Tour confidential: should LIV Golf add another star?

Join us every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week we discuss LIV Golf’s outdoor seasons, St. Andrews’ renovations and more.

It was recently reported that Dustin Johnson re-signed with LIV Golf, and Bryson DeChambeau has also been transparent about his contract. While some of the exact contract details of other LIV stars aren’t public, what’s more important for LIV this offseason: keeping its current stars, or should it make another Jon Rahm-like splash and sign a big name like it last did a few years ago?

Josh Berhow, Editor-in-Chief (@Josh_Berhow): You could say that LIV is ready for a major addition. Anthony Kim joined in 2024 and although he hasn’t performed well, it was a surprising and splashy name. However, I wonder if there are any current, established PGA Tour pros who would leave at this point, like another guy at the Rahm level. Part of me thinks that the loyalty has already been cemented, and that luring away a big name would be much harder than it sounds. Bringing back some of those key figures should probably be the priority.

Sean Zak, Editor-in-Chief (@sean_zak): LIV doesn’t need a new star. Seven more stars are needed. The league simply doesn’t have enough elite player firepower to attract a substantial audience. Joaquin Niemann was great; Cam Smith doesn’t have that. Bryson DeChambeau was great; Brooks Koepka has been up and down. Sergio Garcia was pretty good; Phil Mickelson doesn’t have that. As I have been saying for three years now, all the money in the world can buy big names, but it cannot guarantee that they will play great and compelling golf.

Josh Schrock, editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): Everyone feels pretty entrenched in their respective sides now. As Zak noted, LIV needs a few more stars to move the needle. I doubt those movements exist. Their best move is to re-sign their big names. If they lose one or two of their best guys, the air will really leave the balloon.

A player who turned down an invitation to the PGA Tour and instead joined LIV Golf, Tom McKibbin, earned invitations to the 2026 Masters and Open Championship when he won the Hong Kong Open on Sunday. This comes a few months after Augusta National and the R&A announced that the winners of six domestic opens (Scottish, Spanish, Japan, Hong Kong, Australian and South African) would earn places in those two majors. Still without points in the world rankings, are these new exemptions good recruiting points for LIV?

Berhow: They’re not bad for recruiting, as it does provide additional opportunities for majors, but it targets the wrong type of players. Yes, LIV can benefit from bringing in young talent, but a bunch of up-and-coming Tom McKibbins won’t turn heads. They need established stars; and those guys probably aren’t worried about these extra invites because ideally they wouldn’t need them.

Bag: Not really. To get major access through those events, you almost always have to do that win. As if you are that good, you beat everyone else in a big field. It’s definitely not really a carrot.

Schrock: It’s better than not having access, but it’s still so miniscule that it won’t attract the type of players they need to move the needle.

When these exemptions were announced, the caveat was made that the winners of PGA Tour Fall Series events will no longer receive Masters exemptions. Do you like the change? Or do you prefer that fall event winners earn them?

Berhow: I like this better. This fall, focus on earning PGA Tour status. Moreover, the Masters is more global than ever. This makes sense.

Bag: It doesn’t bother me that Fall Series events don’t get automatic berths. I wouldn’t mind if Augusta made more invites through the OWGR year-end rankings, which are a greater representation of skill than a week in a weaker field.

Schrock: I prefer that the invitations go to winners of national opens rather than to weaker PGA Tour fields. Golf is a global game and the Masters has prioritized the global nature of the sport in recent years. Hold the FedEx Cup Fall about earning a card, and ask guys who want to earn a trip to Augusta National to play in the national openers.

The world’s most respected links golf course, St Andrews’ Old Course, will add bunkers and be extended by 132 meters ahead of the 2027 Open Championship, a move that R&A chief executive Grant Moir said is “appropriate” to adapt “well” to the way the modern game is played. Are you concerned about adding length to a historic trail like this?

Berhow: I think there’s something shocking about the Old Course making these kinds of announcements. If a 60-year-old country club needs to extend its course because of modern equipment, so be it, but when you hear from some of golf’s biggest cathedrals essentially saying, “What we have right now isn’t that,” it gives you pause. We don’t like to change classic things – golf courses, cars, recipes, you get the idea. I’m curious to see what this looks like on site, where there isn’t much room to work with. One wonders if these T-shirts will stick around for future post-rollback openings at St. Andrews.

Bag: It’s just not easy to see where the new tee boxes will be placed on certain holes. The extended Old Course is starting to eat up space in itself. But at the end of the day, it’s mainly about Open Championship Week, so we won’t talk about it more than one month every five years.

Schrock: I don’t know if it concerns me, but it speaks to the broader issue that professional golf faces in terms of distance and equipment. We want to see the best in the world play meaningful tournaments on historic courses. And we want to see them play the course the way it was intended. When I was at the Truist Championship at Philly Cricket Club this year, the difference in the way the course was played in no conditions on the first day compared to the second round, when it was raining and windy, showed how these Golden Age courses can still pose a challenge when the ball isn’t flying for miles. We won’t talk about the Old Course changes except for one week every five years, but it’s about the bigger issue.

Happy Birthday, Gary Player, who turned 90 on Saturday. What is your most memorable interaction or story about the Black Knight?

Berhow: I met Gary ten years ago, just a few weeks into his job, and we did sit-ups together for a video that I don’t think ever saw the light of day. He was loud and energetic and kept hitting my stomach, which sounds about right when you think of Gary Player.

Bag: Honestly, my most memorable interaction was watching Player punch Josh in the stomach.

Schrock: I’m sorry I missed the Black Knight punching Berhow’s gut.