Why Patrick Reed Left LIV Golf: Return to PGA Tour in 2026 Explained

Patrick Reed’s Return to the PGA Tour

At the 2026 Masters, Patrick Reed is among the select golfers to have already earned a green jacket. The 2018 winner of the tournament—his lone major win—has been a professional for 15 years now, accumulating nine PGA Tour wins and earning spots representing Team USA in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. However, Reed has also been a controversial figure at times. From his LIV Golf stint that ended in 2026, to multiple rules incidents in tournaments, the star has drawn criticism from fans in the golf world in the past.

Here’s what to know about Reed, his decision to rejoin the PGA Tour in 2026, and his past controversies.

Why Did Patrick Reed Leave LIV Golf?

Reed originally joined LIV Golf in June 2022, when it was first beginning play, alongside plenty of other big stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. It marked an end to Reed’s nine-year run on the PGA Tour, during which he had nine wins, including the 2018 Masters.

In January 2026, Reed announced his plans to leave LIV Golf and make a return to the PGA Tour, eligible for his return on Aug. 25, 2026. Reed said being closer to his family played a role in his decision.

“I loved my time on LIV,” Reed told ESPN in January. “I became a different person because of the friendships with players I’ve made. Family is my priority and playing closer to them is what really matters. I can’t get days back.”

LIV also released a statement on Reed’s exit, saying the league is “grateful” for his time spent in it.

For the fall of 2026, Reed will be attempting to get into FedEx Cup Fall fields through open qualifiers and sponsor exemptions. He also requested that his PGA Tour membership be reinstated for the 2027 season as a past champion, per ESPN, and as part of his agreement to come back, he forfeited player equity in PGA Tour Enterprises through 2030. His decision came shortly after Brooks Koepka’s to also leave LIV and return to the PGA Tour.

“I always saw myself coming back to the PGA Tour,” Reed told ESPN. “I know I have to earn my way back, and I’m OK with that.”

In the immediate time after he left LIV Golf, Reed played on the European Tour, which is now named DP World Tour, as an Honorary Lifetime Member, posting two wins.

How Long Was Patrick Reed on LIV Golf Tour?

Reed was with LIV Golf from June 2022 until January 2026, about four seasons. He had one win on the tour over that span, which was the LIV Golf Dallas tournament in June 2025.

Patrick Reed Controversies

Joining LIV Golf hasn’t been the only controversial part of Reed’s career so far. He has also been wrapped up in various rules debates over the years.

In 2019 at the Hero World Challenge, Reed was leading the tournament when, on par-5 11th hole during his third round, he moved sand behind his ball in a waste area twice, with video evidence to show that he had violated a rule that prohibits players from removing or pressing down sand or loose soil in order to improve the conditions of the stroke. As a result, Reed was penalized two shots for improving his line of play.

“You could see, the club did get behind the ball closer and then when he took it away, you could see the path of the sand come away in two different occasions,” the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competitions, Slugger White, said at the time. “He did it the first time and he put the club down again and he did it another time, but that’s irrelevant. It doesn’t make any difference.”

In response, Reed said the violation wasn’t intentional, and that from his perspective, he was not improving his lie. In the video, sand is clearly being kicked back on his practice swings, helping to remove resistance from his upcoming stroke:

“I was far enough away from the golf ball because when I take my practice swings anyways, I don’t ever put the club directly behind the ball because I’m always scared of the ball moving,” Reed said of the ruling. “I’m always going to give myself some room, especially on practice swings. After seeing that camera angle, because it brushed the sand, it’s a penalty. … It is a big part, intent, but at the same time, when you only have one camera angle, that’s all you can go off of.”

Although he was said to be correct in his actions by the tour officials, another rule controversy with Reed came in 2021, at the Farmers Insurance Open. During the 10th hole in the third round, Reed obtained a free relief for an embedded ball in the rough. A ball embedded anywhere through the green except for sandy areas is entitled to a free drop. None of Reed, his playing partners, or the volunteers in the area saw the ball bounce, but Reed marked and picked up his ball to check the lie before an official arrived.

The official then confirmed Reed’s entitlement to relief, but video showed the ball did bounce once before settling into the rough. Reed was criticized for picking the ball up before the official arrived.

“The ball just disappeared. None of us saw it bounce,” Reed said. “The volunteer said ‘No, the ball did not bounce,’ and therefore, when that happened, I looked at my group and said, ‘Guys, she didn’t see it bounce either, so I’m going to mark this ball and see if it’s embedded.'”

Despite the pushback against Reed for picking up the ball before an official arrived, tour officials later confirmed that he had followed the correct procedure.

“When you have three players, three caddies, and a volunteer who’s really close to the golf ball not see the ball bounce, you have to go by what everyone sees and what everyone saw,” Reed said after the round in 2021. “And when no one was seeing that, then the rules official basically has to say whether it’s free relief or not, and the rules official agreed that the ball broke the plane and it was relief.”

“It’s an unfortunate situation, obviously, but at the end of the day, when you finish the round and the head rules official comes up to you and has the video and shows everything that went down to the whole group and says that you’ve done this perfectly, you did this the exact right way, the protocols you did were spot on — at that point, I feel great about it.”

Reed took some public aim at those accusing him of cheating in 2022. In August of that year, a defamation lawsuit on Reed’s behalf was filed against Golf Channel and Brandel Chamblee, an analyst for the outlet, claiming that Chamblee has a “history of calling [Reed] a cheater and has criticized Reed and other golfers for leaving the PGA Tour” for LIV, per USA Today. The suit was originally filed in Texas, then later refiled in Florida and amended to name Golfweek and other golf writers. However, that lawsuit did not pan out for Reed – in September 2023, it was dismissed in federal court, which said Reed failed to bring any actionable defamation claims. Additionally, in January 2024, the court concluded that Reed filed the lawsuit to stifle free speech, ordering him to pay the defendants’ legal fees and costs.

The most recent rules controversy with Reed came in 2023 at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. On the 17th hole, he said he was “100 percent certain” he hit a shot into a palm tree that became stuck; however, TV replays appeared to show that Reed’s tee shot finished in a different tree than the one he thought his ball was in.

Below is the statement that the DP World Tour released on that situation:

“Two on-course referees and several marshals identified that Patrick Reed’s ball had become lodged in a specific tree following his tee shot on 17. The DP World Tour chief referee joined the player in the area and asked him to identify his distinctive ball markings. Using binoculars, the chief referee was satisfied that a ball with those markings was lodged in the tree. The player subsequently took an unplayable penalty drop (Rule 19.2c) at the point directly below the ball on the ground. To clarify, the player was not asked to specify the tree but to identify his distinctive ball markings to confirm it was his ball.”

Reed then released a statement saying that “some people love controversy” and it was a “non-issue.”

Patrick Reed Masters History

Reed is a former Masters winner, having taken the 2018 tournament with a three-shot advantage over Rickie Fowler. That was Reed’s fifth appearance at Augusta National, with his best previous finish being T-22 in 2015.

Since his win, Reed has had four top-10 finishes, including a third-place finish in 2025.

Here’s a look at Reed’s history at the Masters: