RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 2 sourcesPhoto by Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A via Getty Images
Smylie Kaufman believes that Thomas Detry may have made the worst decision of any player who opted to join LIV Golf due to the position he had got himself into on the PGA Tour.
Detry was arguably the biggest signing LIV Golf managed to make ahead of the 2026 season, with the Belgian joining Thomas Pieters as part of 4Aces.
The 33-year-old seemed to be in the conversation to make Europe’s Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black after he won the WM Phoenix Open. It should not be forgotten that Detry finished seven shots clear of anyone else at TPC Scottsdale.
He has gone on to have a good year on LIV Golf . Detry sits sixth in the individual standings, while 4Aces actually lead the team standings.
Thomas Detry’s decision to join LIV Golf questioned as the league’s future remains uncertain
However, it is rarely what is happening on the course that people discuss when they talk about LIV now. Almost all of the attention is centred around the league’s future and whether they will be able to find investors to fund next season.
The situation seemed to become even more precarious in the last week, with the Asian Tour agreeing a deal with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour .
And speaking on The Smylie Show , Smylie Kaufman suggested that Detry may well be kicking himself more than anyone else for the timing of his move.
Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images
“That’s the biggest news of the week [the Asian Tour deal]. Not having a developmental tour into LIV, that’s a huge hit against their OWGR [application], so I imagine at the end of the year, that committee will then look again at LIV’s criteria and whether they should be getting world ranking points. And they’ll have to come up with a schedule. All these things had to happen well in advance. I think September was the deadline,” he said.
“There’s some guys now that you look at and just think, man, did they make a bad decision. Thomas Detry probably had the worst one of all. I don’t know how much money he got paid, but he really gave up a lot of good opportunities in his career. He’s a guy that’s in all the signature events this year, was in all the majors. Now he’s got to work his way back up again. Players like that you look at and think they really got on the boat at the wrong time.”
The reason Thomas Detry gave for leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf
Much has been said about the potential impact playing on LIV has had on someone like Jon Rahm . Rahm has registered just four top 10s in the majors since leaving the PGA Tour.
However, no-one will ever know what would have happened had Rahm not joined LIV. He was arguably the best player in the world at the time of his departure. And yet, he could have struggled even more in the majors as a PGA Tour player.
But golf is not the only factor that players considered when they received offers from LIV. As Detry told Today’s Golfer back in January, his decision was based on what was best for his family.
“It really took us a couple of days to sort of make our minds up, and as soon as we were committed, we were ready to go,” he said.
“I have a wife and two small children, and we’ve pretty much been living like [nomads] all around the US, going from tournament to tournament. We live half in Dubai, half in London, and then we sort of slowly came around the idea that it actually could fit our life much better. We feel a little bit more at home when we’re in London and Dubai rather than spending six months on the road, living out of a suitcase with two children.
“Also, the team aspect was fun. I was joining a fun team with two major winners [Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed] and back again with my childhood friend Thomas, who I played a lot of golf with.
“The idea of not defending the Phoenix was really sad to me, because it was obviously my biggest win, and I think it’s potentially one of the coolest tournaments on the PGA Tour, so really sad not to do that. But then, again, there’s plenty of other positives, like the team events and being able to be a little bit more at home.”
Detry can at least be confident that he made the best decision with the information that he had at the time.
But it will be particularly frustrating if LIV does disappear in the coming months that he has to start from much further down the food chain to get back to where he was on the PGA Tour.
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.