What is LIV Golf? Players, field, tour schedule for league with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka

Two weeks ago, the LIV Golf Invitational kicked off at London’s Centurion Club, the first of eight tournaments for the league that rivals the PGA Tour. At every step along the way, answers about this league only created new questions, and clarifications only made the future more difficult.

There is still much unknown about both the LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, and how they will interact as “regular season” tours outside of major championships.

The breakdown below is our attempt to share everything we know so far with you as we head towards what the LIV Golf will look like in the future. Whether this will turn out to be a fork or a bump in the road of professional golf remains to be seen (only the future will determine this in hindsight), but at the moment it seems monumental.

LIV Golf, endowed with unlimited military resources, capable of throwing himself at the best players, is officially set to take on the PGA Tour. It’s a period of time that has been promised for a long time, and it’s finally here. Let’s take a look at what we know and what we can expect in the weeks, months and years ahead as the LIV Golf hits the ground running.

What is LIV Golf?

LIV Golf is a rival to the PGA Tour golf league, where tournaments are 54 holes, courses are limited to 48 golfers, and purses are astronomical $25 million. Twelve teams of four will compete in each competition, with individual purses totaling $20 million, with the remaining $5 million divided among the top teams each week.

Who runs LIV Golf?

LIV Golf Investments runs the league and its CEO is two-time world champion Greg Norman. It is financed by the State Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which is actually the financial arm of the Saudi government. These funds seem to be limitless as the league paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to players just to guarantee their participation in the LIV Golf Invitational Series tournaments.

Who plays for LIV Golf?

At the moment, the best players in the league are two-time major tournament winner Dustin Johnson, who was reportedly paid a nine-figure sum for his services and four-time major tournament winner Brooks Koepka. The league also recently made a major turnaround thanks to the commitment of Bryson DeChambeau. The demographics of the LIV Golf league are aging in favor of the likes of Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaimer, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell. Most of its roster is made up of Europeans or South Africans and LIV Golf is actively recruiting other top players and celebrities from around the world.

Here’s a look at who was already in the field with their OWGR at the time of their announcement.

Why is LIV Golf here?

The politically correct answer is that LIV Golf says it wants to give players the opportunity to make more money than they made on the PGA Tour and spread the game around the world. The actual answer, given that this is a Saudi Arabian-run league, is what is called a sports wash, which is a term for the normalization of a country or organization through sports. Saudi Arabia has tried to do this through other sports leagues including F1 and football. If you need a deeper understanding of sports washing, McDowell and Westwood, perhaps unintentionally, recently provided it.

What are the schedules for LIV Golf?

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

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

Will the PGA Tour let its golfers play?

In short, no. The Tour pointed out its rules and regulations over and over again and hinted at either a suspension or a ban on players who chose to play in that league. He rejected waivers filed by players for the first tournament – PGA Tour players receive three waivers every season – and tougher disciplinary action is expected once the first tournament in London actually begins. In response, many players, including Dustin Johnson, simply withdrew from the Tour and would continue to play LIV Golf, essentially in their regular season league.

Will big players let golf play?

This is an even better question. Short term answer: yes. Major organizations – PGA of America, USGA, R&A and Augusta National – will most likely not announce suspensions or bans for players who participate. However, it is also the organizations that control the points of the Official World Golf Rankings that have attracted players to majors from the very beginning. LIV Golf has applied to have its events become OWGR events (LIV Golf Investments has also invested in the Asian tour, which is OWGR recognized), but whether they will be granted status remains to be seen, and this is exactly what it all may depend on. . If LIV Golf events get OWGR points and stupid money is thrown at players to lure them into the league, then a few more top stars could end up making the jump to the PGA Tour rival.

What do players think of LIV Golf?

It is clear that those who have been paid wild sums of money – far in excess of $500 million combined for Mickelson, Johnson, Kopka and DeChambeau – think one thing, but most others think differently. Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy are two of the biggest stars on the PGA tour. it was clear that their intention stay on the PGA Tour and play with the best players in the world. However, there is genuine anxiety inside and outside of the PGA tour. One player who spoke to CBS Sports described the week as a major fork in the professional golf path and raised concerns about how the PGA Tour could thrive in the future. This remains to be seen, but it has become clear that this topic is more serious and more inevitable than most people previously thought.