DUBAI – Patrick Reed has declared himself the portal of professional golf.
At his victory press conference after shooting an even-par 72 to win the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday, Reid admitted that he has not signed a contract with LIV Golf for next season and is technically a free agent at this point.
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“It’s just one of those things with contracts and things like that,” Reed said. “There’s a lot of words and language in the contract and everything, and the reality is, at this point, we don’t know where everything stands. I mean, everything could have been done and done. I mean, I haven’t talked to the team in the last few days. Obviously, it’s been a weird time being back home compared to being here.”
Reed lost his eligibility for the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program after winning the 2018 Masters, but he was given an extension to allow Brooks Koepka to return as a tour member and begin play at next week’s Farmers Insurance Open. Three other players, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, will be eligible to win a major or players’ title after 2022 and have until Feb. 2 to accept this one-time reinstatement offer.
Reed said that if he does not re-sign with LIV, he will primarily play on the DP World Tour and aim to finish in the top 10 in the Order of Merit during the season and earn a PGA Tour card through the route available to DP World Tour members.
“If I don’t play LIV this year, obviously it would make sense to play more on this tour and try to secure a top-10 spot so I can get back on the PGA Tour,” he said.
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Reid said negotiations are ongoing and he doesn’t want to focus on business during the tournament, leaving only Monday through Wednesday as options. Being in the Middle East and several time zones away makes that difficult, he said. He said he would resume negotiations early this week after celebrating his 12th anniversary in office.th Winning all over the world.
“That’s one thing we knew coming into this week and coming Thursday we’re just going to focus on golf, golf and nothing else. You know, starting tonight and tomorrow we’ll be back to talking and stuff,” Reed said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Patrick Reed not re-signed with LIV Golf for 2026
