Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters winner, and 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell join LIV Golf headliners Harold Varner III and Belgian Thomas Pieters for the long-running tournament, first held in 1959, which has a boosted prize fund of $2 million this year thanks to its new status as an International Series event on the Asian Tour.

Other big-name players including 2022 Open Championship winner Cam Smith, two-time Hong Kong Open champion Wade Ormsby, Hong Kong Asian Games gold medallist and the first local player to win an Asian Tour title at the World City Championship in March, Taichi Kho. LIV Golf ‘s 2023 Individual Champion Talor Gooch and Eugenio Chacarra are also already confirmed in the field for the first Hong Kong Open to be contested since 2020.

For Varner and Pieters, the Fanling date means a chance to re-connect with close friend and RangeGoats teammate Gooch.  Gooch has acknowledged his relationship with HV3 as a key factor in his switching from 4 Aces to RangeGoats on LIV Golf this season.

“HV3 and I first met in college golf. We just hit it off right away and have been close ever since. Then we had a bunch of time together on the PGA Tour, and now on LIV — and now we are teammates so it is fun, and it is a cool opportunity,” said Gooch, who has made history this season as the first player to win three LIV Golf events and won the overall Individual Championship points race on Sunday at LIV Golf Jeddah.

Varner also has some history behind his name. The 33-year-old is only the second American player to win the Australian PGA Championship.  He added a first LIV Golf victory in Washington DC in May and also won the PIF Saudi International last year.

Gooch is confident that Varner and his teammate Pieters are going to quickly become fan favourites at the Hong Kong Open.

“HV is about as fun of a dude that you are going to be around, but he is also a great player. He hits the ball a long ways, and he has a great short game. He plays well all over the world. He is my teammate, but I hope that I whip him that week,” added Gooch.

Pieters has seven wins since turning pro in 2013 and has represented Belgium and Europe in numerous team events including the 2016 Ryder Cup — when he led Europe with four points.

Talor Gooch. LIV Golf

“Thomas is truly one of the great talents that we have in the game,” said Gooch. “You look at him and think why are you not playing a different sport. He looks like a Greek god. He is 6ft, 5ins and a big dude that hits the ball a country mile. Great short game, great hands, just a great player. He truly has the potential to be one of the best players in the game on any given week.”

From friends to friendly rivals, the Hong Kong Open is set to welcome the return of two Fanling — and Ryder Cup — legends in Reed and McDowell.

Reed is no stranger to the excitement surrounding the Hong Kong Open — the nine-time PGA tournament winner having finished T-3 at Fanling on his debut in 2015, behind winner Justin Rose and Lucas Bjerregaard. The 33-year-old Reed has returned twice since then (2016, 2018), and was named in the field for the 2021 tournament, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The Texan has also had five top-five finishes on LIV Golf this season. He had a similar showing at this year’s Masters at Augusta, a venue where Reed will forever be remembered for his heroics in 2018, when he shot 15-under-par to win by a stroke.

Northern Irishman McDowell is also no stranger to Fanling — or Reed — as the pair have been part of rival Ryder Cup camps down through the years, representing Europe and America, respectively.

The 44-year-old McDowell counts four top-20 finishes among his previous efforts at the Hong Kong Open, to add to 15 career wins on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in his career. He has also been an ever-present player on the LIV Golf series.

The Hong Kong Open is the penultimate event of this season’s International Series, 10 marquee tournaments on the Asian Tour calendar. What happens in Fanling could have real bearing on the final standings for the International Series Order of Merit, the year-long race which will guarantee one spot for the overall leader in next season’s LIV Golf League.

Main image: Patrick Reed. LIV Golf

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Harold Varner III is working on his legacy — and it’s not about golf.

Sure, he wants to maximise his competitive opportunities. Sure, he likes to win. After all, success matters; as a professional athlete, it comes with the territory.

But victories and trophies and the financial benefits attached to it are a means to an end for the 32-year-old North Carolina resident. Success matters mostly to serve his primary objectives, and in framing Sunday’s victory at LIV Golf DC, Varner welcomed the opportunity to place it in its proper perspective.

“Twenty years from now, no one is going to remember who won this tournament, who won any tournament,” Varner said. “They are going to remember how you helped them. I’ve always said that. I feel like I get to help a lot of people now, even more people … It costs a lot of money to help a lot of people.”

Varner has never shied away from his reasons for becoming a LIV Golf member. He wanted to offer generational financial stability for his family, and he wants to empower the next generation for other families by giving children affordable access to golf through his HV3 Foundation.

It’s about being a mentor. Varner recalls those who helped him as a youth. They remain inspirations for him, and he’s determined to take the baton and positively impact others. Programs in his birthplace of Akron, Ohio, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina are in place.

“I had two incredible mentors,” Varner said. “I had more but two that were awesome. They are 91 and 86 [years old] now. I went to breakfast with them a couple of weeks ago. I’m getting to the age where I have to enjoy every moment. … It’s just a bigger picture.”

Winning allows him to broaden his reach and make more of an impact. But while a win of any kind is nice, the ones he enjoys the most are those he can share with teammates.

That’s why his celebration on Sunday seemed a bit subdued. His RangeGoats finished third on the team leaderboard, so even though teammate Talor Gooch sprayed him with champagne on the 18th green, there was no team celebration on the podium like there was after last month’s team victory in Singapore.

“I really want the RangeGoats up there,” Varner said. “It’s important to me. … It would be cool to have three other guys up here to enjoy success.”

? A day to remember for @HV3_Golf #LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/EzKJmhcP0H

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) May 29, 2023

He did have one person inside the ropes who could share Sunday’s success — his caddie Chris Rice. When the final putt dropped, Varner gave him a wink of appreciation.

“Success with another person is something that’s undefeated,” Varner said. “He’s like an older brother. He has gone through some stuff in his life that I haven’t yet, but I just like being there for him. …

“There’s things in life and you need those people in your life. Like I said, mentorship.”

Not even winning for the first time in the United States caused Varner to respond with anything more than a shrug. His previous professional victories had come in Australia and Saudi Arabia, and the RangeGoats’ team win was also overseas. Asked about his two US wins during his collegiate days at East Carolina, Varner said he couldn’t recall them.

“That’s my whole point about what I just said,” Varner explained. “No one is going to remember. I remember the team wins; those are fun. Anytime you get to share success, that’s when it lasts a long time. Just always have that bond.

“It’s why I like the military, any type of police academy. They have this bond for the rest of their lives because they’ve done something that’s been traumatic together, and they just stick it out.”

With captain Bubba Watson back in action for 2023 after missing last season while recovering from knee surgery, and with Gooch — Varner’s close friend – transferring to the team and Thomas Pieters added to the line-up, the RangeGoats entered this year with high expectations.

It took a few tournaments to find their form, but the RangeGoats have now four consecutive podium finishes, including the third place in DC despite Pieters having to WD with an injury prior to the final round (reserve Wade Ormsby filled his spot).

Gooch has been the key, winning in consecutive weeks in Adelaide and Singapore. But Varner has been trending well; he’s improved his result in each of the last four tournaments. In his previous start in Tulsa, he shot a final-round 61 to finish fourth — and now followed by the win in DC.

“It’s long overdue,” Gooch said. “It’s awesome to see him win it. He’s one of my best buddies out here and he’s been working his butt off, so it’s good to have the hard work pay off.”

Plenty of hard work remains. Not all of it involves hitting a golf ball.

Varner has big plans for his foundations. And now he has a platform that can make them happen.

“The greatest thing you can do is just go do what’s right,” he said. “I know those two people had such an impact on my life and I want to keep doing that for other people.”

The post Winning is nice, but Varner has more important aspirations appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

When Harold Varner III jumped to LIV Golf last autumn, he was honest in his reasons for joining. The large, guaranteed-money contract the league was offering was too good to ignore.

“I know what it means to grow up without much,” the Gastonia, North Carolina, native wrote in a statement at the time, explaining why he joined the league.

On Sunday, the 32-year-old won on his new circuit for the first time at its Washington DC event at Trump National Golf Club by one shot over South Africa’s Branden Grace. With it came a $4-million cheque, the largest of his career.

“I feel like I get to help a lot of people now, even more people,” Varner said of his charity, the HV3 foundation, which aims to provide children affordable access to golf and mentorship. “That’s what kills me sometime; it costs a lot of money to help a lot of people.”

As a child, Varner’s family could only afford to buy him $15 Stephon Marbury shoes, which had no midsole support. He developed a degenerative nerve condition that still requires daily anti-inflammatory medication. It was one of the reasons he signed with LIV, knowing his playing days could be limited.

