What is LIV Golf? List of players to play, schedule to visit the tournament led by Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson

The LIV Golf Invitational Series kicks off this week at the Centurion Club in London, marking the first of eight stretch events for a tournament that has become a rival to the PGA Tour.

At each step along the way, answering this tournament only creates more questions, and clarifications only complicate the future. There are still a lot of unknowns regarding both the LIV Golf as well as the PGA Tour and how the two will interact as “regular season” tours outside of the major championships.

The summary you see below is an informative attempt to build on everything known right now as we begin the first event in LIV Golf’s history. Whether or not this is a fork or fork in professional golf (only the future will determine that), it’s truly epic for the moment. LIV Golf, fueled by unlimited war resources to throw at the best players, is officially going to war with the PGA Tour.

The long promised time has finally come. Let’s take a look back at what we know and what we can expect in the weeks, months and years ahead as LIV Golf hits the course.

What is LIV Golf?

LIV Golf is a golf tournament that rivals the PGA Tour, where the tournament includes 54 holes, courses limited to 48 golfers, and a $25 million run. Twelve or four teams will compete in each event and the individual amount will be $20 million while the remaining $5 million will be divided among the best teams each week.

Who leads LIV Golf?

LIV Golf Investments runs the tournament and its CEO is two-time major champion Greg Norman. It is funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which is the effective financial arm of the Saudi government. These funds seem limitless as the league has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to players just to secure their appearances at LIV Golf Invitational Series events.

Who are the LIV Golfers?

As it stands, the tournament’s best player is Dustin Johnson, a two-time major tournament winner, who is said to have been paid nine figures for his services. LIV Golf league demographics lean towards players like Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell. A lot of its composition is European or South African, and LIV Golf is actively recruiting other top players and big names like Bryson DeChambeau and Rickie Fowler, both of whom are rumored to be in the mix. the future of the tournament.

Here’s a look at who was in the field with their OWGR at the time they were announced.

Why is LIV Golf here?

The politically correct answer LIV Golf gives is that it wants to give players the opportunity to earn more money than they could on the PGA Tour and develop the game around the world. The actual answer, given that it’s a Saudi Arabia-run league, is known as a sports league – a term for normalizing a country or entity through sport. Saudi Arabia has attempted to do this through other sports leagues, including F1 and football. If you want a more basic understanding of sports laundry, perhaps McDowell and Westwood accidentally offered it recently.

What is the LIV Golf Schedule?

Most of the eight events in 2022 will take place in the United States. Below is the full schedule for the inaugural season.

• London, England: 9-11 June
• Portland, Oregon: June 30 – July 2
• Bedminster, New Jersey: July 29-31
• Boston, Massachusetts: September 2-4
• Chicago, Illinois: September 16-18
• Bangkok, Thailand: October 7-9
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: October 14-16
• Miami, Florida: October 27-30

Does the PGA Tour allow players to play LIV Golf?

In short, no. The league has time and again pointed out its rules and regulations and mentioned suspending or banning players who choose to play in this tournament. It denied players a waiver to play in the first event – PGA Tour players get three exemptions per season – and more severe disciplinary actions are expected after the first event. in London really begins. In response to this, many players, including world number 13 Dustin Johnson, have simply abandoned the Tournament and will continue to play LIV Golf which is essentially their regular season golf tournament.

Do majors allow players to play LIV Golf?

That’s an even better question. The immediate answer is: yes. The major organizations – PGA of America, USGA, R&A and Augusta National – may not announce the suspension or ban players from participating. However, it is also the organizations that control the points of the Official World Golf Rankings that put players in the majors in the first place. LIV Golf has signed up to have its events become OWGR events (LIV Golf Investments also invests money in the Asian Tour, accredited by OWGR), but whether they will be granted status remains to be seen and that is the thing that all this can hinge on. If LIV Golf events are given OWGR points and silly sums are thrown at players to lure them into the tournament, then some other top stars could end up making the leap ahead of the competition. of the PGA Tour.