Pieters and Howell III turn down LIV 2.0 without a European card

Thomas Pieters will not sign for LIV 2.0, he told Flushing It Golf on 15 October. He won six times on the DP World Tour before joining LIV in 2023 and has spent the past two seasons on Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces team. A day later Sports Business Journal reported that Charles Howell III would also not join the relaunched league when his contract runs out at the end of the year. Both want to play the DP World Tour in 2027. Neither holds a card.

The DP World Tour has approved a process for players leaving LIV. Today’s Golfer reported that some could be offered ten or more invitations next year, though not to Rolex Series events. Players who stay with LIV cannot be members in 2027, and applications for membership close on 16 November.

“I’m going to try and get invites, but I don’t want to get a freebie or something,” Pieters told Today’s Golfer in July, when he said he would also play the HotelPlanner Tour, Europe’s second tier. He has not said whether he has entered this year’s qualifying school. Its second stage is at four Spanish courses from 29 October to 1 November, and the final stage runs from 6 to 11 November at Infinitum in Tarragona, with 15 cards and ties available, down from 20 last year.

Howell missed the cut at this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Before that his last DP World Tour starts were the 2020 US Open and Masters, according to GOLF.com. He won three times on the PGA TOUR between 2002 and 2018, played for Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC and is 510th in the world.

Jon Rahm, David Puig and Abraham Ancer have already said they are leaving, and the Polish journalist Jacek Person has reported that Adrian Meronk will not extend his deal, Golf Digest says. LIV has asked its players to commit by 25 October and expects to decide by 31 October whether it will carry on next year or wind down.

Sources

• Field Level Media: Report – Thomas Pieters not on board for LIV Golf 2.0
• GOLF.com: 2 more LIV players head for exit, eye DP World Tour futures
• Golf Digest: All the players who have left LIV Golf (so far)
• Today’s Golfer: ‘I don’t have an ego’ – LIV Golf star prepared to head to Q School if league folds
• Today’s Golfer: LIV Golf stars set to agree exit plan with major DP World Tour deal
• AmateurGolf.com: 2026 DP World Tour Q-School guide
• GolfMagic: Report – LIV Golf hit by another exit as Dustin Johnson’s teammate quits