Call it golf’s lost generation – gifted young men potentially lost to relevancy in the pro game’s divided cycle of greed and pettiness.
Substantial rumors keep swirling that LIV Golf has enticed Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin into forfeiting his hard-earned PGA Tour card before he ever even uses it. McKibbin – one of Europe’s most promising young players, and hailing from Rory McIlroy’s Holywood Golf Club – always dreamed of following his hometown idol onto the world’s pre-eminent circuit in America and staking a name for himself among the best in the game. Instead, McKibbin did nothing to tamp down reports he’ll forgo his spot on the PGA Tour in 2025 and accept a guaranteed $5 million to reside on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team on LIV.
If he goes, McKibbin will be just the latest young player to sacrifice his access to the game’s most important events – the major championships – in order to make an easy living on LIV. In this year’s recruiting cycle, Sergio García’s Fireballs LIV team has signed 22-year-old Spaniard Luis Masaveu, who reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur last summer and made the cut in the Open at Royal Troon as a final qualifier. Frederik Kjettrup, a 25-year-old from Denmark who climbed as high as 11th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking while at Florida State and spent time last year on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, signed up to join Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks roster. Yubin Jang, the 22-year-old player of the year on the Korean Tour in 2024, signed up to join Kevin Na’s Iron Heads.
Before this LIV signing class, the breakaway circuit lured presumably can’t-miss collegiate stars David Puig, 23, of Spain/Arizona State and Caleb Surratt, 21, of the University of Tennessee to leave college early to turn pro. Puig has been a professional success, winning twice on the Asian Tour, earning four major starts and joining Rahm as a Spanish Olympian in 2024, but he’s yet to qualify for the Masters. Surratt, the inaugural Elite Amateur Cup winner, hasn’t sniffed a major yet.
LIV’s first major signing on spec was then-21-year-old Eugenio López-Chacarra in its inaugural 2022 season. The WAGR No. 2 was a superstar at Oklahoma State when he opted to take the cash and join LIV. He won his fifth professional start on LIV in Bangkok and a year later won the Asian Tour International Series event at St. Andrews Bay in Scotland.
“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes. How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money.”
Eugenio López-Chacarra
But Chacarra is a cautionary tale for young players who take the money and turn their backs on the mainstream professional tours. His contract with LIV’s Fireballs wasn’t renewed for 2025 and he’s left in purgatory riding out a year-long suspension before he can pursue his new goal of playing in PGA Tour-sanctioned events and earning his card on the game’s premier circuit.
“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes,” Chacarra said in a recent interview with Flushing It Golf posted on social media. “How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, only money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What will change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.
“When I joined LIV, they promised OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first young guy, then the others came after I made the decision. But OWGR and majors still hasn’t happened.”
Still only 24, Chacarra says he’s excited to prove himself and see how far he can go in golf’s traditional meritocracy.
“I’m thankful for everything LIV has given me,” he continued. “I’m 24 years old, and my life is set. I don’t know if it will work out for the best or not, but I know this is what my heart tells me is right and it works for my motivation to wake up and grind and get better, and to say I can be a PGA Tour player one day.”
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have worked to create pathways for the most promising young stars to gain immediate access to their tours and get a boost on their careers. PGA Tour University has forged routes for Ludvig Åberg, Davis Thompson, Austin Eckroat and Kevin Yu, who each used the opportunity to their advantage and will all be teeing it up at the Masters in April.
The newly created Global Amateur Pathway has sent China’s Wenyi Ding and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen embarking on the DP World Tour. Both Ding, the reigning Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, and Olesen, the reigning British Amateur champ, forfeited places on the tee sheet at the 2025 Masters to turn professional. Like Brazil’s Fred Biondi, the former No. 1 amateur who gave up a 2024 Masters start as reigning NCAA champ to turn professional, they are betting on themselves to make it back to Augusta through the usual professional channels. Their skill and the OWGR offers them that chance to prove themselves.
Until LIV Golf makes minor access adjustments, reapplies and gets accepted into the Official World Golf Ranking ecosystem, it remains a major gamble for young players chasing money instead of legacy. While there are avenues to qualify for the U.S. Open and Open Championship and the PGA is flexible enough to extend invitations to players outside the top 100, the Masters is a tough get for LIV guys who don’t already have a green jacket or recent major title to serve as a golden ticket. Chile’s Joaquin Niemann has been a rare exception, earning consecutive special international invitations thanks to successfully chasing OWGR points outside LIV to remain within arm’s reach of the top 50, but his case is enhanced by his relationship as a former Latin America Amateur champion – an event Augusta National Golf Club helped cultivate and holds dear.
McKibbin doesn’t have that going for him if he follows through and makes the leap to LIV. Until LIV and the OWGR come to acceptable terms, he’ll only fall further away from his current No. 110 ranking (his career best in 97th). He made his major debut last summer, making cuts at both the U.S. Open and Open Championship. It is a disturbing notion to think the 22-year-old Irishman may never get the chance to qualify for the Masters. He’ll have to chase hard and excel in limited opportunities outside of LIV in order to make an impression on the Masters Committee if he ever wants to join McIlroy in the quest for Ireland’s first green jacket.
That’s a difficult road to take and few succeed in reaching a satisfying end on it. The risk is getting lost in the shuffle of golf’s new world disorder.
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Top: It appears Tom McKibbin may be on his way to LIV Golf.
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