LIV Golf 2.0: Two More Players Ruled Out Of New League

Charles Howell III and Thomas Pieters both leaving LIV Golf — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Two more players have reportedly ruled out playing on LIV Golf 2.0, with both Thomas Pieters and Charles Howell III seemingly eyeing the DP World Tour next season.

The current 25 October deadline is closing in for LIV Golf boss Scott O'Neil, and players are currently deciding if they're in or out for the new 2.0 version of the league.

Howell III has been with LIV Golf from the very start in 2022 and played with Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC for the last four seasons.

Belgian Pieters joined LIV in February 2023 and after initially playing for Bubba Watson's RangeGoats he moved to join Dustin Johnson at the 4Aces.

Both players are seemingly targeting the DP World Tour next season but they'll have to head to Qualifying School with neither holding any status currently.

The SBJ's Josh Carpenter is reporting that 47-year-old American Howell III will not be signing with LIV 2.0 and will leave with one individiual victory under his belt from Mexico in 2023.

The report says Howell III "intends to compete on the DP World Tour in 2027" but he'll have to rely on invites or go through Qualifying School as he has no status on the tour.

Howell III played in this year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in what was just his second ever DP World Tour start outside of the Majors and WGC events - the other being the 2001 Heineken Classic in Australia.

LIV golfer Charles Howell III will not return to the league for version 2.0, per people familiar. Howell’s contract expired following this season, and one person says he had no intention of re-signing. Howell, 47, plans to compete on the DP World Tour in 2027. https://t.co/TcbB4vzTPIOctober 15, 2026

Pieters is also leaving LIV Golf, according to Flushing It Golf, with the 34-year-old also hoping to make a return to the DP World Tour.

The Belgian is a six-time winner on the DP World Tour and made a stellar Ryder Cup debut in 2016 when going 4-1-0 at Hazeltine as a rookie - in what turned out to be his one and only appearance to date.

Like Howell III, though, Pieters doesn't hold any status so will need to play his way to a card or get plenty of sponsor invites for 2027.

Pieters has played in just one DP World Tour event this year at the recent Open de France, after five appearances last season, and he may be hoping to get some sort of deal lined up with officials at Wentworth to get a decent amount of tournaments next season.

It's a tricky road that these and other LIV players have to go down though as they look at there best options when leaving the team based tour.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.