The Asian Tour’s decision to walk away from a contract renewal with LIV Golf and shake hands with the DP World Tour was one of the bigger shakeups in golf. What actually forced that decision, though, has stayed largely unexplained until now. In conversation with Today’s Golfer (TG), Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant walked through the inside sequence of events, detailing the exact moment that pushed his tour away from LIV’s renewal and into secret talks at Royal Birkdale.

“It was the week right after the Masters when LIV Golf was in Mexico. We found out at that time. Obviously, things were still unclear. We weren’t sure if it was funding just for the LIV Golf League or the International Series as well, or if it was just going to stop straight away. It was a really abrupt thing that happened, and it was very surprising news because, up until the Masters, we were still talking to LIV Golf about the next few years of a partnership.”

The Asian Tour and LIV Golf were indeed discussing a five-year extension. They were, in fact, focusing on extending the International Series, a LIV-backed circuit that has powered the Asian Tour schedule since 2022.

It was launched through a major investment by LIV Golf into the Asian Tour and ran elevated events carrying purses of up to $2 million apiece. The International Series eventually became LIV Golf’s primary recruitment pipeline in Asia and helped shape how the Asian Tour built its calendar for the next several years. This pathway proved crucial—which is why PIF’s withdrawal hit so hard. PIF’s exact pullback—whether from the League, International Series, or both—was not immediately disclosed.

The Asian Tour’s officials scrambled for alternatives and ultimately reached out to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. But it didn’t escape unscathed.

The Asian Tour planned 21 events for 2026 but completed just three international ones in Japan, Singapore, and Morocco before the rumors surfaced. They scrapped the planned events in China and India entirely. Moreover, the organisers reduced the Philippine Open, scheduled for November 12, to a standard Asian Tour event with a smaller prize fund. Only the Saudi International on November 18 survives as the $5 million Asian Tour tournament.

Thant revealed to TG that the Asian Tour had been in talks with the PGA and DP World Tours since April. They only reached an agreement at the Open Championship, forming a multi-year alliance running through 2029.

The parties withheld information about the agreement from LIV Golf until July 21, 2026. Per reports, the Asian Tour will co-sanction five events with the DP World Tour, including the Hong Kong and Singapore Opens, with split fields between the two tours.

With that, TG asked Thant what the deal meant for his players, and he framed it as a straight upgrade at the top end of the membership. Beyond the Order of Merit, winners’ automatic DP World Tour cards will give members an additional five direct routes into the European circuit. Moreover, Asian Tour fields will offer 50–60 spots per tournament. This is wider than LIV’s pathway.

But Thant was also candid that the arrangement doesn’t fully replace what’s lost further down the membership, saying the tour still has some work to do for medium- and low-level members who build their seasons around international series places.

But the fallout extends beyond the Asian Tour. The Asian Tour was LIV Golf’s most significant feeder system in Asia. With that pipeline now locked out, LIV 2.0 heads into 2027 without a secondary circuit.