In summary

  • Bryson DeChambeau has less than a week to apply for the DP World Tour card that could be his easiest way back to the PGA Tour.
  • Rory McIlroy said DeChambeau would bring "eyeballs" to DP World Tour events despite not being his biggest fan.
  • The deadline to apply for DP World Tour membership is November 16, with DeChambeau banned from the PGA Tour until August 2027.

While making it clear that he wasn’t the biggest fan of the 2024 US Open winner, McIlroy said DeChambeau, who has yet to commit his future anywhere after the collapse of LIV, would enhance at least viewership of DP World Tour events.

DeChambeau, one of the few star players who backed LIV until the almost unavoidable collapse into bankruptcy and now liquidation, will next turn out at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.  

His status as a recent major winner allows him to apply for DP World Tour membership and play the European season in 2027 which another former LIV player, Patrick Reed, has used as his path back to the PGA Tour.

Reed earned a PGA Tour card for 2027 via results on the DP World Tour, having quit LIV in 2025, well ahead of the formerly Saud-backed league’s demise.

DeChambeau, like all LIV players, is banned from competing on the PGA Tour until August 2027, 12 months on from his final LIV Golf appearance.

The deadline to apply for DP World Tour membership is November 16 and McIlroy said DeChambeau could bring “eyeballs” to tour.   

"I think a name like Bryson DeChambeau and everything he brings with him, good and bad, he brings eyeballs, which is a good thing for tournaments," he said ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. 

"Honestly, I'm certainly not in his shoes, and nor would I ever want to be.

"But it doesn't seem like he's got many options, if he wants to play competitive golf."

Bryson DeChambeau could be a DP World Tour drawcard. Pic: Getty

DeChambeau’s only public comments since the collapse of LIV were a social media statement in which he was unclear about his future.

"Whatever comes next, I'll approach it with humility and respect for the people who carried this game long before me," he said.

Former LIV Golf players including Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Tyrell Hatton have committed to play in Europe in 2027. Australian Lucas Herbert has also said he’d play on the DP World Tour.

Herbert’s former Ripper GC teammates, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman have yet to declare their future intentions.

Reed said he wouldn’t want to see any of his former LIV peers “have to sit out” and serve time away from elite golf.

 "To be honest with you, I mean, I don't really get any satisfaction from making a decision and watching the other guys have to sit out a year and have the repercussions of that," Reed said.

"The more satisfaction is going out there and playing solid golf. You never want to see guys struggle or have to sit out, things like that.

"We're all competitors. We're all athletes and really, at the end of the day, a lot of those guys that are going through that are good friends of mine. You sit there, and you just hope that they are able to come out and do what I did: Come out and play solid golf and come out on the PGA Tour."

DeChambeau turned down the PGA Tour's offer to return in January under a New Member Program, as did Smith and Rahm.

It’s believed the PGA Tour won’t address the status of former LIV golfers until after the  bankruptcy is finalised in early January, 2027.