had said as part of earlier bankruptcy proceedings that it needed a certain level of commitment from the existing core of LIV golfers who competed in 2026.
Also in today’s DD …
This week in golf: John Catlin’s long journey to Augusta realized in Hong Kong
Stray Shots: LIV sinks while execs get big pre-bankruptcy bonuses
That hasn’t officially happened, though the Financial Times reported on Sunday that 15 unnamed players are expected to commit to play LIV 2.0 in the coming week, indicating there is enough interest to keep the league going in 2027. LIV Golf has not confirmed the report, nor has it said how many players it has committed for a new season.
On Saturday, reports surfaced that Mark King — the former head of Callaway Golf who recently was the CEO of Taco Bell and is now serving in a temporary role with Jack in the Box — would head up a new advisory board for LIV Golf.
While the quest to sign players to the new LIV will continue, those leaving LIV Golf have to sort out their next playing steps.
Hatton and Poulter are easy. They have DP World Tour status. So does Jon Rahm. As does Adrian Meronk, who won last month’s Dunhill Links Championship, and 11-time DPWT winner Louis Oosthuizen, who is part of a legends category.
Other players who have indicated that they will no longer be playing on LIV Golf include Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer, Charles Howell III, Thomas Pieters and David Puig.
For someone such as American Howell, the situation is stark — and the prospect of the former PGA Tour player who has never been a DPWT member receiving sponsor exemptions has understandably caused some angst among the rank-and-file who never left the DP World Tour.
In recent weeks, the European circuit based near London has made it clear that players must make a choice. CEO Guy Kinnings issued a statement in which he said a DP World Tour player’s membership would be revoked if he signed with LIV 2.0.
Further, the tour has made overtures to LIV players, offering them on a case-by-case basis a number of sponsor invites in DP World Tour events in 2027, provided they don’t sign with LIV Golf.
For someone like Howell, 47, that immediately raised red flags. Howell, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour who signed with LIV Golf in 2022, played the Dunhill Links on an invite recently but hadn’t participated in a regular DP World Tour event outside of the majors and former World Golf Championship events since 2002. He’s played in a total of three during his more than 25-year career.
Should he be gifted spots on the DP World Tour?
Veteran pro Eddie Pepperell believes not. “Not somebody I had on my list of knights in shining armor for the DPWT,” Pepperrell wrote in a Saturday Substack column.
Pepperell’s piece was sound and thorough and written prior to losing his fully exempt status on Sunday with the final full-field event at the Genesis Championship, where he was bumped out of the top 100 exempt spots.
“My view was pretty simple,” Pepperell said in recounting a conversation he had previously with Kinnings. “Give a few players invites who undeniably add stardust. The Joaquin Niemanns of the world, Cam Smith, Bryson (DeChambeau) of course. Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton have their exemptions. Truthfully from my perspective not much else needed to be done, just ensure everybody else goes back to the qualifying school. The idea that Charles Howell III is on this list, with all due respect to Charles — he’s a terrific guy — is utterly bizarre.”
No doubt, Pepperell is not alone in his views. And it is likely a view shared by members of the PGA Tour who wonder how CEO Brian Rolapp might bring the likes of Rahm and DeChambeau back amid possible backlash from his membership.
There is certainly argument that they bring value. There is the counter-argument that they made a decision several years ago that negatively impacted the tours where they previously competed.
And then there is this argument, at least as it relates to the DP World Tour: it views all of this as an opportunity to put an end to LIV Golf. Harsh, but that’s business.
After attempting to play along with LIV for the past five years — allowing LIV players to retain membership provided they pay conflicting event fines and working out a deal earlier this year to waive them — the DP World Tour has taken a hard line for 2027.
It won’t allow its members to double dip and if players want to partake in this program allowing for extra sponsor invites, they can’t commit to LIV 2.0. The idea is to weaken LIV, even if it means the possibility of annoying some of its own membership.
As we noted last week, the social media site @Robopz reported that the DP World Tour has more than 200 sponsor invites to give out across all of its events, including “140-160 of these available to this program.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean it is right to give them to players who might have competed on LIV Golf and had no previous DPWT affiliation. The Q-School refrain will undoubtedly be a strong line of thinking for many. And therein lies the dilemma facing tour leadership.
