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Oosthuizen quits LIV and gives up the Southern Guards captaincy
The 2010 Open champion will return to the DP World Tour in January. None of his three Southern Guards teammates is among the four players publicly committed to LIV 2.0.
Louis Oosthuizen will not sign for LIV 2.0 and plans to return to the DP World Tour in January 2027, he said in a statement posted on X on Wednesday. He has captained Southern Guards GC, LIV’s all-South African team, since the league’s first season in 2022. Its best finish this season was second at Steyn City in March.
“My biggest fear was that the schedule on LIV 2.0 would be tough to manage,” Oosthuizen, 44, said in the statement, which also called Southern Guards “my team. It always has been and it always will be.” LIV 2.0 is the smaller, player-owned league planned for 2027 under the bankruptcy rescue. He told the South China Morning Post that it would mean “a lot of international travel for single events”.
Golf Digest lists four players as publicly committed to the new league: Richard Bland, Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and Ben Campbell. His three teammates, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester, are not among them. LIV’s players have until Sunday 25 October to decide. Those who stay cannot be DP World Tour members in 2027, and those who leave must apply for membership by 16 November, Golf Digest reports.
Oosthuizen has won 11 times on the DP World Tour and, besides his Open title at St Andrews, has been runner-up at least once in each of the other three majors. Golf Digest counts three top-three finishes in majors in 2021 and only two major cuts made in the five years since. In LIV events he was twice a runner-up but never won.
Oosthuizen’s next start is the Link Hong Kong Open at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, from 22 to 25 October. It will be his first event after two months out injured, according to the South China Morning Post.
Sources
- Louis Oosthuizen on X: statement
- Golf Digest: Another major champ leaves LIV Golf; just four players publicly committed to league days before deadline
- South China Morning Post: Louis Oosthuizen admits ‘time to move on’ from LIV Golf ahead of Hong Kong Open
- IOL: ‘A schedule I control’: Oosthuizen quits LIV Golf for DP World Tour return
- TimesLive: Time to move on, says Louis Oosthuizen as he confirms LIV Golf exit
- Field Level Media: Louis Oosthuizen departs LIV Golf, eyes return to DP World Tour
- Australian Golf Digest: Oosthuizen latest to quit LIV Golf for DP Tour return
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