Reed nails win, but LIV status isn't pinned down

2018 Masters winner wants to play everywhere, but will he start in Riyadh in 2 weeks?

Patrick Reed hasn’t signed a LIV Golf deal for 2026 … yet (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Patrick Reed won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday in impressive fashion — and then dropped a bombshell that surely overshadowed his victory in the DP World Tour event.

Reed said he does not have a signed contract to play in 2026 for LIV Golf — which begins its season in less than two weeks.

Reed didn’t suggest he wouldn’t be playing in Riyadh when the season opens under the lights in Saudi Arabia, but the fact that he disclosed that rather important fact is just another distraction for the controversial league, which is beginning its fifth season with some looming questions.

“I mean, I haven’t talked to the team back home or anything like that. But at the moment, I plan on teeing it up there in Riyadh, and I’d be surprised if we’re not,” Reed said.

“Really just all kind of depends on everything.”

Well … and, oh by the way, Brooks Koepka returns to the PGA Tour this week at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Reed’s news was a surprising twist to start 2026.

“We’re still finalizing the contract,” Reed told reporters after winning by four strokes over Andy Sullivan. “We’re not complete on that yet. It’s one of those things that I don’t like to talk business and stuff while I’m playing, and so it’s like Monday through Wednesday is the only time to really talk about it.”

With just two weeks to go before LIV starts its fifth season, it was kind of assumed that all of the LIV players would be locked up by now. The contract situation is cloudy because some players are operating on existing deals, some have been extended — such as Dustin Johnson — and others simply have a deal to play for LIV Golf and its massive prize money.

Reed, who won the 2018 Masters, was not eligible for the “returning member program” pathway back that was offered to Koepka because Reed has not won a major in the 2022-25 timeframe, thus leaving only Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith as the only other eligible players still within the five-year tour exemption window. Reed’s major win was eight years ago.

Earlier in the week, Reed had referred to the PGA Tour as “the best tour” in the world and that he’d consider a return if given the opportunity. But he acknowledged that scenario is not in play for him given a hypothetical question.

Speaking to Golf Digest and The Telegraph (UK) at the Dubai Invitational two weeks ago where he was beginning a three-week Middle East sojourn to start the year on the DP World Tour, Reed said: “Of course, if it were up to me, I’d play everywhere.”

“Right now, it’s not even a decision,” Reed said. “That was for ’22 and on winners. So, I definitely would have to think about it … if that number (came) down to 2018. Right now, it’s hard to say really what we’re going to do or anything like that. Right now, the biggest thing is trying to play some good golf … not only to solidify myself out here on DP, but to have a good momentum going into the year.”

Koepka had already made the decision to leave LIV Golf and reapplied for PGA Tour membership, which was granted on Jan. 12. He will make his PGA Tour return Thursday at Torrey Pines.

Reed will be playing in Bahrain.

“I’m already playing on three tours, why not add one more?” Reed joked to the reporters. “I always enjoyed my time out there on the PGA Tour. Let’s be honest, out there, it’s the best tour in the world. Look at what they’ve done in golf … I could see myself playing there at some point again. But right now, you just never know. Everything’s so fluid.”

In addition to the 14 LIV Golf events Reed played in 2025, he also competed in the four major championships, 10 DP World Tour and four Asian Tour tournaments. That’s 32 starts.

He’s now on a five-week odyssey that is seeing him play three DP World Tour events in the Middle East followed by the LIV opener in Riyadh and then its popular tournament in Adelaide, Australia. That is assuming that Reed either reaches a deal or elects to play without a contract.

It will be interesting to follow.

Reed said he would be “surprised” if he was not in Riyadh and had mentioned earlier that he was on board with his paying his DP World Tour fines by competing in LIV Golf events. The prize money from Dubai will go a long way toward that. But he also floated the idea of simply playing the DP World Tour and trying to work his way back to the PGA Tour via its top 10 exemption.

His success in Dubai moved him to No. 29 in the world, which means he’s all but a lock to be invited to the PGA Championship, with a strong chance to qualify via the Official World Golf Ranking for the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. He will earn an exemption into the U.S. Open if he can stay in the top 60 and the Open cutoff is top 50 this spring.