By John Huggan
What a difference a day makes. Less than 24 hours after the R&A announced the first two groups taking part in the ‘Celebration of Champions; that will precede the 150th Open Championship, the governing body showed a more ruthless side to its nature. Greg Norman, champion golfer of the year in 1986 and 1993, will not be present on Monday when reigning Open champion, Collin Morikawa, hits the opening shot in the four-hole event held over the first, second, 17th and 18th holes on the Old Course at St Andrews.

“In response to enquiries regarding The R&A Celebration of Champions field and the Champions’ Dinner, we can confirm that we contacted Greg Norman to advise him that we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion,” said the R&A in a statement on Saturday. “The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage. Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend. We hope that when circumstances allow Greg will be able to attend again in future.”

This would appear to be the R&A’s way of tacitly showing its disapproval of the Australian’s high-profile involvement in the LIV Golf Series, as well as support for the opposing stance taken by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. There will surely also have been a feeling that Norman’s presence would only have been an unwelcome distraction from the feel-good business at hand.

Whatever, Norman, who received a letter telling him not to attend, was not slow in responding.

“I’m disappointed,” he told Australian Golf Digest. “I would have thought the R&A would have stayed above it all given their position in world golf. It’s petty, as all I have done is promote and grow the game for golf globally, on and off the golf course, for more than four decades.”

Still, the 67-year-old Norman can hardly have been surprised. Earlier this year his request to play in the 150th Open received short shrift. Norman floated the notion of getting to play in the championship given his two previous wins, and the R&A quickly replied: “The entry forms and conditions for the Open stipulate that a champion must be aged 60 or under or have won the championship in the previous 10 years to be exempt from qualifying. That remains the case for the 150th Open and we have no plans for any additional exemptions.”

For the record, Morikawa will play alongside reigning AIG Women’s Open champion Anna Nordqvist, Jess Baker, who won the Women’s Amateur Championship at Hunstanton last month, and Keita Nakajima, the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion and 2021 Mark McCormack Medal winner. Also confirmed are three-time Open champion Tiger Woods and 2014 winner Rory McIlroy, who will play alongside 2018 AIG Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall and Lee Trevino, two-time winner of the Open in 1971 and 1972.

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The post Open Championship 2022: R&A snubs Greg Norman, not inviting him to 150th Open celebration events appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“We are aware of some reports in the media that DP World Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley attended the event at Centurion Club last week. This is categorically untrue as Keith was in Sweden attending the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed tournament,” the former European Tour said in a statement.

This comes amid more rumours that Pelley is mulling a rather impactful decision: a partnership of sorts between his tour and Greg Norman’s LIV Golf Investments series, or a further integration with the PGA Tour.

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The post DP World Tour denies reports Keith Pelley attended LIV Golf Series in London appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

More than a dozen sources from across the DP World Tour and PGA Tour landscape have told Golf Digest that Pelley is mulling a rather impactful decision: a partnership of sorts between his tour and LIV Golf Investments, or a further integration with the PGA Tour. A spokesman for LIV declined to comment for this story, but a source intimately familiar with discussions between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour says both sides see potential value in aligning more closely.

And yet, there is nothing resembling a consensus among DP World Tour players as to which path to take.

“[Pelley’s] getting serious pressure from his rank-and-file members to consider the Saudis,” says one high-profile player.

WATCH: LIV Golf highlights

According to sources, Pelley was seen at Centurion Golf Club during LIV’s inaugural event last weekend, though it is not known whether any formal discussions with LIV took place. A spokesperson for the DP World Tour declined comment when asked about any conversations with either LIV Golf or the PGA Tour.

A partnership with LIV Golf for the former European Tour could present benefits to both sides. According to sources closely connected to the tour, the DP World Tour could provide a safety net to the start-up circuit, whose core vision involves only 48 players teeing it up on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, LIV would pump money into the DPWT to increase purses, and there would be some mechanism for players to move between tours. Any such partnership would surely face a number of legal and logistical hurdles given the PGA Tour’s investment into the DP World Tour as part of the alliance, first announced in November 2020 and widely seen as a pre-emptive response to LIV’s challenge.

“I heard on Sunday that Pelley might be thinking of a U-turn,” says one multiple-time DP World Tour winner. “I think that is very disappointing. But I’m not surprised. Pelley has never been very truthful in what he has told the players. I understand you have to make some decisions that are best kept behind closed doors. But I think this is something that went too far down that path. We should have been told what was going on right from the start. The motivation for this I think is coming from the pressure Pelley is feeling from tournament sponsors. They won’t be liking the fact that they are losing some of their star players. … Pelley is not coming out of this too well. I think it will be the end of his reign. How can you go into a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour then six months later — after they found sponsors for the Irish Open and the Scottish Open — backstab them like this? From a PR and image point of view, that is a (expletive) move.”