John Catlin finally earns a Masters invite with Hong Kong victory (Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images)
This week in golf …
Link Hong Kong Open: John Catlin, a 35-year-old American who has made a career plying his trade on far-flung tours, qualifies for his first Masters after winning his seventh career Asian Tour event by five strokes on the Fanling composite course. His 6-under 64 on Sunday left him 20-under and five ahead of local Hong Kong favorite Matthew Cheung and Finland’s Kalle Samooja. Catlin’s victory in Hong Kong earns automatic invites to both the 2027 Masters and the Open Championship at St. Andrews. “It’s like a dream come true,” Catlin said. “I remember when I was 5, 7, 10 years old, practicing, hitting putts to win the Masters. It’s been a long time coming, a lot of hard work, a lot of times when I wasn’t sure what was coming, but you just kind of held the faith. To finally be at the Masters, speechless.” Catlin is the ultimate American journeyman golfer, winning 16 professional events across six different tours including three DP World Tour events in 2020-21. He’s won six different national opens — Ireland, Austria, England, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and now Hong Kong. “Anytime you can win a national open, I think it just adds a little bit of extra prestige,” he said. “It’s amazing for this to be my sixth. If you’d told me that 10 years ago, I probably would have laughed at you. So, it’s truly special.”
Butterfield Bermuda Championship: Dangerous high winds more than 40 mph forced play on Sunday to be canceled at the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall event at Port Royal Golf Course. With the Monday forecast not much more favorable, the tournament was officially reduced to 54 holes. American Austin Smotherman and Ireland’s Seamus Power shared the 54-hole lead at 16-under and will determine the winner in a sudden-death playoff broadcast on Golf Channel and tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. Bermuda time on the 16th hole, weather permitting.
Genesis Championship: Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa won his second DP World Tour title at Woo Jeong Hills CC in South Korea. Katsuragawa matched the course record with a 63 on Saturday and hung on despite a final-round 71 to beat Frenchmen Frederic Lacroix and Martin Couvra by two shots. They sealed their places in the DP World Tour’s first playoff event with a share of second. After starting the week at No. 106 in the Race to Dubai standings — the top 100 after the Korean event retained their DPWT card — Katsuragawa climbed to 28th and into the playoffs. American Sean Crocker shot 6-under 29 on the back nine to finish T34 and climb three spots into the 100th spot to avoid Q School, bumping out England’s Eddie Pepperell.
Eddie Pepperell@PepperellEddieNow, @seancrocker11, that is how you do it. Big balls, minerals you could say. Very well done. You can buy me a bourbon when I next see you. 🥃7:15 AM · Oct 25, 2026 · 164K Views43 Replies · 15 Reposts · 1.09K LikesBMW Ladies Championship: Japan’s Yuri Yoshida shot a final-round 68 to chase down four-stroke leader Haeran Ryu to win her first LPGA event by one stroke over Ryu and Hye-Jin Choi at Pine Beach Golf Links in South Korea. Yoshida, 26, quickly overtook Ryu with an eagle and three birdies in the first seven holes en route to a front-nine 31.
Hero Women’s Indian Open: Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum pulled away to a four-shot victory with a final-round 7-under 65 at DLF G&CC in Delhi to win the Ladies European Tour event in India for an unprecedented fourth time. Phatlum, 36, returned to India for the first time in 14 years and added another trophy to her wins in 2008, 2009 and 2012 when the Indian Open was on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour. It also marked Phatlum’s 23rd career professional win.
Stifel Charity Classic: Rory Sabbatini played the last seven holes in 6-under at Norwood Hills CC in St. Louis to overtake former Open champions Darren Clark and Henrik Stenson to win the PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup playoff event by one shot over Clarke. Sabbatini’s finishing 9-under 62 included eight birdies, two eagles and three bogeys.
Sergio Melpignano Senior Italian Open: England’s Craig Farrelly claimed his maiden Staysure Legends Tour victory with a final-round 7-under 65 to secure a five-shot victory at San Domenico Golf in Puglia, Italy. The win guarantees Farrelly’s full playing rights on the European senior circuit for the remainder of the 2026 season and throughout 2027.
