Four years after leaving for LIV Golf, Patrick Reed will return as a full-time PGA Tour memberin 2027, and he did it the hard way: He earned it.
Reed put together a stellar season in the Middle East, winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters before entering the DP World Tour’s two-week playoff stretch second in the Race to Dubai standings. His performances at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship and season-ending DP World Tour Championship were enough to secure one of the 10 PGA Tour cards available through the DP World Tour.
It also validated a gamble Reed made before the 2026 season as the 36-year-old walked away from LIV Golf months before the Saudi-backed league filed for bankruptcy protection in September and began restructuring.
Rather than wait for another pathway back to the PGA Tour, Reed decided to earn his way there through the DP World Tour.
His route back was considerably different from Brooks Koepka’s.
Koepka returned before the 2026 season through the PGA Tour’s one-time Returning Member Program, which required a $5 million charitable contribution and cost him equity grants and access to bonus pools. Reed received no special exemption. He spent the season playing his way back.
“I've always been a firm believer that if you've earned the right to play, and you qualify, you can play wherever,” Reed said during the Middle East playoff stretch.
Now one of the PGA Tour’s most accomplished and polarizing players of the past decade is headed back.
"I'm back. It feels good!" @PReedGolf heading back to the @PGATour 🤝#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/iyeA8AIRf0
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 15, 2026
Reed won nine times and earned more than $36 million on the PGA Tour before leaving for LIV in 2022. His first victory came at the 2013 Wyndham Championship, where he beat Jordan Spieth in a playoff. He followed with wins at the 2014 Humana Challenge and WGC-Cadillac Championship, becoming the youngest WGC winner at the time at age 23, then added the 2015 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
His biggest win, of course, came at Augusta National, where Reed held off Rickie Fowler and a charging Spieth to win the 2018 Masters by one shot for his lone major championship.
Reed also won The Barclays in 2016 and The Northern Trust in 2019, both FedEx Cup playoff events, and added another WGC title at the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship. His most recent PGA Tour victory came at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open, where he won by five shots at Torrey Pines.
And then there was “Captain America.” Reed played in six consecutive U.S. team events from 2014 through 2019, appearing in three Ryder Cups and three Presidents Cups. His fiery persona, highlighted by his memorable showdown with Rory McIlroy at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, made him one of the most recognizable figures in American team golf.
Now Reed gets another chapter on the PGA Tour.
Tim Schmitt is Golfweek's managing editor.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Patrick Reed earns PGA Tour card for 2027 four years after leaving for LIV Golf
