On May 31, 2021, Phil Mickelson made headlines to win the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course and be the oldest person to win a major. I was there with two friends to watch one of golf’s great moments (and took the picture above). When it seemed that he was set up for retirement or playing on the PGA Champions Tour, he announced his decision to be one of the marquee players for the Saudi Arabia backed LIV Golf. LIV continued to make headlines as notable golfers joined, but things have gotten quiet.

Last week, on November 4, 2025, LIV Golf dropped its latest bombshell: beginning in the 2026 season, every tournament will move from its trademark three-day, 54-hole setup to a traditional four-day, 72-hole format. According to the league’s official statement, this shift marks “a pivotal new chapter” in their so-called evolution as they continue to “grow the league.”¹

If you’ve been following the LIV Golf v. PGA Tour golf saga at all, this feels less like growth and more like surrendering to the traditions of golf.

When LIV first launched, its entire identity was built around being different. Shorter tournaments, shotgun starts, team formats, and no cuts. The name, LIV, came from the Roman numeral for 54.² That was supposed to represent a bold, modern reimagining of golf: faster, flashier, and more fan-friendly. To me, it seemed like every tournament was supposed to be like the Waste Management Open. 

But that boldness came with baggage. LIV’s smaller fields and abbreviated format quickly became the main reason the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) refused to recognize its events.³ For all of LIV’s talk about being a “global league,” the setup didn’t meet the standards that define meaningful, competitive golf.

At first, it seemed like everyone who was someone might go to LIV golf. Phil Mickelson, Bryson Dechambeau, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, and Ian Poulter all moved over, but big names like Tiger, Justin Rose, Tony Finau, and Tommy Fleetwood turned down hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now, LIV is packaging this 72-hole expansion as a move to “challenge players” and “enhance competition.”¹ But the timing and motivation seem obvious (Love him or hate him, Wyndham Clark turned down LIV to play against the best in the world).. Without OWGR points, most LIV players remain ineligible for most majors and global rankings. This change looks like an attempt to finally get in the door.

After the 2024 season, LIV even sent a player survey asking whether the league should move to 72 holes. Reports suggest most of the top players, guys like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, supported the change because it would align LIV events with traditional tournaments. That alone tells the story. The same players who once celebrated LIV for breaking tradition are now asking it to become more traditional.

And sure enough, this switch checks nearly every box the OWGR requires: 72 holes, a cut line, and a full-length format. The problem is that it still leaves LIV’s most glaring flaws unresolved. The fields are too small, there’s no open qualifying, and it remains a closed, invitation-only circuit.

Bryson DeChambeau said the shift would “align LIV with the historic format of golf.”⁴ To me, that’s ironic. The entire brand was built on being the anti-establishment tour and presenting golf as “Golf, but louder.” And now, here they are, quietly walking back to professional competitive golf as we’ve always known it. It went from four rounds to three, and now it’s going back to four. That’s not progress. That’s just undoing your experiment.

LIV was supposed to be the startup that shook up the golf world. Instead, it’s turning into the same thing it was trying to rebel against but with louder music and guaranteed contracts.

When you strip away the press-release language, LIV’s shift feels like an acknowledgment that its model didn’t work. The league couldn’t convince the golf world to embrace 54-hole, no-cut team events as legitimate. Instead of the system adapting to them, they’re adapting to the system. That’s the opposite of disruption.

If you’ve followed LIV’s progress, you’ve probably noticed that the hype has faded. The fields have thinned out. Outside of a few names like Rahm, DeChambeau, and Tyrrell Hatton  it’s hard to argue that LIV is producing much relevance anymore. Even Dustin Johnson, once a star of the league, hasn’t had a truly defining moment since the 2020 Masters.

Golf purists might actually welcome this change. Four rounds of competition are what make golf special. Four rounds tests consistency, stamina, and nerve over time. That’s what separates a solid round from a meaningful win (just as Rory or Tommy Fleetwood). LIV might finally get a taste of that pressure.

But from a storytelling standpoint, the league loses what little edge it had left. Without its unique format, LIV just becomes another expensive tour with loud graphics and shotgun starts. The whole “golf but louder” pitch loses its punch when you’re just playing the same game with different music. 

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