LIV Golf’s offseason recruitment didn’t go to plan.
As they set about rebranding their Iron Heads GC into Korean Golf Club, featuring a new all-South Korean lineup, LIV weren’t able to land the names they’d hoped to sign.
First, negotiations with Si Woo Kim fell through at a late stage, as Kim wanted to replace Kevin Na as captain. LIV also couldn’t sign Sungjae Im to the team. Then Na did step away, which meant the Saudi-backed league had to scramble to fill the team.
In the end, they picked up 2009 US Amateur champion Byeong-hun An, who is 99th in the Official World Golf Ranking and has never won on the PGA Tour. Joining An on Korean GC is Min-kyu Kim, who made his name on the Asian Tour, and Younghan Song, a reserve last year. Not exactly ground-breaking signings.
An is the biggest of the new names, despite not reaching his full potential as a pro. But LIV won’t be happy about what he said about the tour in 2023.
What Byeong-hun An said about LIV Golf in 2023
An wasn’t exactly buzzing to be LIV Golf’s newest signing, judging by what he said after the news was announced.
He said, “There were no real talks, there were some rough drafts out there after the [2025] season, but nothing that I was interested in. I was kind of meh about it and then literally three weeks ago it started to get into the real talk. It all happened very quickly.”
It’s unknown exactly how much LIV paid An to join, but it must have been a substantial amount. He said back in 2023 that the only thing to like about the Saudi-backed league is the money.
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He posted to X, “I would not play LIV if no money was offered. I like playing on PGA Tour. Don’t see a reason for trying LIV without lots of money”.
It’s not like An was struggling to make ends meet on the PGA Tour. He has over $20 million in career earnings, making him the all-time leader in PGA Tour prize money without a victory after Tommy Fleetwood won the Tour Championship.
But after Kim and Im turned down LIV, they were likely forced to overpay An, which is a real problem.
Why Byeong-hun An represents a fatal problem for LIV Golf
The An saga was a worrying sign for LIV Golf, and it highlights a greater issue for the tour that goes far beyond Korean GC. Every star who would have taken the LIV money, has.
At the beginning, LIV was able to land major names. Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, and Brooks Koepka joining in 2022 represented a real shift in the golfing landscape, and when Jon Rahm followed in 2023, there were concerns about the future of the PGA Tour.
But this offseason showed they have run out of players interested in the money. And that was LIV’s only pitch. There’s no curveball to switch to.
The PGA Tour proved in 2025 that it’s a better product. They play on better courses, with deeper traditions. And when all four majors were won by PGA Tour players, and only three LIV Golf players made the Ryder Cup, it became clear that the tour is better at giving its players a competitive edge.
Who can LIV Golf sign to save their offseason?
That said, all LIV can offer that the PGA Tour cannot is head-turning money, and that money simply isn’t turning heads anymore. If a PGA Tour player was interested in the cash, they’d have taken it two years ago.
And as for out-of-form players such as Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, LIV hasn’t proven itself as a viable option for them to get their careers back on track.
Koepka, Cameron Smith, and Rahm are among the many star names who have seen their games deteriorate massively since signing. Yes, Rahm won the individual championship, but he was winless in 2025.
That means LIV now has to offer average PGA Tour players big money in order to attract new signings, and Kim proved that even that might not work. If LIV can only bring in players like An, then they’re in real trouble in their ongoing battle with the PGA Tour.
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