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Report: PGA Tour Winner Among New Players Joining LIV Golf

According to The Times of London, Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Australia’s Elvis Smylie are joining LIV Golf this year.

Max Schreiber

WM Phoenix Open winner Thomas Detry is reportedly joining LIV Golf, along with Elvis Smylie.
WM Phoenix Open winner Thomas Detry is reportedly joining LIV Golf, along with Elvis Smylie. / Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

LIV Golf is reportedly adding two new names. 

According to The Times of London, Belgium’s Thomas Detry, 32, and Australia’s Elvis Smylie, 23, are joining the Saudi-backed circuit. 

Detry, ranked No. 57 in the world, won the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open last season, while Smylie, No. 127, finished 23rd in the season-long DP World Tour standings in 2025 and won the 2024 Australian PGA Championship. 

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The Times says Detry will join the 4Aces, reuniting him with his fellow Belgian and University of Illinois golfer, Thomas Pieters. Harold Varner III is now expected become part of Smash GC, the former team of Brooks Koepka, who recently announced he’s leaving LIV. 

It’s believed Smylie will join the all-Australian Ripper GC, captained by Cam Smith, who Smylie is considered a protégé of.  Matt Jones was a member of the team last season, but was relegated from the league and is now entered in the LIV promotions event in Florida this week.  

In November, LIV announced the signing of three-time DPWT winner Victor Perez, who played on the PGA Tour in 2025, and Laurie Canter, a former LIV player who denied a 2026 PGA Tour card after earning one through the DPWT last season. 

LIV has expanded the number of players on the tour to 57, along with moving from 54 holes to 72.

Majesticks GC also announced the re-signing of Sam Horsfield, joining co-captains Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood and Laurie Canter, who replaced the relegated Henrik Stenson.

LIV will begin its fifth season on Feb. 4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Max Schreiber
MAX SCHREIBER

Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.

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