‘It all depends’: Patrick Reed reveals he’s not signed to LIV until 2026

Former Masters champion Patrick Reed scored a statement victory at the 2026 Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. But the longtime LIV Golf pro made an even bigger statement after his round.

Three weeks before the start of the 2026 LIV Golf season, Reed revealed he is still not signed to play in the league this year.

But Reed went further and admitted that he has come up with an alternative plan for this season if he does not sign with LIV.

Here’s what you need to know.

Patrick Reed’s shocking confession about the LIV contract

Reed wrapped up his first start of the new year in style on Sunday, completing a final-round 72 to seal a four-shot win at the Dubai Desert Classic. It was the fourth DP World Tour-sanctioned win of Reed’s career, and perhaps his biggest victory since the 2018 Masters.

The former PGA Tour star’s most recent win before Sunday came at the 2025 LIV Golf Dallas tournament last June, where Reed triumphed in a four-man playoff to earn his first LIV win.

For Reed, who won nine PGA Tour events before shooting to LIV Golf in 2022, Sunday’s win is crucial. Unlike his victory in LIV Dallas, his victory in Dubai earned him a lot of points in the world rankings. His OWGR rank heading into Dubai, 44th, will improve dramatically on Monday.

But Sunday’s most shocking news came after Reed’s win. Despite finishing seventh in the 2025 LIV individual standings, Reed revealed he has not yet signed a new LIV Golf contract for 2026.

And in three weeks the season starts in Saudi Arabia.

“We are still finalizing the [LIV Golf] contract. We are not done with that yet,” Reed began at his press conference after the tournament in Dubai on Sunday.

When asked to clarify his statement, Reed confirmed that he is not currently signed with LIV, and while he expects to play at LIV’s season opener in Riyadh the first week of February, he is currently out of the field.

“Not that I know of. Not right now. Actually, it all depends on everything,” Reed explained. “I mean, I haven’t spoken to the team back home or anything like that yet. But right now I’m planning on doing it there in Riyadh, and I’d be surprised if that’s not the case.”

Although Reed had commented earlier this week on paying fines to the DP World Tour for playing LIV (and his interest in playing on the PGA Tour again), he had not acknowledged the tenuous nature of his LIV contract.

On Sunday, he explained that he had pushed his LIV status out of his mind this week as he tried to focus on winning the tournament.

“And so, it’s just one of those things that when I got here this week, I knew that when it came to Thursday, I just had to focus on golf and golf. You know, starting tonight and tomorrow, we’ll get back to talking and things like that,” Reed said. “But the most important thing for me right now is that I’m just going to play well this week. I obviously got the win. Hopefully I can carry that momentum into next week and hopefully compete again late on Sunday.”

In that regard, mission accomplished for Reed. But he revealed something else on Sunday: He has one eye on the PGA Tour should his LIV contract negotiations end badly.

Reed is looking forward to the PGA Tour if the LIV contract falls through

While Reed was confident his LIV contract would eventually be ironed out before the season starts, he is working on an alternate plan for the year in case he doesn’t play on LIV.

And that alternative path ends on the PGA Tour.

Reed first revealed that he is not in talks with the PGA Tour “at this time,” and then said that if he does not sign with LIV, he will play the DP World Tour in 2026 with the goal of returning to the PGA Tour.

“Continue playing here [on the DP World Tour] and be in the Top 10 and compete on the PGA Tour next year,” Reed began, referring to the fact that the top 10 players in the DP World Tour standings will earn a 2027 PGA Tour card at the end of the season.

“Yeah, I mean, if I didn’t play at LIV this year, obviously it would be one of those things that I would play here more on this tour and try to secure one of those spots in the Top 10, and allow myself to get back on the PGA Tour,” Reed continued.

But he also reiterated that since he focused on his golf this week, he has not received the latest updates from his team on the LIV contract negotiations.

“It’s just one of those things with contracts and stuff. There’s a lot of language and wording in contracts and stuff, and really, right now, I mean, I don’t know what everything stands for,” Reed said Sunday. “I mean, everything could have been done and completed. I mean, I haven’t talked to my team in the last few days. It’s obviously been a strange time at home compared to being here.”

One thing is certain after his big win in Dubai on Sunday. If Reed really hasn’t signed with LIV for this season yet, his asking price has simply increased significantly.