Brendan Steele’s decision to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf was a surprising twist for the 39-year-old.
According to the Palm Springs Desert Sun, Steele had told reporters just 10 weeks prior — on a conference call for The American Express PGA Tour event — that joining the Saudi-backed golf league was “not something that I’m interested in.” Steele also added that, at that point, he hadn’t been approached about a possible move, either..
“I have not been approached,” Steele told reporters on that December conference call, according to the Desert Sun. “I think the way that it has mostly worked is that guys have gone and sought them out and told them they are interested … So it hasn’t really been any sort of a problem for me. But I don’t hold it against guys for doing it.”
Steele also said, according to the Desert Sun, that those who leave for LIV Golf shouldn’t expect to come back and play on the PGA Tour. The tension between LIV and the PGA Tour has “divided the tour and divided some of the best players in the world,” and Steele thought there were different viewpoints emerging on dealing with — and reacting to — the options golfers now face.
“We play a sport where it is very fickle and you have no contracts as far as signing with the Dodgers for five years and if you get hurt, you get paid,” Steele said, per the Desert Sun. “We don’t have any of that stuff. So to have a little bit of security in going over there, I think you can kind of understand the narrative for each guy who went.
“Some want security financially. Some are older, some are guys who are more injured. Some guys haven’t been playing as well but have a big name. There are all sorts of reasons why you would want to do it.”
For some, that meant accepting LIV Golf’s glamorous offer and leaving the traditional golf circuit. Steele, along with Danny Lee and Thomas Pieters, will make the transition ahead of the season-opening event next week at Mayakoba’s El Camaleón Golf Course — designed by LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman, according to its website — in Mexico.
Steele started playing on the PGA Tour in 2011, and he has won three tournaments at the 2011 Valero Texas Open, the 2016-17 Safeway Open and the 2017-18 Safeway Open. In his nine events for the 2022-23 season, Steele compiled three top-25 finishes, but he hasn’t finished higher than 18th and missed three cuts — including his last event at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Prior to the Genesis Invitational, which enters its final round Sunday, Steele withdrew from the event for undisclosed reasons, according to ESPN. Jon Rahm leads at 15-under, with Max Homa three strokes back at The Riviera Country Club in California.
