LIV golf tour: Bryson DeChambeau firms as next big name to sign with rebel tour
A major winning star who has polarised golf in recent years is believed to be the next big name to join Greg Norman’s Saudi backed LIV tour.
Bryson DeChambeau is set to become the next big-name golfer to join the Saudi rebel tour.
As the $350 million LIV Golf Invitational Series gets under way at Centurion Club near St Albans today, the PGA and DP World Tours are already reeling from a series of blows. The departure of DeChambeau, the 2020 US Open champion, will be a significant one and he is expected to be followed by Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed.
DeChambeau, 28, is a polarising personality who attracts huge attention. He had previously denied that he had accepted $100 million to be one of the faces of the series, but his agent has confirmed his interest.
Brett Falkoff said: “Bryson has always been an innovator. Having the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing and it’s happening quickly.”
When play starts, the PGA Tour is expected to sanction those appearing without being granted releases, while the DP World Tour may be limited to fining players.
But with players such as Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia resigning their PGA Tour memberships, and others confident they will still be able to play in Ryder Cups, the power appears to be shifting to the players.
Phil Mickelson will play his first competitive round since February at Centurion after refusing to say whether he had already served a PGA Tour suspension. He became an outcast after damning Tour bosses and admitting that he had helped to write the breakaway tour’s draft operating agreement, but refused to deny rumours that he had been banned for his machinations.
“I chose not to speak publicly on PGA Tour issues at this time,” he said during a tense press conference. Mickelson, who previously branded the Saudis “scary motherf***ers”, also spoke about Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, including the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “I don’t condone human rights violations at all,” he said. “Nobody here does. I am certainly aware of what has happened with Khashoggi and I think it is terrible. I have also seen the good the game of golf has done throughout history.”
The six-times major winner, who has career winnings topping $95 million and is receiving double that to join LIV Golf, said he said he would not be giving up his PGA Tour membership. “I’ve received a lot from the PGA Tour and am grateful for that. I’ve also worked really hard to contribute and try to add value to the tour during my time there. I don’t want to give that up. I don’t believe I should have to.” He maintained there were “things that should and could be a lot better” on the PGA Tour but said he would keep them private in future. He confirmed that he would also play in next week’s US Open.
Leading European players at Centurion include the Ryder Cup stalwarts Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. Asked if they were putting their future in the competition in jeopardy, Poulter said: “We don’t know. I’d like to think it wouldn’t. All the golf that I’ve played around the world and [the] different tours that I’ve played on - I don’t see why this should be any different. I don’t believe it should be controversial.”
Poulter, the world No 92, also predicted more players would join DeChambeau in jumping ship. “I definitely see other top players watching,” he said. “There’s a huge investment coming into golf. I think they will want to come and see what it’s all about.”
during a tense press conference.
Aussie takes lead role in golf’s rebel tour
Brent Read
Australian Wade Ormsby has been named as one of 12 inaugural captains for the opening event on Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV tour and has quickly stacked his team with his compatriots.
Ormsby was selected to lead Punch GC and ensured the team would have a distinctly Aussie flavour as he selected Matt Jones with his first draft selection and Blake Windred with his final pick.
Jediah Morgan, one of the other Australians in the field for the London Invitational, which begins on Thursday at Centurion Club, was picked up by Spain’s Sergio Garcia in his team, Fireballs GC.
While Kevin Yuan was selected by former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson for his 4 Aces GC team while Travis Smyth secured a spot with Peter Uihlein’s Crushers GC team.
Ormsby was named alongside major winners Garcia, Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer, and Louis Oosthuizen as captains.
The first LIV golf event will be played for a purse of $25 million and feature individual as well as team competition. Ormsby’s team was named Punch GC, a name that “celebrates this timeless stroke: the punch shot”.
“We are supercharging the game and turning it into the sport it’s been destined to become,” Norman, LIV Golf chief executive and commissioner, said.
“Our new format, our new team component, and our diverse field of players is something golf has never seen.
“I’m excited to watch these teams come to life and the new energy, camaraderie and competition they’ll bring to the player and fan experience.”
While the inaugural draft was conducted with requisite razzamatazz, controversy continued to rage over the LIV tour and its implications for world golf.
The new series will comprise eight tournaments this year and is being backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, prompting allegations that Norman is playing a role in sportwashing, where countries with questionable human rights records use sport to improve their image.
The players who have pledged to play on Norman’s tour will compete for purses of $25 million in each of the seven regular-season events, played over 54 holes with no cut.
The eighth and final event will be a team championship, with a total prize pool of $50 million. The US PGA Tour has warned of serious ramifications for any player who competes on the rebel tour without a release, although Johnson made that threat redundant when he resigned from the tour this week.
Johnson, speaking at a press conference at Centurion Club in the lead-up to the inaugural event, became the second high-profile player after Kevin Na to withdraw their membership of the US PGA Tour.
“Right now, I’ve resigned my membership from the Tour,” said Johnson, who reportedly received a $150 million sling for pledging to play on the LIV Tour.
“I am going to play here for now. That is the plan. I’m very thankful for the PGA Tour and everything it has done for me. But this is something that I thought was best for me and my family and I am very excited about playing.
“I think it is great for the game of golf and that is why I am here.”
Asked about the consequences of playing on the PGA Tour and the prospect of missing majors, Johnson said: “I can’t answer on the majors but hopefully they are going to allow us to play. Obviously I am exempt for the majors so I plan on playing there, unless I hear otherwise.”
