The 12 New Players In The 2026 LIV Golf Field

Meet the 12 new faces in the expended field for the 2026 LIV Golf League after a busy summer of player turnover

Victor Perez, Laurie Canter and Thomas Detry are three new players on LIV Golf this season
(Image credit: Getty Images)

There's been a bit of player churn in the offseason at LIV Golf with 12 new faces teeing it up for the new 2026 season.

There's an extended 57-man roster for the LIV Golf League with some changing team names, a busy LIV Golf transfer window and new players entering the tour.

The new LIV Signings

Michael La Sasso with Phil Mickelson after signing for LIV Golf

(Image credit: LIV Golf League)

There were no huge moves this offseason, but Thomas Detry signing for the 4Aces was a decent addition. He replaced Harold Varner III who became a free agent before joining Talor Gooch at Smash GC.

Detry, the reigning WM Phoenix Open champion, was becoming a real force on the PGA Tour and was just outside the world's top 50 when he added even more Belgian flavor to Dustin Johnson's side as he joined Thomas Pieters in his line-up.

There was also a three-time winner from the DP World Tour who signed up for LIV as Victor Perez joined the Cleeks to replace Frederik Kjettrup.

Elvis Smylie is seen as Australia's next big thing, and he joined the all-Aussie team at Ripper led by his idol and mentor Cameron Smith.

NCAA champion, Michael La Sasso, also followed something of a trend as he turned down a spot in The Masters in order to join LIV Golf. La Sasso will get the guidance of Phil Mickelson after signing for his HyFlyers side.

Another shot in the arm for LIV was Laurie Canter deciding to return to LIV Golf full-time - which meant giving up a PGA Tour card to sign with Majesticks GC.

Canter has played on LIV since the inaugural season when he was a member of the Cleeks, and has played as a reserve in a number of seasons but now has a full spot on a team of Englishman, joining Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sam Horsfield.

Three new faces on Korean team

Kevin Na walks along while wearing an Iron Heads GC polo and cap with a large Korean GC badge on the right side of the image

(Image credit: Getty Images/LIV Golf/Korean GC)

Byeong-hun An joined to captain Korean GC, with the PGA Tour regular replacing Kevin Na who had led the Iron Heads team before the rebrand.

An, who won the DP World Tour's flasghip event, the BMW PGA Championship, in 2015 was a big move for LIV's hopes of capturing the Korean market - especially if they bring back an event in the country for 2026 as expected.

It was all change at the old Iron Heads with only New Zealander Danny Lee, who was born in Korea, keeping his place as Yubin Yang was relegated and Jinichiro Kozuma was dropped - saying he only found out via social media.

Minkyu Kim and Younghan Song, who both played once on LIV last season as reserves have now joined full-time as part of An's squad.

The LIV qualifiers

Scott Vincent at the Hong Kong Open

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Five players played their way into the LIV Golf field for 2026, two from the International Series standings on the Asian Tour and three from the LIV Golf Promotions events held in Florida.

Anthony Kim was the headliner for that trio, as he earned his place back by finishing third after being relegated at the end of last season.

Canadian Richard T Lee won the Promotions event and the three-time Asian Tour winner will be a rookie on LIV Golf next season, as will Sweden's Bjorn Hellegren who finished second.

Scott Vincent has vast experience playing on LIV before, playing the inaugural 2022 season with Torque GC before two seasons with the Iron Heads. He missed out last year after being relegated but booked an immediate return by topping the International Series standings.

Yosuke Asaji finished second in the International Series to secure his debut on LIV in 2026.

New players on LIV Golf for 2026

  • Thomas Detry
  • Victor Perez
  • Michael La Sasso
  • Elvis Smylie
  • Ben An
  • Laurie Canter
  • Minkyu Kim
  • Younghan Song
  • Scott Vincent
  • Yosuke Asaji
  • Richard T Lee
  • Bjorn Hellgren
Paul Higham
Contributor

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. 

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.