When Varner started to earn decent money as a pro golfer, he developed an obsession with Nike’s Air Jordan range. He estimates his sneaker collection is around 800 pair — most of which are Air Jordans.

DC final standings ?#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/0tKTNTPiKm

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) May 29, 2023

Varner also became one of only a handful of pro golfers who are Air Jordan ambassadors. Recently, Varner watched the movie “Air” in which Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, the sneaker guru at Nike who signed Michael Jordan to the company and launched its Air Jordan range. Varner loved the movie, and had previously developed a friendship with Howard White, the VP of the Jordan brand who is played in the movie by comedian Chris Tucker.

Varner’s win on Sunday was his first as a professional on US soil. He had won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016 and the 2022 Saudi International, but never on the PGA Tour. Varner began the final round in DC on Sunday one shot behind the lead, but fired a 68 to finish at 12-under. He holed out from a bunker on the 11th, before draining a 12-footer for birdie on the 15th hole that increased his lead to two.

“I knew exactly what I had to do [to win], when I had to do it, how I have to do it. I love that,” he said. “That’s why you play, that moment. You don’t get as many in golf, like those types of moments but that was mine.”

Grace had holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the tough par-4 second, his last of the shotgun start, to force Varner to two-putt birdie his last, the par-5 18th, for a one-shot win.

“Those are the battles of golf. It’s like, I want to go home. If I make this, I get to go home sooner that. I went in there and I was [thinking], shut … up, just make the putt,” Varner said.

Mito Pereira, the 36-hole leader, shot 71 and finished third. Pereira’s team, Torque, also won the team event. Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship last week for his fifth major, finished 14th, seven shots behind Varner.

Varner, who had earned a runner-up and two third place finishes in his PGA Tour career before LIV, said he didn’t feel pressure to secure his first US victory. Instead, he remembered a saying from his first golf coach.

“The guy who taught me how to play golf, he always said: ‘If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me,’” Varner said. “It’s not great but it’s exactly what you need to have to be successful in life and in golf because there’s no one else you can lean on.”

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He overcame both issues – and now he’s 18 holes away from his first LIV Golf title.

The Torque member from Chile shot a five-under 67 that included 10 birdies and five bogeys to take a one-stroke lead at nine-under going into Sunday’s final round at Trump National Washington, DC.

His closest pursuer is first-round leader Harold Varner III, whose even-par 72 left him at eight-under. Henrik Stenson and Kevin Na are another shot back in a bunched leaderboard in which 20 pursuers are within six shots of Pereira’s lead.

Pereira hopes to become Torque’s first individual winner while his team seeks its second team title of the 2023 LIV Golf League season, having won the third event in Orlando. Torque leads the team leaderboard by three shots over Varner’s RangeGoats and Stinger, the winners two weeks ago in Tulsa.

Pereira said both the individual and team leaderboards will be top of mind on Sunday.

“The team aspect, it’s really cool to watch it out there,” Pereira said. “It’s nice to have that in the background and just hope we can take the win again.”

Pereira also hopes that his allergy problems will not impact his performance like it threatened to do Saturday.

“It was really, really bad. I just tried to keep myself together and tried to play good and just take the allergy how it is,” Pereira said.

Varner, who opened with an eight-under 64 on Friday, hopes to rebound from a second round that wasn’t as productive as he’d hoped but still leaves him in contention. He’ll need his putter to cooperate better, as he took 31 putts on Saturday, seven more than he needed in the first round.

“I played poorly, but it is what it is,” Varner said. “It’s golf. I just didn’t have it but after yesterday, I’m still in position. Just got to get back on the horse and have fun with it.”

Pereira and Varner will be in the final group on Sunday for the first time as LIV Golf members. Stenson returns to the lead group in the final round for the first time since winning last year at Bedminster.

“We’re at the races,” Stenson said, “and we’ll try and finish strong tomorrow.”

The post Mito Pereira takes over at the top from Harold Varner III at LIV Golf DC appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Harold Varner III has made more eagles this LIV Golf League season than any other player. Thanks to his two on Friday at LIV Golf DC, he now leads for the first time since becoming a member.

Fuelled by eagles at the par-4 ninth and par-5 13th, Varner shot an eight-under 64 at Trump National Washington DC, to take a two-stroke advantage over James Piot, with Cameron Smith, Kevin Na, Mito Pereira and reserve Andy Ogletree tied for third at four-under.

