Former Masters champion Patrick Reed secured a statement win on Sunday at the 2026 Dubai Desert Classic. But the longtime LIV Golf pro made an even bigger statement after his round.
Three weeks ahead of the start of the 2026 LIV Golf season, Reed revealed he still is not signed to play on the league this year.
But Reed went further, admitting he’s crafted an alternate plan for this season should he not sign with LIV.
Here’s what you need to know.
Patrick Reed’s shocking admission about LIV contract
Reed finished his first start of the new year in style on Sunday, closing out a final-round 72 to seal a four-shot victory at the Dubai Desert Classic. It was the fourth DP World Tour-sanctioned victory of Reed’s career, and perhaps his biggest win since the 2018 Masters.
The former PGA Tour star’s most recent victory before Sunday came at the 2025 LIV Golf Dallas tournament last June, where Reed triumphed in a four-man playoff to capture his first LIV win.
For Reed, who won nine PGA Tour events before darting to LIV Golf in 2022, Sunday’s win is crucial. Unlike his LIV Dallas victory, his Dubai victory earned him lots of world ranking points. His OWGR rank heading into Dubai, 44th, will improve drastically on Monday.
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But the most shocking news from Sunday came after Reed’s win. Despite finishing 7th in the 2025 LIV individual standings, Reed revealed that he has not yet signed a new LIV Golf contract for 2026.
And the season starts in three weeks in Saudi Arabia.
“We’re still finalizing the [LIV Golf] contract. We’re not complete on that yet,” Reed began in his post-tournament press conference on Sunday in Dubai.
When asked to clarify his statement, Reed confirmed he is not currently signed with LIV, and though he expects to tee it up at LIV’s season opener in Riyadh the first week of February, he isn’t in the field as of now.
“Not that I know of. Not right now. Really just all kind of depends on everything,” Reed explained. “I mean, I haven’t talked to the team back home or anything like that. But at the moment, I plan on teeing it up there in Riyadh, and I’d be surprised if we’re not.”
Though earlier this week Reed had commented on paying DP World Tour fines for playing LIV events (and his interest in playing the PGA Tour again), he had not admitted the tenuous nature of his LIV contract.
On Sunday, he explained that he forced his LIV status to the back of his mind this week as he tried to focus on winning the tournament.
“And so, it’s just kind of one of those things that, you know, getting here this week, I knew that once Thursday got here, just focus on golf and golf only. You know, starting tonight and tomorrow, we’ll get back to talking and things like that,” Reed said. “But really, the biggest thing for me right now is just go out and play well this week. Obviously got the win. Then hopefully carry that momentum into next week and hopefully compete late Sunday again.”
On that note, it was mission accomplished for Reed. But he revealed something else on Sunday: He has one eye on the PGA Tour should his LIV contract negotiations end badly.
Reed eyes path to PGA Tour if LIV contract falls through
While Reed sounded confident that his LIV contract would eventually get ironed out before the season starts, he is crafting an alternate plan for the year in case he doesn’t play on LIV.
And that alternate path ends on the PGA Tour.
Reed first revealed that he isn’t in talks with the PGA Tour “right now,” then said if he doesn’t sign with LIV, he’ll play the DP World Tour in 2026 with the goal of making it back to the PGA Tour.
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“Continue to play out here [on the DP World Tour] and be in the Top 10 and be on the PGA Tour next year,” Reed began, referring to the fact that the top 10 players in the DP World Tour standings at season’s end will earn a PGA Tour card for 2027.
“Yeah, I mean, if I ended up not playing on LIV this year, obviously it would be one of those things that I would be out here playing more on this tour and trying to secure one of those spots in the Top 10, and allow myself to get back on the PGA Tour,” Reed continued.
But he also reiterated that since he was focusing on his golf this week, he hasn’t received the latest updates from his team on the LIV contract negotiations.
“It’s just one of those things with contracts and stuff. There’s a lot of language and wording in contracts and everything, and really, at this point, I mean, I don’t know where everything stands,” Reed said on Sunday. “I mean, everything could have been done and complete. I mean, I haven’t talked to my team these past couple days. It’s been an odd time, obviously, back home compared to me being here.”
One thing is certain after his big Dubai win on Sunday. If Reed truly hasn’t signed with LIV yet for this season, his asking price just went way up.
