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The PGA Tour is undercutting LIV Golf in a major way by striking a new multiyear deal with the Asian Tour, which has had a significant financial and competitive partnership with LIV since the league launched in 2022.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which have a strategic alliance, will partner with the Asian Tour in a deal—running through at least 2029—that will establish pathways for the leading Asian Tour members to earn status on the DP World Tour beginning next season. The DP World Tour will also co-sanction select tournaments with the Asian Tour.
From 2016 to 2021, the Asian Tour had a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour. But in 2022, ahead of its inaugural season, LIV committed to investing $300 million in the Asian Tour over the next decade. That helped create the International Series, a set of marquee events on the Asian Tour with elevated $2 million purses that provided pathways for players to earn spots on LIV. The International Series also allowed LIV members to earn Official World Golf Ranking points before the league began receiving ranking points this year.
There are five International Series events remaining in 2026, and the expectation is the Asian Tour will not renew its deal with LIV after this season.
“Our priority is to maintain the International Series events planned for later this year in some form and to finish with a strong run of tournaments at the end of the season,” a spokesperson for the Asian Tour tells Front Office Sports. “We will continue to monitor the progress of LIV Golf, as well as continuing to work with the PIF at the Saudi International, which will continue to be our season finale. LIV players can still play on the Asian Tour if they are eligible or by invite.”
A LIV Golf spokesperson told FOS that all International Series events this year will continue, and declined to comment on the status of LIV’s overall investment in the Asian Tour.
“A significant amount of funding towards events was made over the last 5 years which largely went to creating events and supporting prize funds,” the Asian Tour spokesperson said. “We are glad to see some of those events are now sustainable on our own, but there is no doubt that there will be some sort of impact on the tournament schedule.”
Asian Tour commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said in a statement in Tuesday morning’s announcement: “We feel the time is now right to collaborate with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour to enhance the Asian Tour for our members, fans and partners.
“Bringing the three Tours together under one partnership will increase the bandwidth of the professional game in Asia. Not only will co-sanctioning events see our members competing regularly on the global stage, but we are excited to welcome players from the other Tours to our pinnacle events, which showcase the strength and diversity of golf in Asia.”
Thant led negotiations for the Asian Tour; for the DP World Tour it was CEO Guy Kinnings and chief tournament and operations officer Ben Cowen; on the PGA Tour side, SVP of international Christian Hardy and chief commercial officer Dhruv Prasad headed up talks.
“Together, we are creating new opportunities for players, enhancing key national opens around the world and continuing to evolve and strengthen pathways to identify and develop the next generation of elite talent,” Hardy said in a statement
The additional efforts around national opens are notable because LIV has also been prioritizing ways to collaborate with some of those tournaments in 2027 and beyond. This year, the Masters and Open Championship began awarding spots to the winners of six select national opens. Tom McKibbin was the first LIV player to win his way into Augusta National by claiming victory at the 2025 Hong Kong Open, an International Series event.
“By increasing collaboration and alignment, the organizations can better support players, strengthen key tournaments, including National Opens in the region such as the Hong Kong Open, and create greater opportunities across the global golf landscape,” a PGA Tour spokesperson said in a statement to FOS.
Other likely International Series candidates that could see greater investment are tournaments like the Singapore Open and Philippine Open, a source told FOS.
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