That view is but one of a diverse range of opinions regarding the DPWT’s potential alliance with LIV Golf. Others feel the existing strategic alliance with the PGA Tour has not benefited the DPWT as much as previously hoped — that the PGA Tour’s aim is to cherry pick and co-opt the biggest events on the Old World Circuit, and that rank-and-file players feel no closer to earning playing privileges on the PGA Tour.

That could, of course, change should the PGA Tour opt to respond to the ever-shifting dynamic by integrating further with the DPWT. Multiple sources have confirmed to Golf Digest that that option is on the table and will be discussed at a series of meetings at next week’s Travelers Championship. A PGA Tour Policy Board meeting was previously scheduled, but a mandatory players meeting also has been added to the slate for Travelers week.

The rank-and-file members of the DP World Tour could, however, serve as a potential roadblock to a further embrace between the DPWT and the PGA Tour. Any such move would require a majority of DPWT membership to vote in favour, and there is some belief that a quasi-merger would result in the lower-ranked DPWT players having less access to significant events.

“We’re in a place where something has to be done,” says a DP World Tour player. “They are making such a scene that our lads are going to drift over [to LIV], albeit slowly, eventually. There is just too much money involved.”

Take Adrian Otaegui, for example. Otaegui teed it up in the LIV event last week and took home $800,000 when he tied for sixth place. That’s nearly double the $475,000 the Spaniard has earned on the DP World Tour in 12 starts, which included three top-five finishes. In contrast to PGA Tour members who played, Otaegui has not been suspended by the DP World Tour.

On Tuesday, Pelley informed DP World Tour membership in a letter obtained by Golf Digest that he had not yet made a decision on the ramifications for those who played in the LIV event. Any such decision would not come until June 23, the day entries close for the Genesis Scottish Open, which this year is being played as a co-sanctioned event with the PGA Tour. That means players in the field for next week’s BMW International Open who played in the first LIV event — which include Otaegui, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen, Pablo Larrazabal and Bernd Wiesberger — will be allowed to tee it up in Germany.

“Some members asked me why we simply do not follow what the PGA Tour have done and immediately suspend these players,” Pelley wrote. “While I understand the frustration, I remind you all that although we work closely with the PGA Tour, we are different organisations and our rules and regulations are therefore different too.

“From many of your messages and my conversations, I know that many of you share the same viewpoint that Jay Monahan expressed in his note to PGA Tour members, namely that the players who have chosen this route have disrespected the vast majority of the members of this tour. As for what we are going to do, because of the complexity of our situation we are still evaluating an overall course of action. We will use the next seven days to continue to assess the impact the two conflicting events in the UK had on our own tournaments played in those weeks [the Porsche European Open and the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed] as well as on your tour overall.”

The PGA Tour does not have much of a history with the PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that is bankrolling LIV Golf, but the DPWT worked with the Saudis to build out the Saudi International, which was an official event on the European Tour from 2019-21. Back in the summer of 2020, when Golf Saudi was still deciding how to get more involved in the golf space, Golf Digest reported that the European Tour considered a Saudi-funded proposal before ultimately opting for the strategic alliance with the PGA Tour.

Sean Crocker

“I think the worst decision we ever made on the European Tour was not signing with the Saudis,” says Sean Crocker, a 25-year-old ranked 222nd in the world who grew up in Southern California, plays under the Zimbabwe flag and has been playing on the DP World Tour after playing collegiately at USC. “I think that’s absolutely ruined our tour because we can’t fight the Saudis, and we can’t fight the PGA Tour, so we’re going to be a backburner tour in the next two years. I think our best opportunity to thrive as a tour was with the Saudis”.

Adds a different DP World Tour player: “The arrangement with the PGA Tour is a mess. Yes, it does give a young guy a chance to go and play in a couple of lesser PGA Tour events. But there are so many other issues. … All I can tell you is that there are a lot of our guys wondering if Pelley made the right decision. And he will be hearing that from them.“

Besides the DP World Tour holding an event in Saudi Arabia for three years, Saudi money is invested in a number of the corporate sponsors behind DP World Tour events. The Saudis have also been involved in soccer and Formula 1 racing, two massively popular sports in Europe, for years, and a healthy fraction of the DP World Tour membership view the Saudi option as a financial lifeline for a tour that has seen its finances and world standing diminish in a PGA Tour-dominated ecosystem.

