DUBAI – Patrick Reed has declared for professional golf’s version of the portal.
At his winner’s press conference after shooting even-par 72 Sunday to win the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Reed confirmed he hasn’t signed his contract for LIV Golf for the coming season and technically is a free agent at the moment.
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“It’s just one of those things with contracts and stuff,” Reed said. “There’s a lot of language and wording in contracts and everything, and really, at this point, I mean, I don’t know where everything stands. I mean, everything could have been done and complete. I mean, I haven’t talked to my team these past couple days. It’s been an odd time, obviously, back home compared to me being here.”
Reed’s victory at the 2018 Masters makes him ineligible for the PGA Tour’s Returning Members Program, which was extended to allow Brooks Koepka to resume as a Tour member and start playing next week at the Farmers Insurance Open. Three other players — Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm — are eligible for having won a major or Players title since 2022 and have until Feb. 2 to accept this one-time offer to return.
Reed said if he weren’t to re-sign with LIV he would play primarily on the DP World Tour and attempt to finish in the top 10 on the season-long Order of Merit and earn a PGA Tour card through that pathway available to DP World Tour members.
“If I ended up not playing on LIV this year, obviously it would be one of those things that I would be out here playing more on this tour and trying to secure one of those spots in the Top 10, and allow myself to get back on the PGA Tour,” he said.
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Reed noted negotiations are ongoing and he prefer not to concentrate on business during tournaments, leaving only Monday-Wednesday as an option. He said being in the Middle East and several time zones away has made it challenging. He said he would resume negotiations early this week after celebrating his 12th victory worldwide.
“It’s just kind of one of those things that, you know, getting here this week, I knew that once Thursday got here, just focus on golf and golf only. You know, starting tonight and tomorrow, we’ll get back to talking and things like that,” Reed said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Patrick Reed hasn’t re-signed contract with LIV Golf ahead of 2026
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