Pat Perez sat down with Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on Wednesday at Whiskey Row in Scottsdale, and Knost chose an obvious place to start: “Let’s just catch up on your situation.”
“It’s quite the situation,” Perez said.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the PGA Tour/LIV Golf news cycle this past month, let’s catch you up.
The tour established a returning member program and Brooks Koepka reunited and played last week in Torrey Pines (and this week in Phoenix). And just last week, Patrick Reed announced that he will be leaving LIV Golf and will return to the PGA Tour later this year after his membership is reinstated.
Reed headlined last week’s news, though three other former LIV players — Hudson Swafford, Kevin Na and Perez — were also announced as returning to the Tour. Perez, the release said, reinstated his membership in January 2026, is now serving his disciplinary action and is eligible to return to PGA Tour-sanctioned competition on January 1, 2027.
On Wednesday, Perez, who turns 50 in March, said he will play in three majors this summer – they are not run by the Tour, so he is not suspended by them – and may play a bit on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour. He also looks forward to playing full-time on the PGA Tour Champions circuit come 2027.
During Wednesday’s live taping, Perez talked about the whirlwind of the past few years.
“It’s a lot of travel (at LIV Golf), I’ll tell you that much,” he said. “Some trips are 30 hours; they take incredible care of you; I had a blast, I really did. I’ve been playing on the PGA Tour 21 years, I’ve never talked to anybody from LIV. And all of a sudden I’m at dinner at the Memorial and I get a call from (Dustin Johnson). He says, ‘Hey, bro, I’ve got to sign up.’
Perez said a contact was sent more than a week later. He looked at it and decided to sign.
“I knew if I did that, Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour weren’t kidding when they said you’re gone,” Perez said. “It wasn’t just financial. It’s like, well, I’m going to be off the tour, and I didn’t really want to be off the tour, but I wasn’t playing well, I was struggling, 46 years old, trying to get to the Champions Tour and I just didn’t know if I was going to make it all there. LIV was really an incredible journey of being phenomenal. Playing with him, Brooks and Bryson and those guys was fun, but I don’t know, I don’t know if I could do it again.”
For more from Perez on his return, streaming, the difference between traveling to LIV vs. the PGA Tour and other topics, you can listen to the entire episode. here or look to YouTube below.
