Lucas Herbert won twice on LIV Golf in 2026 (LIV Golf Virginia in May and LIV Golf UK in July), shot a 62 at Royal Birkdale and finished tied for sixth at the 154th Open Championship, then left the league. On Australia’s Tee It Up Golf Podcast, the 30-year-old told host Keiran Nolan why.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I think they probably thought that it was going to be a little easier to be at home more and get more family time, but they probably underestimated how hard it was to stay in contact and feel like they were connected with the family when you’re eight time zones away,” Herbert said. “You’re going to bed, and the family’s going to get up in an hour and go to school, and then if you don’t call them before golf in the morning, you basically don’t speak to them for a week. And I think that might have taken its toll on some guys as well.”
He argued that the usual explanation from departing players, that they wanted easier travel and more family time, described a symptom rather than the cause. “This is where I think people get a little lost in the weeds with some of these statements that come out from players that have announced that they’re leaving.”
His early years on LIV were not the problem, he said: about 14 events, mostly in the United States, with three-day weeks. “The demands with LIV that continued throughout the last three years was around the distance between venues.”
This season took players from Hong Kong to Singapore to South Africa, then from the US to Korea, Korea to Spain, and Spain back to the US, with the US Open the following week. “If that was how the schedule ran on the DP World Tour, you wouldn’t play one of those events because it’s just too big a travel schedule.” Traditional tours clustered stops, such as Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, on one swing and then home. LIV offered one long haul in and another out, with no events in between.
Herbert rejected the idea that Australians were simply used to it: “If you want to go overseas, it’s not New Zealand. You’ve got to sit in the plane for seven or eight hours.” The flights were manageable, he said. The recovery was not. “I’m 30 and relatively fit, and that was tough. I can’t imagine how tough it was for some of the guys who are a bit older.” LIV’s departures had included Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Charles Howell III, and Ian Poulter.
The family issue followed from the same cause. Weeks off did not translate into time at home because an eight-hour time gap made daily contact impractical.
Herbert expected the fix to be consolidation. “I’m already looking at a span of three events next year in South Africa. It’s a long travel route to get out there, but once you’re there, you’ve got three events you can knuckle down and lock in for three weeks.” LIV’s published calendar listed one South Africa stop for 2027, at The Club at Steyn City from 22 to 25 April, after Bryson DeChambeau beat Jon Rahm in a playoff there this year.
The comments came as LIV rebuilt after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, which voided player contracts. More than a dozen players had ruled themselves out of LIV 2.0, including Rahm, Hatton, McKibbin, Puig, and Meronk, ahead of the reported October 25 deadline. The DP World Tour said anyone signing with the revamped league forfeited membership and Ryder Cup eligibility.
Money wasn’t Herbert’s motive; contending at the majors was. Grouping events into regional blocks was a schedule fix LIV could make. Reducing the distances on a global tour wasn’t.