‘No chance’ Xander Schauffele joins LIV Golf, says father
PGA Championship winner won't make the move despite securing Major exemptions
Despite securing exemptions into all four Major Championships for at least the next five years following his PGA Championship triumph, there’s “no chance” Xander Schauffele will defect to LIV Golf according to his father and swing coach Stefan.
The American has been heavily linked with the breakaway circuit in the past, and after winning his first Major Championship at the weekend, rumours were rife that he could follow in the footsteps of Jon Rahm.
The Spaniard has previously said winning the Masters Tournament was a decisive factor in switching to LIV Golf as he had guaranteed starts into Majors, which is generally harder for LIV players as they receive no World Ranking points.
But Schauffele's father has quickly shot any talk of a defection down, telling Golf.com that it won’t happen.
"No chance," said Stefan Schauffele.
"Xander is not chasing the money. Xander is about legacy. And as my opinion, just as his father, there was never a chance."
"Even if you throw hundreds of millions of dollars at him. That word still stands."
Despite Public Investment Fund (PIF), the funders of LIV Golf, the PGA and DP World Tour announcing a framework agreement last June, which promised to unify the game of golf, on a global basis, LIV Golf have continued making big money singings to lure players away from the PGA Tour.
Tyrrell Hatton and Dubai’s Adrian Meronk moved to the league earlier this year, while Rahm joined for a reported $450m in December.
Despite the framework agreement’s promise to unify the game, LIV Golf players are still banned from playing PGA Tour events, with talks ongoing between the three organisations after the original deadline of December 31, 2023, to reach an agreement was extended.
While Schauffele and his father have listened to LIV Golf offers in the past, his father revealed that a sticking point was the fact there is still no official route back to the PGA Tour for LIV Golf players.
"What we told LIV in Saudi Arabia, with Xander beside me, was that if there is no path back to the PGA Tour and if there is no chance at World Ranking points we do not have anything to talk about," he said.
"Even if you throw hundreds of millions of dollars at him. That word still stands."