Team captain shares how he convinced player to give up his PGA Tour dream to join LIV Golf for 2025

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As 2025 looms, LIV Golf are yet to announce any superstar signings, with only a couple of players from the open zone yet to be re-signed by their current teams.

Of course, this time of the year probably has PGA Tour executives on edge, with LIV Golf managing to send shockwaves through the sport with the signing of Jon Rahm 12 months ago. And there were recent claims that Tony Finau had agreed to make the jump this time around. Finau has since distanced himself from those reports.

The PGA Tour is certainly not out of the woods yet. But with the first LIV event of 2025 less than two months away, it is notable that there are just six spots left to fill in the league – five if Bubba Watson does indeed remain as RangeGoats’ captain.

Iron Heads GC have confirmed their lineup for the new year. While they teased potential wholesale changes on social media, Kevin Na’s men have kept Danny Lee and Jinichiro Kozuma. And they have followed that by announcing the signing of Yubin Jang.

Kevin Na explains how he convinced Yubin Jang to join LIV Golf

Jang has won the Order of Merit on the Korean Tour in 2024, and was looking set to compete in Q-School to earn a spot on the PGA Tour. However, the youngster has opted to instead join LIV Golf.

And speaking on Flushing It, Na explained how Jang came to join his team ahead of 2025, noting that they initially spoke last year.

“He said, ‘obviously, I want to play the PGA Tour, and I want to play against the best players in the world at a higher level’. I said, ‘good for you, that sounds amazing, it seems like you’ve got the game to do it, but what about LIV?’ At the time, he didn’t know all that much. He knew about LIV, but he didn’t know in depth. And I went through what LIV was all about and why LIV was the better choice for him. He started thinking maybe LIV is the place for him. Unfortunately, last year, the timing, we couldn’t get him a spot. But he was definitely interested,” he said.

“So we kept an eye on him throughout the season, and sure enough, he goes and wins the money title. But before he won the money title, some time in the summer, I called him and said, ‘hey, where are you at? What is your goal?’ And he said, ‘well, I don’t know’. I said, ‘what about joining the Iron Heads?’ He said, ‘well we kind of had this conversation last year and you weren’t sure if there was a spot for me, where’s the situation now?’ I said, ‘I am 99.9 percent sure that I can get you a spot’. He goes, ‘give me a couple of days to think about it’.

“He called me back in a few days and said, ‘I’m in’. I said, ‘okay, you’re in, alright, great. Once we’ve decided to do this, you’re going all the way, not changing your mind, you’re not listening to all the other people that send you negative information or what it might be’. And he said, ‘I’m a man of my word and I’m going all the way’.

“The reason why he wanted to do this was, for him to go to Q-School, to finish in the top five; yes he’s a great player, but most likely, he’s going to go to the Korn Ferry Tour. For him to play Korn Ferry Tour a year or two, who knows how many years it will take for him to get on the PGA Tour. And then to move up the rankings to get in the elevated events, it takes two to three years, maybe four years. But for him to come straight to LIV and play against the best in the world and have a multi-year contract, this makes sense for him.”

LIV Golf may be facing a ‘huge’ problem ahead of 2025

It feels like a crucial period for LIV if they are not going to make any household name signings in this off-season. Of course, with PIF behind them, they have the funds to always be a threat to the PGA Tour. But it does seem that no-one of Rahm’s stature will be making the move this winter.

Obviously, it was huge for LIV to have the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka join initially, while signing Rahm was a real statement. But it has been suggested that LIV has a ‘huge’ problem and is in danger of becoming stale, as they show loyalty to many of the players who took a risk and made the jump.

If Jang realises the potential Na believes he has, it could be an inspired move for LIV. But he is not a household name for the large majority of the audience.

LIV has to find a way to sign the younger players who can become superstars. It will be interesting to see whether Jang can succeed where some of their current starlets have, so far, struggled.