Brooks Koepka, who won the fifth major of his career at last week’s PGA Championship, shot an even-par 72 to provide his Smash team with their best counting score, despite having little prep work after arriving on site on Thursday afternoon and dealing with a cracked driver for more than half of Friday’s round.

Rd. 1 recap #LIVGolf DC

Varner shoots 64, leads by 2
Iron Heads, RangeGoats top team leaderboard
Koepka cracks driver in return after 5th major win

Notes, statistics, counting scores and morehttps://t.co/50gA3ooiUF

— LIVGolfComms (@LIVGolfComms) May 27, 2023

“It felt good just to play golf again, kind of get it out of the way,” said Koepka after celebrating his fifth major win the last few days at home in South Florida. “Hopefully play a little better the next few days knowing the golf course a little bit more.”

On the team leaderboard, Varner’s RangeGoats share the lead with Iron Heads at 10-under, with Piot’s HyFlyers tied for third with Torque and 4 Aces at eight-under.

Two weeks ago at LIV Golf’s previous event in Tulsa, Varner tied a League record low by shooting 61, a round that included two eagles. His two on Friday came in his first 10 holes, including his hole-out on the ninth hole. He now has 10 on the season.

“Holing out never gets old — and it makes it a lot easier,” said Varner. “… You just want to have eagle looks, honestly. If you do that — I got lucky. I made some long ones in Tulsa, chipped in, but that’s part of it. I feel like I’ve been working on it.”

Varner had a slow start to the 2023 LIV Golf season, finishing outside the points (top 24) in his first two starts. Since then, he’s made steady improvement with each appearance — 19th in Orlando, 17th in Adelaide, ninth in Singapore and fourth in Tulsa, and now the first-round lead in DC.

“The beginning of the year, I was kind of doing other stuff than playing golf,” he said. “If you just put your head down, I think good things happen. I want to play well. I don’t think I’m terrible at golf.”

The 24-year-old Piot has yet to record a points-producing top 24 finish this season. He entered this week 47th in the individual standings and knows the top 24 at the end of the regular season are guaranteed spots for next year, while the bottom four are subject to relegation.

“Yeah, it’s in the back of your head,” he said. “Obviously when it’s time to go, you’ve got to go. But at the same time for me, the goal is keep getting better, keep improving.

“Obviously I would love to play on the LIV tour as long as possible, but for me, as long as I keep improving, that’s really what I want to see right now. That’s my focus. Today was a good start, and hopefully we keep it going.”

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The match came down to the very last shot but the NFL stars needed a fourth in their scramble team to defeat last year’s champion as they came up just short on the last with Varner claiming the victory in the three-hole charity match.

Defending champ Harold Varner III alongside Patrick Peterson, Eric Ebron and Brice Butler

World Cancer Day on February 4 is an international day to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection and treatment. The four Americans were raising money for Saudi Cancer Foundation during the match-up.

Peterson, a cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings, said after the charity match, “Golfing with Harold was awesome, appreciate the invitation and being able to play with some friends that I’ve known for a while. It’s awesome here, the course was awesome.”

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While many golf professionals stick to the official statements about “growing the game” these days to duck controversy, Saudi International defending champion Harold Varner III was something of a breath of fresh air speaking at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club this week.

The American, who famously holed out from more than 100 feet on the 18th hole 12 months ago to claim the crown and deny Bubba Watson a sniff of a playoff chance, keep his feet firmly on the ground and spoke openly about his prospect for the season following his move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf last season.

After an extended break at home in Florida, Varner is ready to get back in action for 2023, starting on the Asian Tour in Saudi Arabia.

“I am super excited to get going,” he said. “This work is the first four-day tournament I’ve played since the British — am I allowed to call it that? My caddie gets mad when I call it the British. It’s called The Open Championship. I apologise to anyone who’s offended,” already getting the gathered media laughing.

“I just want to compete. I know I’m a little rusty. So i just want get in the fire. It’s the best feeling in the world.

“I played two or three tournaments  at the end of the year and missed the cut, so I guess I wasn’t playing great according to the scores. But I’m fairly cocky. I think I’m playing well.”

Inevitably THAT putt here in Jeddah from last year came up.

