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Just turned 44 on Monday, Louis Oosthuizen opts to leave LIV after five seasons (LIV Golf)
Oosthuizen will rejoin DP World Tour in 2027
When Louis Oosthuizen left for LIV Golf in 2022, he did so without a lot of the rancor that came with such decisions. He resigned his membership on the PGA Tour. He sent a heartfelt letter to then DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley outlining his decision.
Oosthuizen gave LIV another major champion and someone who embraced the team concept, captaining an all-South African squad for the last five seasons.
But earlier this week, the recently turned 44 Oosthuizen — who won the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews — said via social media he will not be part of a LIV Golf 2.0, instead electing to re-take membership on the DP World Tour in January.
“This is probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my career,” Oosthuizen said of abandoning his captaincy for the all-South African team Southern Guards and returning to the European circuit at age 44.
“Five years ago, I made one of the best decisions of my life, moving away from the traditional golf world and into something very special with LIV Golf and Southern Guards GC,” said Oosthuizen. “I’m the biggest supporter of team golf and always will be. Golf needs more of it.”
The uncertainty regarding LIV’s future and schedule as it tries to continue through bankruptcy hearings forced Oosthuizen to make a choice about what to do with his career as he’s faded from a frequent major championship contender as recently as 2021 to lanquishing at No. 539 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I realised I have a lot more in me, and my biggest fear was that the schedule on LIV 2.0 would be tough to manage,” he said. “I feel I have a few more years of good, competitive golf left in me, and the only way to be really sharp and competitive is through a schedule I control.”
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Ahead of this week’s Link Hong Kong Open — which earns a Masters invitation for the winner — Oosthuizen explained his decision to leave LIV.
“I need to arrange my own schedule and look after my body,” he told the South China Morning Post. “I want to play near one spot for three weeks at a time, not have all the big traveling for one tournament.”
Since finishing runner-up in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open and third in the Open Championship in 2021, Oosthuizen has only started in eight of the last 20 majors, finishing only two of them. He withdrew after opening 76s in both the 2022 and ’23 Masters and missed four cuts. He declined a special invitation to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla citing personal commitments and didn’t play this year’s Open at Royal Birkdale citing a back injury.
“I’ve had some success at majors, but you work and play to have a sniff of that again,” Oosthuizen said in Hong Kong. “I’m at a different stage of my golfing life, but it’s pretty sweet when you still get called the Open champion.
“I hope to get my body and my game in a place next year [to compete for majors] … the Open is at a course I love and where I’ve won (St. Andrews). The goal is to get my game as sharp as possible, to have myself ready, then see how it goes.”
Oosthuizen is the fourth former major winner to officially leave LIV, following Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed earlier in 2026 as well as Jon Rahm’s recent decision. Other players to officially state they’re leaving LIV are David Puig, Charles Howell III and Abraham Ancer. More announcements are expected as a Sunday deadline looms as part of LIV 2.0’s restructuring plan — although it appears likely that deadline will be extended. A bankruptcy hearing on Thursday as well as one scheduled for next week were canceled, with the next one scheduled for Nov 5.
An 11-time winner on the DP World Tour, Oosthuizen never won in five seasons on LIV, though he lost twice in playoffs. Still, the former Open champion cited his connection with his South African teammates — Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester — on the Southern Guards (nee Stingers) as a highlight of his career.
Louis Oosthuizen felt at home with his South African teammates (Matthew Harris/LIV Golf)
“Southern Guards is my team. It always has been and it always will be. That’s what makes this so difficult,” he said. “This is probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my career, but I have to do what I believe is right for my golf. It doesn’t change how I feel about the team or the guys.”
He also said helping bring LIV Golf to South Africa in 2026 as one of his proudest achievements: “Bringing LIV Golf to South Africa was one of the best things I’ve done in my career. It was for the people of South Africa, and I think it was a great success. That’s the best thing that came out of this year.”
Unlike Jon Rahm, whose announcement that he’s leaving LIV came in a cold delivery by his lawyer during bankruptcy proceedings, Oosthuizen’s departure was more heartfelt.
“I’ll always be grateful to PIF and LIV for what they did for me,” he said. “I made new friends and got even closer to my current friends and family,” he said.
Oosthuizen is the fourth former major winner to officially leave LIV, following Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed earlier in 2026 as well as Rahm’s recent decision. Other players to officially state they’re leaving LIV are David Puig, Charles Howell III and Abraham Ancer. More announcements are expected as a Sunday deadline looms as part of LIV 2.0’s restructuring plan.
Latest LIV bankruptcy hearing canceled
LIV Golf was due in a New Jersey court on Thursday to continue bankruptcy proceedings, but the meeting was canceled without reason and was “adjourned” until Nov. 5.
The reasons for this could be numerous, including the possibility of settlement discussions.
BC Partners, which is the lead investor in a potential LIV 2.0. has been given court approval to move forward with a transition from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which earlier this year pulled its funding after five years of exorbitant spending that saw LIV sign several high-profile players.
Part of the bankruptcy proceedings saw BC Partners set a deadline for player commitments which has been extended to Sunday and is likely to be moved again.
