Pat Perez is playing in the Senior PGA Championship, but he shouldn’t be playing at all. He is suspended due to his transfer to LIV Golf and will be unable to play in any PGA Tour event until January 1, 2027. The contrast was immediately apparent when Stewart Cink spotted Perez on the practice field.
“I thought I was going to be suspended!” Cinque yelled at the concession golf club, but Perez remained undaunted. “Yes, I got a one-year suspension. It wasn’t a surprise. I knew it was coming. I’m just grateful and lucky to be here. The tour has given me a lifeline to get back and play and I couldn’t be more grateful. It’ll be next year, but it’s not the end of the world.”
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Although light-hearted, the exchange highlighted why Perez is here and why his case has become one of the most complex in the LIV return conversation. Perez is able to play this week because the Senior PGA Championship is run by the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour, and operates under its eligibility rules. He has also qualified for the US Senior Open at Scioto and the British Senior Open at Gleneagles in July. These three senior majors are the only competitive golf he will watch throughout 2026.
The difference between his case and other LIV returnees is that Perez never declined his membership on the PGA Tour when he left to join Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces team in mid-2022. He thought it would work in his favor. It wasn’t.
“I thought it was better because I didn’t resign, but it was actually worse,” he said, adding that the decision further increased the disciplinary measures and postponed his return to Tour-sanctioned events until January 2027.
In 2025, Perez joined the LIV broadcast team after losing his circuit eligibility and spent the following season as a broadcaster, but the Tour treated it as promoting an unauthorized event and extended his suspension until August 2026. Perez returned in January 2026, but will not be able to play in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event until January 1, 2027.
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What’s notable is that the timeline is very different from that of his colleagues. Koepka won a major during his time at LIV, qualified for the one-time returning member program, and quickly returned. Reed is targeting a return in late 2026. Perez has missed all three Tour circuits all year, and the disparity in performance continues to raise questions.
The Tour’s own statement clearly states, “Players who do not qualify for the Returning Membership Program may only return in accordance with the Non-Membership Policy and applicable disciplinary procedures.”
Pat Perez did not choose a club from January to late September 2025, spending the year entirely in the broadcast booth, and only began preparing in earnest in the fall. He said his first tour tournament in 2002 was the Sony Open alongside Ken Tanigawa, and Tanigawa was his playing partner again this week in his first senior major.
“So if I had to do that, I wouldn’t be able to make it up,” he said.
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Despite this, Perez is not the only former LIV player planning a senior return.
Henrik Stenson eyes a similar path after relegation to LIV Golf
Henrik Stenson, who won the British Open in 2016 and turned 50 last month, will play in the Senior PGA Championship for the first time this week. Like Pat Perez, he has not played in a competitive game since being demoted from LIV last August. This marks the end of his four-year stint with the Majestics GC team.
Stenson’s return route involves fewer disciplinary issues than Perez. In November 2025, he paid his unpaid fine to DP World Tour and got his card back, allowing him to play in both Legends Tour and DP World Tour events. This gives him more options to play in 2026 than Perez currently has.
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Stenson is making this year a testing year. The Senior PGA, the Barbados Legends event, the US Open Qualifier at Walton Heath in May, the Senior US Open, the Open at Royal Birkdale and the Senior Open are all on his calendar.
“It’s definitely going to be a bit of a hybrid this year,” he said.
Competitiveness is alive and well. At last year’s Open in Portrush, Stenson was fighting for a top-10 finish, but an unforced error dropped him to 45th place.
“If you feel like you can get into that position, you still have faith,” he said. “It won’t go away.”