“I don’t think I’ve walked on this side of this golf course without anyone telling me about it,” Varner laughed. “I don’t think I’ve forgotten about it either. I have great memories. I like this place. It’s in unbelievable shape.

“I just want to play well. I don’t care where we play. We can play in the desert out there if we had to. You want to win. You want to compete. And that’s why you play.

“I think any time you defend a tournament it’s pretty awesome. It’s well documented I’ve never played well in the States or won, so I like my chances.

“Everyone talks about the putt. But my best shot that day was the drive on 17, in my opinion, because it gave me a chance on 18 to not have to make eagle.”

Varner became a dad for the first time late in 2021 and he is still getting used to life as a parent.

“It’s been great. He [Liam, aka HV4] is awesome,” Varner said. “I’ve been home a lot, which is very weird. He’s been sleeping with us, and that’s been awesome. My wife hates it, but it’s freakin’ great. So if we want to have another kid, we’ll have to put him back in the crib, and that’s been very difficult because he does not like the crib.

“He’s pretty crazy. I don’t ever question where he gets it from. I am just kind of relieved my wife handles most of the stuff. So it makes my life a lot easier.”

Then, again, more humour.

“He got kicked out of the jungle gym yesterday for running over two kids. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

As far as LIV Golf is concerned, Varner is as honest as ever.

“I want to answer this with something, but I’m going to leave that in my head,” he admitted. “But moving to LIV has actually made things more clear. It’s something I wanted to do. I made the decision. I enjoy it. I really enjoy it. I enjoy the money that comes with it. I enjoy the time.

“But what ended up happening is people you thought were your friends, colleagues, they still reach out to you, they still talk to you.

“I’ve been super fortunate. I’m very transparent. I didn’t like how some of the stuff came out where you started talking about people’s family. I just don’t like that. I also don’t like the bitterness and the pettiness of both LIV and the PGA Tour. So there’s things like that I just try to stay away. I don’t think that’s good for golf.

“People enjoy investing in golf because it’s clean, respect and a gentleman’s game, and that’s going right down the toilet right now.

“The changes have maybe made me a bigger [expletive], but I have some unbelievable people around me that keep me grounded because I get set on something and I want to do it.”

The post Varner keeps himself grounded ahead of Saudi International title defence appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Players also voted the PIF Saudi International as Tournament of the Year, the International Series Thailand as International Series Tournament of the Year, and Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo, Egypt, as Players’ Choice Golf Course of the Year.

The $5 million Saudi event, played at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in February near Jeddah, was the opening tournament of the 2022 season and saw the Asian Tour enjoy one of the most memorable weeks in its history as Harold Varner III claimed the title in sensational style on the final green at an event that boasted the strongest field it had ever assembled, playing for one of its most lucrative prize funds.

The following month the International Series was launched in Thailand, played at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, where victory went to Sihwan.

Madinaty Golf Club, opened in late 2020 and at the forefront of the Egyptian golf scene, hosted the inaugural International Series Egypt in November — where former amateur star American Andy Ogletree won for the first time as a professional — and its golf course was an instant hit with the players.

“I am sure nobody is surprised that Sihwan Kim has been bestowed with one of the Asian Tour’s most important awards, the Players’ Player of the Year Award,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour.

“This is a mark of true respect as it is voted for by the players, and it is justly served to a player who stayed dedicated and focused, patiently waiting for his time to come.”

Kim completed the finest season of his 11-year professional career at the season-ending Indonesian Masters when he wrapped up the Merit title, appropriately on the day he turned 34.

He finished the year with $627,458 in earnings — along with his earnings of $2,382,000 from his time on LIV Golf, with Bio Kim from South Korea second and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent third.

The American also claimed the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge in Thailand, in April.

“At the Saudi International the Asian Tour got off to the best possible start thanks to a world-class field and global television audience. The whole experience set the benchmark for the Tour and was aspirational,” said Cho.

“The International Series Thailand was held soon after and was a resounding success and the ideal way to kick off the International Series, while Madinaty Golf Club proved to be an outstanding venue, something that our members repeatedly said throughout the week. The course lent itself perfectly to a tournament of that scale, which is a testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone at this very special venue.

“The club also went the extra mile by building a driving range for us and put in extra effort to present the golf course in immaculate condition. Several of the players and officials mentioned that the course was the best paspalum course they had ever seen.”

