While LIV Golf appear to have added greater depth over the winter, it is fair to say that they have failed to make a marquee signing ahead of the 2026 season.
There was a time when much of the talk at the end of the golf season concerned which big names LIV Golf would be able to lure away from the PGA Tour.
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Brooks Koepka has left, while they have signed the likes of Laurie Canter and Thomas Detry so far
Obviously, most made the jump in the early stages. But LIV made a real statement with their signing of Jon Rahm in December 2023. That looked set to be the move which would force the two sides to reach a deal.
The Times reported shortly after that the league wanted to sign Tyrrell Hatton after they had been turned down by Tommy Fleetwood.
Tommy Fleetwood suggests whether he has had interest from LIV Golf this winter
LIV have been linked with some notable names on the PGA Tour this winter. Max Greyserman was in talks over an eight-figure move, while Akshay Bhatia rejected the chance to make the jump.
You would have thought that LIV would have touched base with the large majority of players in the hope that they could convince them to join. Byeong Hun An was one of those who changed his mind and decided to make the switch.
But speaking ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic this week, Fleetwood insisted that he has received no contact from LIV.
“Yeah, they haven’t sniffed around me in this postseason. Yeah, I don’t know,” he said.
“We don’t really talk about it that much. I haven’t heard of that. I think you definitely see changes, and I think some very good golfers have gone over to LIV and have chosen to go to LIV. It’s probably going to cost a lot of money, right, to get some big-name players.
“You know, I don’t know what their strategy will be or who they will be looking at to go or how they want to go about it, but they don’t talk to me.”
LIV Golf are still figuring out the direction the league wants to go in
LIV appear to be enduring something of an identity crisis right now. There is no question at all that they have signed a number of the best young players in the game.
They also have stars like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau seemingly sticking around.
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Perhaps they will be vindicated for making the middle of the pack stronger. The likes of Victor Perez and Laurie Canter are unlikely to become household names, but they are upgrades on the players they are replacing.
But if LIV are going nowhere, then perhaps it would have been wise to sign younger players. The large majority of new names heading into 2026 are approaching their mid-30s.
As things stand, it appears that LIV Golf’s best hope of closing the gap to the PGA Tour is to have their crop of youngsters develop into potential major contenders – while also keeping the door open for the world’s best to change their mind along the way.
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