LIV Exodus Sparks Tension Over DP World Tour Returns

Four more players have confirmed they will not be part of LIV Golf's revamped 2.0 format, deepening the breakaway league's player exodus and reigniting arguments over how returnees should be welcomed back into established tours.

Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton, Lucas Herbert and Tom McKibbin all announced on the same day that they were stepping away from LIV, according to Yahoo Sports, with each expected to resume playing on the DP World Tour next season.

Their arrival would add to a group already strengthening the European circuit, with Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann set to feature prominently in what Yahoo Sports described as a notably strong DP World Tour field for 2027.

Not every DP World Tour member is pleased by the prospect. Ewen Ferguson, who has won three times on the tour since joining in 2022, used social media to question the timing of some players' change of heart.

"I have to say, some of the LIV players coming back to play DP is actually cool as some (are) really good players, but hilarious how some of them slammed the tour for so long, not one good thing to say about it, now it's the best thing since sliced bread and feels like coming home," Ferguson wrote on X.

Richard Mansell, another DP World Tour winner, backed Ferguson's stance in a reply on the same platform. "Spot on my mate. I haven't been around the tour a lot this year and when I have since coming back from injury my golf hasn't been where I want it so I don't want to say too much," he wrote.

Mansell added a pointed line about the road ahead: "However, things are going to look different in 2027. Some should be allowed back and some shouldn't…"

At the heart of the dispute is whether returning LIV players should be handed starts on the DP World Tour or be required to earn their place through qualifying school. Jose Luis Ballester, Luis Masaveu and Michael La Sasso are among several LIV golfers currently listed in the Second Stage of DP World Tour Q School, Golf Monthly reported.

Hatton's situation differs from theirs. He had retained his DP World Tour membership throughout his time on LIV, meaning he is free to make starts on the circuit without going through qualifying, Golf Monthly noted.

Yahoo Sports pointed out that some of the frustration stems from past clashes between LIV defectors and the tour. Rahm spent much of 2026 contesting his DP World Tour membership and accused the tour of "extorting" players, while Poulter and Westwood had been vocal about their anger at sanctions imposed on those who left for LIV.

Ferguson and Mansell's comments were widely read as directed at Westwood and Poulter specifically, according to Yahoo Sports, which reported that Westwood offered his own response to the suggestion that some LIV players should not be welcomed back.

With Q School's Second Stage already under way and several LIV figures attempting to earn their way back through it, the shape of the DP World Tour's 2027 membership looks set to remain a point of contention among players well before the new season begins.