After Brooks Koepka and Pat Perez’s departure, LIV Golf took another blow. Now the league confirmed a captain’s exit and a full team rebrand this January.

Kevin Na, the captain of Iron Heads GC, has left the Saudi-backed league. “Thank you, Kevin 🙏 Kevin Na closes his LIV Golf chapter, leaving behind a lasting mark on the league and team,” wrote the team on its official X account. The news comes after rumors of a failed contract negotiation between Na and LIV Golf.

Several reports earlier in January also indicated there was “drama going on” inside the Iron Heads GC and Na. He quietly stopped following his own team and the main league on Instagram, sparking rumors of a bitter split.

Former PGA Tour pro turned broadcaster, Smylie Kaufman, reported a potential fallout between Kevin Na and LIV Golf officials. All of which pointed to a sorry end to a promising saga started four years back.

The five-time PGA Tour winner was among the first few players to join LIV alongside the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith. He was the captain of the Iron Heads GC, with hopes of establishing the team as a leader in the fledgling league. Things, however, didn’t go as planned.

Na’s best finish(T6) came at LIV Golf Hong Kong in 2024. On the other hand, his team’s best finish came at LIV Golf Tucson in 2023. Last year was even worse.

Kevin Na finished in 44 th and struggled to find his old magic on the greens. His team also finished in last place among all thirteen squads in 2025. There were reports that his contract wasn’t extended by LIV. Before joining the breakaway tour, Na played 458 events on the PGA Tour, where he won five times and earned over $37 million.

The official news finally arrived when the team revealed their brand new name and their fresh logo. The “Iron Heads” name is now gone forever as the group becomes the Korean Golf Club. The team will now need a new captain, and a PGA Tour pro has reportedly stepped up.

Byeong Hun An, also known as Ben An, is the reported new captain for the squad. The 34-year-old made headlines when he won the 2009 U.S. Amateur as the youngest winner in the tournament’s history, at 17, breaking Tiger Woods‘s past record.

Although he has never won on the PGA Tour, Ben An won the DP World Tour’s 2015 BMW PGA Championship. And his last win came at the 2024 Genesis Championship.

Minkyu Kim and Younghan Song are joining the roster, and Danny Lee is the only original player who kept his spot on the team for the year.

Meanwhile, the future of Na, 42, is still uncertain. He can’t follow in the footsteps of Brooks Koepka because he doesn’t fulfill the criteria the Tour has set for returning LIV pros.

Neither can he do what Pat Perez did by returning to the PGA Tour Champions, because he isn’t 50 yet. Regardless, Na’s departure is significant for more than one reason.

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LIV’s strategic shift to conquer the Korean market

A brief pause here, and consider the bigger picture: LIV now shifts from personalities to markets. LIV has pushed hard into Asia, and Korea sits at the front of that strategy. The league held its first Korean stop in May 2025 and drew strong crowds. So they launched the Korean Golf Club to attract millions of fans in Seoul.

The new logo features a white tiger, which symbolizes strength in Korean history. They are also using the Rose of Sharon, which is a national flower. This strategy uses national pride to sell more hats and more shirts.

LIV Golf is struggling to make money and find big audiences in America. Their TV ratings are very low, and they are losing millions of dollars. CEO Scott O’Neil wants to prioritize international growth to save the struggling business. Korea is the third-largest golf market in the entire world right now, after the United States and Japan. So, quite naturally, LIV Golf wants to enter the market and dominate it.

LIV tried to recruit Si Woo Kim and other Korean stars, but some publicly rejected the offer. Si Woo Kim firmly denied joining LIV and committed to PGA Tour events for 2026. Sungjae Im also called the rumors of him joining the league “fake news” online. Despite these rejections, the tour successfully landed Byeong Hun An for the 2026 season.

The exit of the founding captain marks the end of an era. But it also marks the beginning of White Tiger era. But whether this move finds success or just another leak in the dam remains to be seen.