The latest list of award winners completes the line up for 2022.

Bio Kim, a graduate of the 2020 Qualifying School, had the honour of being named Rookie of the Year. In his first full season on the Tour, he won the Maekyung Open on home soil, and had four other top five finishes to come close to winning the Merit list.

Joohyung Kim won Best Stroke Average with a score of 68.93, the pre-cursor to a breakthrough season on the PGA Tour where has triumphed twice. Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong topped Total Birdies with 263 birdies. Korean Kyongjun Moon led Greens in Regulation on 77.41 per cent. Swede Bjorn Hellgren secured the Driving Distance title with an average of 313.62 yards, while Siddikur Rahman’s mastery of the short game was on display once again with the Bangladesh star leading Putts per Round, with a median of 28.25.

Brazilian Adilson Da Silva enjoyed the rare distinction of winning two awards: Driving Accuracy on 84.71 per cent and Scrambling with 69.31 per cent.

Asian Tour 2022 Roll of Honour
Order of Merit champion – Sihwan Kim
International Series Order of Merit champion – Scott Vincent
Players’ Player of the Year – Sihwan Kim
Players’ Choice Golf Course of the Year – Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt
Tournament of the Year – PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers
International Series Tournament of the Year – International Series Thailand
Rookie of the Year – Bio Kim
Stroke Average – Joohyung Kim (68.93)
Total Birdies – Nitithorn Thippong (263)
Driving Accuracy – Adilson Da Silva (84.71%)
Driving Distance – Bjorn Hellgren (313.62yds)
Scrambling –  Adilson Da Silva (69.31%)
Putting Average – Siddikur Rahman (28.25)
Greens in Regulation – Kyongjun Moon (77.41%)

The post Asian Tour: Sihwan Kim and Saudi International top the votes appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 2022 champion will return to King Abdullah Economic City hoping to retain the trophy that marked his second professional victory — and kick-started a massive year for the American star.

Varner III famously holed a 92-foot putt for eagle on Royal Greens’ par-five 18th earlier this year to snatch victory when a play-off against good friend Bubba Watson seemed guaranteed.

RELATED: Ramadhanputra books spot at Saudi International with victory in Saudi Open
Varner makes 92-foot putt to win Saudi International
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While that memory still remains fresh for the 32-year-old, the Ohio-native has his eyes set on making experience count in the search for making it back-to-back wins on the Asian Tour’s 2023 season-opening event.

He said: “Whenever I think back to that putt all the incredible memories come flooding back. As I said at the time after winning, it’s moments and competition like that that makes you want to play, to compete, to be up there. It was a huge moment for me and for my career.

“But that’s now in the past. Sure, I’ve got the trophy at home, but that was a success of this year: time for me to focus on replicating that as best I can next year, in 2023. Having this event so early in the season could be good for me in as much as it could set me off with confidence into an even bigger year.

“Obviously all my memories of playing in Saudi Arabia are positive — I did win out there, after all. But everything is awesome out there. The course at Royal Greens is so pure, the field is always pretty incredible, and the hospitality and experience is some of the best of any event you can play in, so I can’t wait to get back out there for 2023’s event. It was special to join the likes of DJ [Dustin Johnson] and G-Mac [Graeme McDowell] in winning this event!”

The Saudi International moved onto the Asian Tour circuit in 2022 as part of a new partnership. The four-day event has a $5 million prize fund and will once again seek to have one of the highest Official World Golf Ranking point totals in international golf.

In the 2022 tournament, Varner III and Watson competed as part of a star-studded field packed with Major-winners including two-time Saudi International champion Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen.

The full field for 2023’s event will be announced in due course. In addition to some of the biggest names in global golf it will feature the Asian Tour’s top 30 ranked players at the close of the 2022 season.

Majed Al-Sorour, CEO and Deputy Chairman of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, said: “The 2022 edition of the International was the strongest field we’d had yet, but we remain still only in the formative years of our vision for golf in the Kingdom. It’s amazing to think this will be the fifth instalment of the tournament that is growing year on year.

“I’m thrilled to say that we’ll be compiling yet another superstar field for 2023’s event — and I am equally a delighted to confirm that our defending champion Harold Varner III will be a part of that.

“His incredible win back in February of this year is one that will continue to live long in all our memories. Let’s hope we can get just as much drama and intrigue at next year’s tournament.”

