Eight Australians looking for a chance to join LIV golf league
There’s a $300,000 prize for winning LIV’s first ever qualification event but for the eight Aussies in the running more millions await.
Australian veteran Wade Ormsby has had a taste of the LIV golf experience and is giving “everything” for another shot at snaring a lucrative contract with the Saudi-backed tour.
Ormsby, 43, is one of 11 Australians including one-time teen prodigy Ryan Ruffels and Jed Morgan, who lost his spot on Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC team, looking for one of three tour spots at the inaugural qualification event in Abu Dhabi this week.
One of the inaugural LIV players from the 2022 season, Ormsby collected more than $4.7 million in prizemoney playing just nine events, but was only was a reserve for Ripper GC in 2023 while also playing on the Asian Tour.
A convert to the LIV format, he called the promotion event this week “one of the greatest opportunities that has ever been presented in world golf” knowing the money on offer to player who get a contract can be life-changing.
Morgan, the 2021 Australian PGA champion, won more than $5 million from his LIV experience which makes clear the opportunity available, despite clouds still hanging over the long-term future of the tour.
Both Ormsby and Morgan have been given passage directly in to the second round, and would need to be in the top 20 players to get through to the final day, 36-hole showdown, with $300,000 also on offer for the winner.
“I had a taste of it in 2022 and I want more of it, so it is up to me to grab one of those three spots,” Ormsby said.
“It is an exciting format, it is shorter and faster and the camaraderie among the players and teams is completely different to what I have experienced before.
“Definitely that team aspect, I have experienced that at Punch and now Ripper GC, and that was a lot of fun. Pulling for your mates is a different feel to looking after yourself. Put all that together and it is pretty exciting and a lot of fun.
“I want to give it everything I can because it is a great opportunity, one of the greatest opportunities that has ever been presented in world golf, so that guys can graduate straight through to the LIV Golf League, which has proved to be pretty lucrative and exciting and a fun format.”
-20 Ripper GC
— Ripper GC (@rippergc_) November 3, 2023
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-9 Crushers GC, Stinger GC
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More than 70 players from 23 different countries are teeing it up in Abu Dhabi, including former US PGA winner Jason Dufner, with rumours rife current Masters champion Jon Rahm could be crossing to LIV in 2024, for a sum in excess of $400 million.
LIV CEO Greg Norman continues to trumpet the long-term future of the league despite a looming deal between the USA PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund set to shape the entire landscape of the sport.
AUSSIES AT THE LIV PROMOTION EVENT
Lachlan Barker
Austin Bautista
Andrew Dodt
Scott Hend
Brendan Jones
Zach Murray
Ryan Ruffels
Travis Smyth
Kevin Yuan
Jed Morgan
Wade Ormsby
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