The Suspension

The PGA Tour has suspended Wesley Bryan following his participation in LIV Golf’s new “The Duels” competition that took place on April 5. This new LIV Golf event paired 12 professionals from the Saudi-backed league with social media influencers in a unique team format.

Bryan, who doesn’t currently hold a PGA Tour card and has made just three event appearances in 2025, participated in the nine-hole scramble event which offered a $250,000 purse. The competition was broadcast exclusively on Grant Horvat’s YouTube channel.

The 35-year-old Bryan has increasingly focused on content creation in recent years, co-launching a popular YouTube channel with his brother George. He’s also participated in two PGA Tour influencer events in the past year, including at last month’s Players Championship.

The Tournament Format

“The Duels” featured six teams of two players each, pairing LIV Golf pros with social media personalities:

• Sergio Garcia and George Bryan (Wesley’s brother)
• Bubba Watson and Luke Kwon
• Joaquin Niemann and Rick Shiels
• Phil Mickelson and Grant Horvat
• Dustin Johnson and Wesley Bryan
• Cameron Smith and Fat Perez

Garcia and George Bryan ultimately won the event, defeating Watson and Kwon in a playoff.

Mickelson’s Response

Phil Mickelson, one of LIV Golf’s most prominent figures, expressed strong disagreement with the PGA Tour’s decision to suspend Bryan. He took to social media platform X to voice his concerns, specifically calling for the Department of Justice to intervene.

“Here’s a question,” Mickelson wrote. “Normally when an entity violates independent contractor law, they deny that it happened and forces the contractor/individual to prove that it did. In this case the PGA Tour blatantly admits they are illegally banning an independent contractor so why doesn’t the DOJ step in and enforce the law? Why does the individual have to sue to enforce the law? DOJ do your [f*******] job!”

Mickelson’s comments reference the ongoing antitrust considerations surrounding the PGA Tour’s ability to restrict players from participating in competing events as independent contractors.

Bryan’s Career Context

The suspension is particularly notable because Bryan does not currently hold a PGA Tour card. Throughout his career, he has made 134 starts on the PGA Tour and won the 2017 RBC Heritage. However, since his rookie season, Bryan has struggled to maintain consistent form, never finishing better than 156th in the FedEx Cup standings.

His participation in “The Duels” event appears to have been related to his growing content creation career rather than representing a formal alignment with LIV Golf as a tour player.