This 12 months shall be LIV Golf’s fifth season.
The insurgent circuit entered the skilled tour golf world as a disrupter in 2022 with grand ambitions.
Disruption has certainly adopted however the golf world may not have been reworked in fairly the style LIV anticipated.
Probably the most profitable aspect of the insurgent thrust has been to create a powerful division between followers – and with it generate headlines and controversy.
Its stars are Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Joaquin Niemann, and the primary of these, the Spaniard, is that this 12 months looking for a hat trick of Particular person Championships.
Who will problem him for that honour, although? DeChambeau and Niemann will certainly be a part of the dialog however there are others.
Listed below are the seven probably winners of the 2026 title.
The reigning champion – Jon Rahm
Let’s cope with the excellent news first: the Spanish captain of Legion XIII is totally gun on LIV.
He’s not simply ended his two seasons there as the person champion, he has additionally completed prime three in 10 of his 25 accomplished begins on the circuit – and has by no means completed worse than eleventh.
By any commonplace that’s sensational golf.
However he’s the fly within the ointment. First up, he’s gained simply twice and didn’t accomplish that in 2025 (though he was second in three of his final 4 begins, two of these close to misses coming in further holes).
The opposite nagging situation is that he hasn’t added to his main championship tally because the 2023 Masters.
The 2026 aim: to win extra and to win large.
The machine – Joaquin Niemann
Not like Rahm, the person who pipped him to the person title final 12 months, the Torque captain has had no problem profitable on LIV. He did so twice in 2024 and at least 5 instances in 2025. He additionally has eight wins in his final 47 begins worldwide (stretching again to December 2023).
His large downside is the tournaments that really outline a profession: the majors. The truth is, he’s not simply unhealthy at them he’s, given his potential, risible.
A quick end helped him to land T9 in final 12 months’s PGA Championship however it’s his solely prime 10 in 26 begins and the strain appeared to get to him in final 12 months’s remaining two majors. He missed the lower in each.
The 2026 aim: maintain profitable and begin contending within the large ones.
The celebrity – Bryson DeChambeau
He has, quite mysteriously, gained simply thrice in 45 LIV begins however he’s the circuit’s undoubted star attracting followers, wowing social media customers and incomes thousands and thousands.
The Crushers captain differs from Rahm and Niemann in a single key issue: he contends in, and wins, main championships.
Within the final two seasons he has gained the US Open, been second within the PGA Championship twice, been sixth and fifth within the Masters, and landed a prime 10 in final 12 months’s Open.
The 2026 aim: preserve momentum and win large.
The flying teen – David Puig
The poster boy at beginning a world class profession on LIV, the Fireballs 24-year-old had simply three prime 5 finishes on LIV in 29 begins forward of 2025, however he doubled that determine within the dozen begins that adopted. He additionally completed prime 20 in all 12.
He has additionally change into a serial prime 12 finisher on the DP World Tour touchdown 10 of them in his final 13 begins together with victory in final November’s Australian PGA Championship.
The 2026 aim: a primary LIV win and a primary prime 20 within the majors.
The air miles hoarder – Patrick Reed
Just like the Augusta flowers, the 2018 Masters champion stays an April perennial. The truth is, he’s completed prime 12 in 5 of the final six Masters and was solo third final spring.
He completed prime three in six of his first 17 LIV begins however not considered one of them was a win. It remained that manner halfway by means of final 12 months’s fourth LIV season. Then he gained LIV Dallas.
He acquired his 2026 off to a terrific begin with victory within the Dubai Desert Basic, his twelfth profession win worldwide.
The 4Aces performer’s 2026 aim: to win once more, perhaps incomes a inexperienced jacket within the course of.
The Ripper – Cameron Smith
In 2022 the Aussie landed eight worldwide prime 5 finishes, 5 of them wins together with the Open. In 2023 there have been seven prime fives, two of them wins. In 2023 the highest 5 rely remained seven, however there was no win.
The degradation didn’t simply proceed in 2025, it accelerated in terrifying vogue with simply two prime fives.
It will get worse as a result of the Ripper captain hasn’t made a lower in his final 5 main championship together with all 4 final 12 months. It perhaps even worse than that as a result of he carded a 78 in three of 2025’s majors.
There’s a ray of hope, nonetheless, which is that he contended all week when second in November’s Australian PGA Championship, his final begin anyplace.
The 2026 aim: to experience the wave of that season nearer down beneath.
The underachiever – Tyrrell Hatton
The Englishman was a winner in his debut LIV season of 2024, a 12 months when he recorded six prime fives finishes. However in 2025 he not solely registered simply two prime fives (each of them fifth), he additionally didn’t crack the highest 20 in his final 4 LIV begins.
That’s poor for a golfer of his undoubted high quality particularly provided that he has gained twice on the DP World Tour since that first LIV triumph, and has 4 prime 20s within the final eight main championships.
The 2026 aim: a second LIV win after which a 3rd.
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