[Photo: Jared C. Tilton]
Akshay Bhatia’s eventful offseason included getting married in the Bahamas, but it won’t include leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf.
According to a report from Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, the 23-year-old lefty turned down a “lucrative” offer to join LIV.
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Bhatia is a two-time PGA Tour winner who has advanced to the Tour Championship each of the past two seasons. He’s currently 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
It’s been an eventful offseason for LIV as well. The Saudi-backed league lost five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who stepped away despite having one year remaining on his contract. And rumours of a pair of Korean stars, Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, signing with LIV turned out to be false.
However, on the same day as the Bhatia news, The Times reported LIV is signing Thomas Detry and our own Elvis Smylie. Detry won the 2025 WM Phoenix Open and Smylie won the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship. Victor Perez and Laurie Canter joined LIV in recent months as well.
LIV also announced a switch from 54-hole to 72-hole tournaments in November, part of its latest push to have its events recognised by the Official World Golf Ranking.
LIV’s 2026 season opener is scheduled for February 4-7 in Saudi Arabia.
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