Which golf stars broke their stated commitment to the PGA Tour by joining LIV Golf? 

LIV Golf is full of golfers who defected from the PGA Tour. Not everyone, but most of them started their careers with the PGA Tour before leaving for more money or theoretically greener pastures.

Some of them went back on their word in doing so. A few made bold claims that they weren't joining LIV Golf before turning around and leaving for the new tour shortly thereafter. Who did that? Let's take a look.

Several LIV Golf members are on record denying any move and shutting down any rumors. They were on the PGA Tour and said they would stay there. That didn't happen.

Dustin Johnson had famously said via Mirror:

"I feel it is now time to put such speculation to rest. Am fully committed to the PGA Tour."

Unfortunately, that commitment only lasted four months. The PGA Tour star is now on LIV and has no plans of coming back once the merger is through. He is one player a lot of PGA Tour players admitted they miss playing with, but he's not coming back.

Brooks Koepka went so far as to say he was "happy" with the PGA Tour and had no plans of leaving. Not long after, he was on the rebel tour and had to backtrack. He, at least, admitted that he changed his mind:

"My opinion changed. That was it... Here I am. Like I said, opinions change. And I feel very comfortable with the decision I made. I'm happy, and I did what's best for me."

Other top golfers to join LIV Golf after denying such plans

Bryson DeChambeau left for LIV Golf

Bryson DeChambeau said he wanted to stay on the Tour as long as the top players were on it. He must've considered Phil Mickelson, Koepka, Johnson and others the best players in the world because he's now on the same rebel tour they are in:

"While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I.”

Paul Casey's denial of any involvement with the Saudi league dates all the way back to 2019, when he had said:

"Signing a deal and being paid to be down there, I would be a hypocrite if I did that. Anyone who says sport isn’t political, that’s rubbish. I’m glad I took a stance, more so if it highlighted the issues within the region."

It seems as if the politics got better in Casey's mind four years later, or that he changed his mind and no longer cared about such things. He did say he would be a hypocrite if he were to do the exact thing he eventually did.

Joaquin Niemann defected to LIV Golf

Joaquin Niemann shut down any rumors about his move to LIV. Later on, those rumors were proven to be true as he defected.

He had said there was nothing to tell and that he wanted to do his best to beat all the PGA Tour guys. Much like DeChambeau, that evidently changed.