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LIV Golf's future for 2027 and beyond was already up in the air, but the rival golf league just suffered a devastating blow that could kill it for good. On Tuesday, Evin Priest and Joel Beall of Golf Digest reported that the Asian Tour, LIV Golf's feeder tour, is set to re-align with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour
Starting in 2027, top Asian Tour players will earn cards to the DP World and Europe’s secondary HotelPlanner Tour instead of LIV Golf. Additionally, national opens on the Asian Tour will not be connected to LIV Golf anymore.
This decision comes at a disastrous time for LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil, who is still seeking external capital for 2027 after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund withdrew its funding. O'Neil had been pitching the Asian Tour's national opens in his proposals to new investors, but those tournaments are no longer part of LIV Golf's offerings.
Why the Asian Tour is re-aligning with PGA Tour, DP World Tour amid LIV Golf struggles
With LIV Golf facing an uncertain future, the Asian Tour needed to act quickly to secure a stable partnership. At the same time, the PGA Tour saw an opportunity to strengthen its inventory and crush LIV's in one smooth stroke.
"I think the timing is just right now, it's all about timing," Asian Tour CEO Cho Min Thant told Golf Digest. "We'd kept in touch [with the DP World Tour] over all these years. Six years ago, it was right for us to do a partnership with LIV Golf, but given the circumstances now, we've had to look at other options."
"Pathways to different tours are very important for our members," Thant continued. "We've got the Asian Development Tour, which feeds into the main tour. We've got several co-sanctions with other tours as well. I think over the last five years, our membership has become a little bit more cosmopolitan. There are a lot more foreigners playing in Asia now and they enjoy coming to Asia, but we also need pathways to progress onto bigger tours."
LIV Golf can't provide that right now, so the Asian Tour had no choice but to seek other options. Unfortunately for LIV, this move severely diminishes its chances of scoring external funding — chances that already seemed slim in the first place.
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