In 2026, saying no to LIV Golf earns you something money can’t buy — locker-room respect. Akshay Bhatia has rejected a “lucrative” offer to join LIV Golf, opting to remain on the PGA Tour, as first reported by NUCLR Golf on X via Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard. The 23-year-old, two-time PGA Tour winner walked away from guaranteed millions. What happened next mattered just as much as the decision itself.

“It’s very cool seeing younger guys say no to the upfront money to chase more career goals,” Kim wrote. “I obviously understand it from the other side as well, but it’s one thing to talk about it, another to say no to a big check that’s right in front of you,” Michael Kim, a PGA Tour veteran, wrote as he reposted the news on X.

The offer reportedly came from Phil Mickelson‘s HyFlyers GC, as per the reports. That detail carries weight as Mickelson has mentored Bhatia for years, guiding him through the early turbulence of professional golf. Bhatia found Lefty to be a positive guy with good storytelling skills, and could watch him play for hours. Turning down your mentor’s team requires a different kind of conviction.

Bhatia represents exactly what LIV needs: youth, talent, and trajectory. He turned professional at 17, skipping college after competing in the Walker Cup. He claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the 2023 Barracuda Championship and added the 2024 Valero Texas Open — becoming one of only ten players in the past 50 years to win multiple titles before turning 23. Currently ranked 46th in the world, he has qualified for the Tour Championship in consecutive seasons.

LIV offered instant wealth. A standard LIV victory pays $4 million. Bhatia’s Valero Texas Open win earned him $1.656 million. The math favors the Saudi-backed league — until you factor in what it cannot provide.

Majors. OWGR points. A path to history. All of which holds a lot of importance for the 2x Tour winner as winning majors remains his goal for years to come.

LIV events do not earn any world ranking credit. It has changed to a 72-hole format game in the hope of OWGR. That limitation haunts players chasing legacy over liquidity. Bhatia’s rejection suggests he sees a ceiling on the PGA Tour that no guaranteed contract could match.

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LIV Golf’s broader recruitment crisis deepens

Bhatia’s decision falls within a pattern. LIV has not secured a blockbuster signing since Jon Rahm in December 2023. Its 2026 additions — Thomas Detry (ranked 57th), Elvis Smylie, Laurie Canter, Victor Perez — lack the star power the league craves. Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka departed in December 2025. The roster is aging. The pipeline is thinning.

The PGA Tour, by contrast, doubled its annual purses to $500 million by 2025. It secured $3 billion from Strategic Sports Group. The merger talks with PIF remain frozen — governance disputes, DOJ scrutiny, contradictory visions for LIV’s future. But the Tour no longer needs a deal to survive.

Kim’s public praise captures the cultural shift. Two years ago, PGA Tour players defended defectors quietly or stayed silent entirely. Now they celebrate those who stay. The locker room has moved. Legacy is cool again.

Bhatia could have taken the money. He chose the chase instead.