Bubba Watson criticizes major LIV format change for 2026

Heading into the 2026 LIV Golf season, Bubba Watson is focused on capturing his first LIV win. But the two-time Masters champion is also concerned with a big change the league is making for the new year.

In a new interview, Watson criticized LIV’s decision to dramatically alter its tournament format to 72 holes, provided a defense for the 54-hole format and opened up on Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour return.

Bubba’s 54-hole defense: ‘Better for the fans when there’s chaos’

Back in November, LIV Golf made the surprising announcement that they would change all of their tournaments from 54 holes to 72 holes.

Though it was a shock to see the league ditch one of its defining characteristics, one that is even represented in the league’s name, there was a very good reason for it: the Official World Golf Ranking.

Since its inception, LIV has failed to earn recognition by the OWGR. As a result, most of its players have tumbled in the world ranking and, most importantly, struggled to qualify for major championships.

LIV’s 54-hole format was one of the sticking points keeping LIV from earning OWGR recognition.

But in a recent interview with the Mirror US Sports’ Sam Frost, Watson stated his public disagreement with the format change.

When asked if he supported LIV’s move to 72 holes, Watson made his opinion as clear as possible.

“Um, no,” Watson began.

But he backed up his opinion with a detailed reasoning. First, he criticized 72-hole tournaments, arguing that more holes lead to more runaway winners and less close action.

“I think we should go three days. And there’s a reason why. I think with the sprint, everyone stays together. When you go four days you’re going to have some more spread out leaders, and it just kind of takes away your last round, right?” Watson argued.

He continued, explaining his belief that 54-hole tournaments result in tighter competitions and invite more “chaos” to the proceedings, and that’s exactly what golf fans are hungry for.

“When everybody’s close battling, it puts more people in the mix on a Sunday or the last round on a Saturday, whichever tournament you’re at, and so that just makes it better for the fans when there’s chaos happening,” Watson said.

Watson’s stance differs from that of LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil. Just last week, O’Neil spoke confidently about LIV’s chances of securing OWGR recognition soon, and the format change is a big reason why.

Watson opens up on Koepka’s PGA Tour return

Watson’s brief interview with the Mirror US Sports didn’t only cover LIV’s format change. It also touched on the biggest news in golf from the past week: Koepka’s decision to leave LIV and the PGA Tour’s decision to let Koepka return (albeit with steep financial penalties).

The way Watson sees it, Koepka’s departure in no way threatens the future of LIV Golf.

“The league’s in a great spot,” Watson said. “One person’s not going to dictate what the league’s doing.”

But he also spoke positively about Koepka, revealing that he’s both happy for the five-time major champion and pleased that Koepka was able to choose the pro golf path that best suits him and his family.

“The beauty is, though, now [Koepka] gets to spend more time with his family, that’s what he wants. And so that’s good, that’s great for him. As a friend, I hope he has a great time. It’s great that he’s still playing professional golf. LIV has always been about pathways to play other tours, so it’s great,” Watson said.

As for his own goals for 2026, 72 holes or not, Watson’s focus is simple. He wants to finally hoist his first-career individual LIV trophy and win a championship for his RangeGoats team.

“I want to win on LIV. I haven’t lifted an individual trophy on LIV… I would love to lift a championship trophy for a team on LIV. That’d be another notch on the belt.”

The 2026 LIV Golf season gets underway the first week of February with the LIV Golf Riyadh event in Saudi Arabia.

This article originated on Golf.com