LIV Golf reportedly adds PGA Tour winner, new pro to roster

With the start of its fifth season a month away, LIV Golf is said to have agreed to add two players on her list.

Tom Kershaw of The Times reported Tuesday that Thomas Detry and Elvis Smylie will join the breakaway league.

Detry is the 57th-ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking and won last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open in a sweep.

“It’s unbelievable,” Detry said after the win at TPC Scottsdale, his first on the PGA Tour. “This is what dreams are made of. The last walk on the last hole was incredible. It all goes by so fast you don’t have time to enjoy it – luckily my caddy was there to tell me to enjoy the moment. It’s pretty special.”

Less than 12 months later, Detry will reportedly join LIV in the Saudi-backed league’s highest signing since adding Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in 2024. According to Kershaw, Detry will join the 4Aces along with Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Thomas Pieters, with Harold Varnersh III.

Smylie is a 23-year-old Australian whose biggest win to date came at the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship; he would be a natural to join the Australian Ripper GC team, who parted ways with Matt Jones after last season. Jones is on the floor at this week’s LIV Promotions event.

The reported signings of Detry and Smylie come at the end of a difficult season for LIV, which saw the league breakaway lose Brooks Koepkawho left the league to spend “more time” with his family.

Koepka’s exit and uncertainty surrounding his possible return to the PGA Tour have created some unanswered questions about the future of LIV and the broken state of professional golf.

Rory McIlroy said if it was up to him, he would welcome Koepka’s return on the PGA Tour if you want the five-time major champion. But McIlroy also acknowledged that the decision is more complex than that.

“Does it make sense if Brooks wanted to play the PGA Tour again to get him back as soon as possible? Absolutely,” McIlroy told The Palm Beach Post on Friday after his Boston Common Golf team won DATE match on the Los Angeles Golf Club. “What Brooks has done in the game of golf, it would be great if everyone could take it back.

“It’s difficult (because) you can’t treat one person any differently than you treat others,” McIlroy said. “And as much as the Tour would like to treat Brooks differently, it sets a legal precedent, because of the lawsuits that have happened and everything else behind the scenes. He’s still banned from the Tour because of his big wins. That’s not the obstacle. The obstacle is how they’ve treated others who have tried to come back, as difficult as it is.”

Koepka’s decision to leave LIV as well decided to renew Bryson DeChambeau’s contract under the microscope.

The two-time US Open champion has said he wants to re-sign with LIV, but it’s clear he understands he has more leverage now than ever following Koepka’s departure.

“It’s a scenario that’s very unique,” DeChambeau said Flushing It. “With Brooks leaving, it definitely throws in some unique things. And look, I mean, like I’ve said all along, I want to do this, I want to grow team golf around the globe. But it has to be right. And there’s a lot of things that have to be done in order for it to be right, you know?

“Things have to change. Things have to improve. And I think (CEO Scott O’Neil) has done a fabulous job with the year he’s had. And I think this year is going to be even better, now he’s got the right people in place and he can run the organization the way he wants to do it here. So it’s going to be interesting with what’s new, especially interesting to watch. I’m not running this thing at all, to be honest with you, but it is what it is, isn’t it?

This off-season has also seen LIV go 72 holes and add another league spot in a bid to gain points in the Official World Golf Ranking.

LIV still has a few spots to fill in its 57-man league. Three places are up for grabs in this week’s Promotions event. of breakaway league added Laurie Canter this offseason. Canter, who played at LIV when he first burst onto the scene, earned his PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour this year but chose to return to the Saudi-backed league instead. Scott Vincent and Yosuke Asaji earned spots by finishing in the top two in the standings during the Asian Tour-based International Series season. Victor Perez also joined Cleeks GC this offseason.

The next season begins in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 4-7.