The post Harold Varner III returns to defend PIF Saudi International title in February appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Evin Priest
Cameron Smith called it “the future” of golf. Anirban Lahiri predicts it could wake a sleeping giant within India’s sports-loving population of 1.4 billion people. Harold Varner III said it could end the Friday afternoon surrender. LIV Golf’s team aspect may be how the series can separate itself from world golf’s more established tours?

WATCH the LIV Golf action live here!

The LIV Golf Invitational Boston kicks off on Friday in the series’ fourth tournament. Like its tournaments in London, Portland and Bedminster, there’ll be a 54-hole individual stroke-play event with a $20 million purse and a $5 million team component. A quick reminder of the format: for the first two rounds, the best two scores count for each four-man team. For the final day, the best three scores are submitted, with the lowest team score winning $3 million, second place $1.5 million and third place receiving $500,000.

More: Take a look at the 12 team line-ups for LIV Golf Boston

Plenty of high-profile LIV recruits have claimed the team element lured them from the PGA Tour. Whether that’s because they miss team golf — or whether they just wanted a change from the grind of golf’s major tours — varies from player to player. While it has been confusing for fans with players changing LIV teams, it might be the most promising concept in LIV’s business model. Next year, the series will be renamed LIV Golf League and will feature 48 players on 12 team franchises playing a 14-event schedule (up from eight this year).

World No. 2 and reigning Open champion Cameron Smith is LIV’s biggest signing to date, and will make his debut at The International this week. The Australian won six times on the PGA Tour, including its flagship event, the Players Championship, in March. But the 29-year-old said professional golf needed a shake-up from its 72-hole individual stroke-play roots.

“I think it’s been the same for a very, very long time, and it needs to be stirred up a little bit,” Smith said. “I think this [54-hole team events] are the future of golf. I think it needs to change. Particularly as golf fans become younger, I think we need to do something to make it exciting for them.”

One thing was evident this week. LIV teams form their own pods for practise rounds, meals and range sessions. Smith, the captain of all-Australian Punch GC, played a practice round with teammates Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby. Lahiri was surveying the course with his new teammate, Bryson DeChambeau.

Lahiri, who came second to Smith at the Players Championship, said the feedback he’d heard from his native India was that fans were excited Lahiri was on a team with the 2020 US Open champion DeChambeau. Lahiri said team golf could complement the sports landscape in India, which is dominated by cricket. The Indian Premier League (IPL) shares some similarities to LIV; it disrupted traditional cricket’s global schedule by luring the best players, it has an auction where franchises buy star players from around the world for a 14-match series between 10 teams. Now in its 16th season, the IPL’s media rights were recently sold for $6 billion.

“The first thing everyone said back home is people associate that region more with team sports than individual sports,” Lahiri said. “But me being on Bryson’s team, he’s a global figure in golf and he’s done some tremendous stuff with his distance. People [in India] are going to say, ‘wow, he’s on [DeChambeau’s team].’ I think that’s already going to start catching up with that region specifically.”

The way in which a team component changes the mindset of a professional golfer is also interesting. Varner, who is part of a team captained by Bubba Watson (non-playing because of injury) said it would motivate guys at the bottom of the leaderboard.

“I learned from grinding out, there’s a moment in every person’s career out on that [PGA] tour where you’re like: ‘Get me home,’” Varner said of players on a Friday afternoon when they’re almost certain to miss a 36-hole cut. “I don’t care what hole you’re on. Get me home [because] I’ve got no chance of playing on Saturday. [In LIV] you can help someone else by just grinding it out.”

LIV faces a challenge in establishing relevancy among golf fans who are accustomed to watching events steeped in history. The PGA Tour boasts tournaments with deep roots like the Canadian Open (1904) and the Genesis Invitational/LA Open (1926). But team golf could be where LIV reaches younger fans — who are now obsessed with Formula 1 thanks to the Netflix series Drive to Survive — and parts of the world uninterested in traditional pro golf.

“Golf is a game rich in history, no question about it,” new LIV recruit Cameron Tringale said. “We are not trying to get rid of the history in any way. We are trying to reach deeper into the corners and find new ways to bring people into the sport, and so I don’t see us as being a detractor, but an additive piece to the world of golf. I think people will start to find their team, follow their players and it’s like any other sport where a lot of the interest is driven by rivalries, home courses or tournaments in their region.”

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