MICKELSON FRONTS UP TO SAUDI, US TOUR QUESTIONS
Phil Mickelson said Wednesday he does not condone human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, on the eve of the first tournament of the divisive LIV Golf Invitational Series near London funded by the Gulf kingdom.
The six-time major winner confirmed earlier this week he had signed up to play in the new series, saying he also plans to play major events, including next week’s US Open.
Mickelson has not played since the publication of comments in February in which he criticised the US PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s Saudi backers.
In an interview with author Alan Shipnuck, the 51-year-old American left-hander said LIV Golf was an opportunity to gain leverage over the PGA Tour.
However, Mickelson described the new venture’s backers as “scary” with a “horrible record on human rights,” noting the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate.
Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi, an insider turned critic, in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018. His remains have never been found.
Fallout from the killing continues to mar Saudi Arabia’s image, especially in the United States.
The 51-year-old Mickelson, who headlines a field of 48 players at the 54-hole LIV Golf Invitational London, which starts on Thursday, faced a grilling at an eve-of-tournament press conference.
The American, who entered the room wearing dark glasses, was asked what he meant by describing the Saudis as “scary”.
“Certainly I have made, said and done a lot of things I regret and I’m sorry for that and for the hurt that it’s caused a lot of people,” he said.
“I don’t condone human rights violations at all, nobody here does, any throughout the world, and I’m certainly aware of what has happened with Jamal Khashoggi and I think it’s terrible.
“I’ve also seen the good that the game of golf has done throughout history and I believe that LIV Golf is going to do a lot of good for the game as well and I’m excited about this opportunity.”
Players opting into LIV Golf have done so despite PGA Tour warnings of disciplinary action.
While a number of players have resigned from the Tour in order to compete in the LIV Golf events, including two-time major winner Dustin Johnson, Mickelson said he had no intention of following suit.
“I earned my lifetime membership and I don’t want to give that up,” he said. “I don’t believe I should have to.” “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I have earned that (lifetime membership) and I don’t plan on just giving that up,” added the American, a 45-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Mickelson refused to confirm or deny if he had been suspended, or currently was suspended, from the American Tour.
“I choose not to speak publicly on PGA Tour issues at this time,” he said at the Centurion Club in St Albans, outside London.
He also declined to confirm if he is receiving $200 million to compete in the LIV Golf events, but his answer indicated that the reported amount could be accurate.
“I feel that contract agreements should be private,” Mickelson said. “Doesn’t seem to be the case, but it should be.” The new LIV series, which comprises eight tournaments this year, is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Players will compete as individuals and teams for eye-watering purses of $25 million in all seven regular-season events, played over three rounds with no cut.
JOHNSON PERMITTED TO PLAY US OPEN DESPITE QUITTING TOUR
The Times
The future of professional golf has been plunged into fresh turmoil with four major winners resigning from the PGA Tour to join the Saudi breakaway.
Dustin Johnson, the former world No 1 with career winnings of $100m from the PGA Tour, announced he had quit at a press event at Centurion Club near St Albans, north of London, where the $350m LIV Golf Invitational Series starts on Thursday.
Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have all joined him. Kevin Na, the world No 34, had already announced his resignation.
In another twist the United States Golf Association said Johnson, Garcia, Phil Mickelson and other Saudi sign-ups were free to play in next week’s US Open near Boston.
They issued a statement saying: “We simply asked ourselves this question — should a player who had earned his way into the 2022 US Open, via our criteria, be pulled out of the field as a result of his decision to play in another event? We decided that they should not.”
The majors are run by four different governing bodies and not the main tours. Johnson’s resignation is the most worrying for the PGA and DP World Tours, which have refused to issue releases for their members to play in Hertfordshire.
Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, has threatened rebels with life bans and it is believed the players tendering their resignations have done so to avoid that affecting their eligibility for the majors.
“For right now, I resigned my membership from the Tour,” said Johnson, the 2020 Masters and 2016 US Open champion. “I’m going to play here for now.”
Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, explained his resignation by saying this was going to be his last year on the PGA Tour anyway, but Johnson’s departure means he will now be ineligible for the Ryder Cup.
“Hopefully, at some point it will change and we will be able to participate,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do that again, but I don’t make the rules.”
Asked if he had chosen cash over country, he said: “I chose what’s best for me and my family.”
The resignations came despite LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman saying players did not need to take that action.
He has promised to reimburse players if they are sanctioned.
Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open winner, has not resigned, saying he did not want a “legal situation”, but he knows his hopes of being a future Ryder Cup captain will be harmed.
“I hope it doesn’t affect that,” he said. “When you look at the European Tour and the players that are here, they have done a huge amount for the Ryder Cup. It would be a shame to see those guys not invited back.”
He said he would have been “crazy” to walk away from the sums being offered by the Saudis. Johnson is being paid more than $130m to join the rebel series with Phil Mickelson understood to be getting double that.
Mickelson denied he needed the money because of gambling losses. “My family and I … have been financially secure for some time,” he told Sports Illustrated. “My gambling got to a point where it was reckless and embarrassing. I’ve been addressing it for a number of years and (with) hundreds of hours of therapy.”
More Coverage
Tee time treats for Aussies seeking a hat-trick of majors
From Tim Tams to tee times, Australia's women golfers are on the cusp of making sporting history at Royal Porthcawl.
Scott confirms Australia return and reveals plan for Presidents Cup
Age is no barrier for Adam Scott, he’s just recorded a 97th consecutive majors appearance, has confirmed his return to Australia and now has revealed his plan for the Presidents Cup.