Former LIV Golfers Handed Invites To DP World Tour's 2027 Season Opener

Thomas Pieters at LIV Golf Indianapolis — Thomas Pieters is one of the LIV Golfers given a tournament invite to the BMW Australian PGA Championship

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The 2026 DP World Tour season is reaching an exciting conclusion, with Tyrrell Hatton the 54-hole leader of the DP World Tour Championship and Eugenio Chacarra currently keeping Rory McIlroy at arm’s length in his bid to win the Race to Dubai.

Both titles will be decided in the final round on Sunday at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course, but it won’t be long before the 2027 season begins.

Less than two weeks after the tournament wraps up in Dubai, the new season will get underway with the BMW Australian PGA Championship.

One of the big questions since the demise of LIV Golf has been where many of its stars will play in 2027.

The DP World Tour has now opened the door to former LIV players without full status on the circuit through tournament invitations.

The entry list for the season opener has now been confirmed, and three former LIV Golfers have received invitations, despite not holding DP World Tour cards.

Carlos Ortiz at LIV Golf New York — Carlos Ortiz played on the PGA Tour before joining LIV Golf

Thomas Pieters, Carlos Ortiz and Michael La Sasso will all play at the event, which will be held at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney between November 26th and 29th.

Six-time DP World Tour winner Pieters resigned his membership to join LIV Golf in 2023 and missed out on regaining his card at the Final Stage of Q-School earlier this week

Meanwhile, Ortiz made his name on the PGA Tour, where he won the 2020 Houston Open, before joining LIV Golf in 2022.

LIV Golf Indianapolis winner La Sasso failed to make it through the Second Stage of Q-School in his bid for his maiden DP World Tour card.

Michael La Sasso with the LIV Golf Indianapolis trophy — Michael La Sasso won LIV Golf Indianapolis

All three players have received Category 5a status for the event, which covers professional tournament invitations.

The three are far from the only former LIV Golfers set to play at the event.

Cameron Smith, Harold Varner III and Elvis Smylie qualify as former winners of the BMW Australian PGA Championship.

Defending champion David Puig will play under Category 4, which covers winners of Race to Dubai ranking tournaments in 2026/27.

Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert will also play in their homeland under Category 8, which covers national professionals.

Jose Luis Ballester is another former LIV Golfer in the field. He takes his place thanks to finishing in the top 15 and ties in the Final Stage of Q-School.

Aside from the former LIV Golfers, there will be several other big names in the field, including local heroes Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, and 12-time DP World Tour winner Alex Noren.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.