Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton among trio of LIV players who join the exodus

Louis Oosthuizen one day, and then Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton. The players departing from LIV Golf seem to be increasing by the day with a Sunday deadline potentially looming for other players to decide if they are staying for the new version that no longer includes Saudi money.

Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia already have separated from LIV Golf, which is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with BC Partners Credit and its $300 million pledge.

Poulter and Hatton both posted Friday on Instagram they will not be part of LIV 2.0.

“I am excited for what the next chapter of my career holds,” Hatton wrote in a brief note to confirm the Englishman is leaving.

Hatton, who has played on the last four Ryder Cup teams, won twice on the European tour and twice on LIV since defecting to the rival league in 2024 to join Rahm on his Legions XIII team.

Poulter, 50, won 14 times worldwide on six tours and is best known for his Ryder Cup heroics, particularly in leading Europe to a record comeback on the road at Medinah in 2012. His son, Luke, is a senior at Florida and is No. 9 in the world amateur ranking and No. 8 in the PGA Tour University ranking.

“Ultimately, the opportunity to spend more time at home with my family, reduce international travel, focus on senior golf and have the opportunity to purse other interests was something that I felt was right for me at this stage of my life and career,” Poulter wrote.

Louis Oosthuizen, a 44-year-old South African, announced Wednesday he was leaving his Southern Guards team in LIV.

“I realized I have a lot more in me, and my biggest fear was that the schedule on LIV 2.0 would be tough to manage,” Oosthuizen wrote in a social media post. ”I feel I have a few more years of good, competitive golf left in me, and the only way to be really sharp and competitive is through a schedule I control.”

Oosthuizen, known for having one of the purest swings in golf, won the British Open at St. Andrews in 2010 and has the Grand Slam of runner-up finishes in all four majors.

Others who have said they would not stick around include Abraham Ancer, David Puig and Adrian Meronk, whose victory in the Dunhill Links Championship gave him renewed status on the European tour.

The European tour issued an ultimatum Oct. 12 that anyone signing up for LIV 2.0 would not be able to hold European tour membership, key for players who want to be eligible for the Ryder Cup.

A New Jersey bankruptcy court last week approved the amended restructuring support agreement with BC Partners, allowing LIV to carry on with restructuring. But it needs ample support from the players, and only four of them — Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele, 53-year-old Richard Bland and Ben Campbell — have said they are staying put.

BC Partners set a Sunday deadline for players to decide, though it has the right to extend or to waive that deadline. Under the amended agreement the court approved, BC Partners no longer has a set number of players it requires to move forward, giving it some latitude.

LIV has said it would make no comment on players’ decisions.

Golf Digest reported 2022 British Open champion Cam Smith of Australia has asked for separation from LIV. Joaquin Niemann has not decided which way he will go, his manager said Friday. Bryson DeChambeau has been a proponent of LIV’s future, though he has not indicated what he will do.

The PGA Tour currently offers membership to the leading 10 players from the European tour points list not already exempt, which has created a path back in 2027 for Patrick Reed and Eugenio Chacarra, both no longer with LIV.

The tour has said it is not contemplating a returning members program that Brooks Koepka accepted in January, and which Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith declined. That was three months before the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia said it would no longer support LIV after 2026.

The next bankruptcy hearing for LIV is scheduled for Nov. 5.

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