Yosuke Asaji qualified his way in. Scott Vincent qualified too, but he’s also returning.
And Laurie Canter may also be returning, but his move has a surprising feel.
The trio of moves are all part of LIV Golf’s offseason, and more appear to be on the way for the Saudi-backed league that finished its fourth season in August. Below, then, is a look at the news from the past week.
Yosuke Asaji qualifies into LIV Golf
Asaji did so by finishing second in the season-long standings of the Asian Tour-based International Series. Notably, LIV recently announced that two LIV spots would be awarded based on the standings, up from one, and the move appears to be geared toward securing world-ranking points for the league.
Who’s Asaji? He’s a 29-year-old pro from Japan who’s played events this year on the Asian Tour, the Japan Tour and the Korea PGA. He’s ranked 237th in the world.
“I was so happy with my wife and my caddie, we were together,” Asaji said Saturday at the PIF Saudi International, the final event of the International Series’ season.
“We can get in the LIV event. I was so happy.”
Scott Vincent qualifies into LIV Golf
Vincent returns to LIV by finishing first in the International Series standings. The 33-year-old pro from Zimbabwe played with LIV from 2022 to ’24 before being relegated at the end of the ‘24 season.
Vincent is currently ranked 156th in the world. At the Saudi International, he tied for 42nd.
“I woke up at about 4:30, which was two hours before I was hoping to,” Vincent said Saturday. “Then you start playing all the different scenarios in your head, which was not what I was hoping for.
“Yeah, I kind of just — I wanted to come out here and just play freely and give it my best, but yeah, I was nervous. Obviously not knowing and not trying to look at leaderboards, you don’t know how much of a cushion you have. You don’t want to be the guy who’s ahead and loses, all those things.
“Once I kind of got moving and got into my routine and putting and range work, I definitely did settle down. Yeah, I just didn’t play great today, but obviously the season was enough.”
Is Laurie Canter returning to LIV?
On Friday, the Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter reported that Canter will be rejoining LIV — just a week after he had secured a PGA Tour for next year via a top 10 finish in the DP World Tour’s season-long standings.
The 36-year-old Englishman played in LIV events from 2022 to ’24 — though he played in just two in ’24 — then played on the DP World Tour. In March, he also played in the PGA Tour’s Players Championship via his position in the world rankings.
“I think anyone who plays golf would [like to be a PGA Tour member],” Canter said. “You look at the event this week, last week I watched and kind of where those Signature Events are going, I mean, if you could engineer, play well enough to where you’ve got your world ranking where you’ve got Signature Events and majors — what a year that is for a golfer to play those venues with those golfers for that amount of money. It’s incredible.”
But now he appears to be headed back to LIV.
Have there been any other LIV-related moves recently?
Yes, there have been a few.
– Bunkered’s Ben Parsons recently reported that Henrik Stenson will return to the DP World Tour, after playing LIV events from 2022 through the end of this season.
– On Tuesday, Victor Perez withdrew from the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, and he joined LIV.
– Two other players will join LIV following play at its Promotions event, set for Jan. 8 to 11 in Florida.
