While Lucas Herbert is being widely reported as being another Australian signing for the LIV Golf stable, British star Tommy Fleetwood says he has rejected an offer from the Saudi-funded tour.
Reports over the week have linked Bendigo's Herbert, the Australian No.6 in the world rankings, as a new recruit for the lucrative tour, saying he will join Cameron Smith's 'Ripper GC' outfit in the team event.
Neither LIV nor Herbert himself has provided confirmation, but when the well-connected Flushing It website, which led the way on Jon Rahm's blockbuster signing for LIV, said he'd signed, Herbert's response on X was not a denial but just a jovial comment about the picture which had accompanied the tweet.
Currently the world No.69, only behind Jason Day, Smith, Min Woo Lee, Cameron Davis and Adam Scott among Australians in the rankings, Herbert is said to be the replacement for fellow Australian Jed Morgan, who was relegated from the tour at the end of last year.
Four-time tournament winner Herbert, whose one PGA Tour victory came in the 2021 Bermuda Championship, would, it as been reported, join Marc Leishman and Matt Jones on Smith's all-Australian team.
The Victorian hasn't played anywhere since his two top-10 finishes at the Australian PGA and Open late last year.
With LIV's first event of the season set for Mayakoba, Mexico, at the start of February, speculation has been growing over which other big names could be joining the tour run by former Australian great Greg Norman.
But in Dubai, where he's been playing in the European Tour's first event of the season at the Desert Classic, Fleetwood, one of the tour's biggest names, said he had rejected a recent offer to join.
The 33-year-old Englishman, part of Europe's 2023 Ryder Cup winning team, told BBC Sport: "I'll always be doing what I think is best for my golf game and at the moment that is what I am doing.
"People have been getting approached for a long, long time now so I don't think it's flash news that people are still being approached by LIV.
"Some people will go and some people won't. At some point we'll either all play together, or we won't. I, like everybody else, will just wait to find out.
"I'm still chasing my childhood dreams and still trying to be the best golfer I can be. Who knows if that changes in the future but for now that's just where I want to be."