Adds a DP World Tour veteran: “Why would Pelley not sit down and talk with the Saudis? That’s his job. He has an obligation to hear what they have to say. A lot of people are giddy about it. Others are panicking, as in they think they might have missed the boat re the Saudi money. They want to be involved asap.

“I don’t know any more about the Pelley situation re LIV. But he wasn’t at Centurion for the good of his health.”

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The post On the sidelines of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf battle, the DP World Tour faces a crucial decision appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matt Smith
Greg Norman’s dream is finally about to become a reality as the LIV Golf Invitational Series tees off at Centurion Club, St Albans, just outside London this month.

A long time in the making, the former Super Golf League has been backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) and will come to fruition on June 9 in England for the first of eight lucrative three-round events with no cuts, shotgun starts, guaranteed payouts for all and a whopping $255 million purse. 

With each event offering at least $25 million in prize money — dwarfing the amounts on offer in even the flagship events on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour — the LIV Golf Series has certainly turned a lot of heads.

MORE: Dustin Johnson to headline LIV Golf field in London
Watch all the action live right here

Since Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, whose chief shareholder is the Saudi PIF, announced the launch of the series in March, the rumours and accusations have been flying. But one thing is for sure — it is happening, and in some style.

Back in March, a statement announcing the eight-event LIV Golf Series described the league as “100 per cent additive” to the pro game rather than a rival to the PGA and DP World Tours, with the “building blocks of a next generation golf experience”.

“I want golf to grow, players to have additional opportunities, and fans to have more fun,” said Norman.

“My mission is to help the game reach its full potential and we know the role of golf as an entertainment product is critical to overall participation in the sport. In many ways, we are a start-up. We have a long-term vision and aim to grow. I believe we have a very bright and exciting future.”

Inspiration

Greg Norman was working as a commentator at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits when he had his epiphany. Team golf is such a fan favourite — why not make a series? 

And so he began his journey, with team golf at the “heart of the new structure” with $5 million of the $25 million purse on offer at each of the first seven LIV Golf Invitational Series events going to top three placed teams.

Getty Images

There will also be a Team Championship grand finale, played in a match-play format for a whopping $50 million, at the conclusion of the series in late October in Miami. 

With $20 million on offer for individual performances at each event, plus a $30 million bonus pool for the top three players after the seven ‘regular season’ events, the team spirit will add a fresh element to the sport.

The Venue

Centurion Club in Hertfordshire is where it will all begin on June 9. The parkland course is nestled in a tall pine forest, with middle nine holes offering more open play after a wooded beginning. 

The course only opened in 2013 but has firmly stamped its place as a favourite in the UK, having previously held the DP World Tour GolfSixes and Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series events.

At over 7,000 yards from the back tees, the par-70 course near St Albans reflects the area’s links with its Roman history (hence ‘Centurion’), and each hole has been given a Latin name. The pine trees return on the final few holes, creating a dramatic setting for the finale. 

The course traditionally plays as a par 72, with six par 5s, six par 4s and six par 3s measuring a total of 7,064 yards, but the pros at the LIV Golf event will be playing the three par 5s on the front nine as par 4s, adding to a real mix of challenges. Raised tees offer clear views over the fairways on most of the holes, but the 80-odd bunkers and four major water features are sure to cause plenty of problems for the 48 hopefuls over three challenging days.

Fan Village 

The Centurion Club is going all out to make a big opening statement, with all tickets — starting from just over AED 300 — including access to all the activations over a fun-filled weekend.

Gates will open at 11am all three days of tournament play in advance of the 2pm shotgun start, so guests can enjoy and take part in all of the interactive activities onsite. Grounds passes will allow fans to walk the course, view the tournament from select viewing platforms and grant entry to the Fan Village, with Covent Garden-style street performers and a food and drink festival atmosphere inspired by the best of Borough Market. A specially designed Kids Zone will also engage youth with children’s entertainers, face painting, soft play equipment for climbing, crazy golf putting challenges, and educational activations based on STEM lessons.

Also in the Fan Village, LIV Golf’s Performance Centre will feature professional coaches who will offer tips as guests test their skills on simulators and putting area. Meanwhile, gamers can deploy in the Metaverse Tent, where e-sports and virtual reality exhibits will take fans inside the game through friendly competition.

As part of the shotgun start, fans will enjoy an air show featuring The Blades aerobatic team, while London black cabs will transport the field of 48 players to their respective starting holes.

The event will also include ‘Apres Golf’ entertainment from local artists and DJs and free concerts each day. “LIV Golf is about more than just hosting a new golf tournament. It’s about creating an event experience,” said Norman. “We want players and fans to feed off a unique energy rarely encountered through this game. From intense competition to entertainment, there will be something for everyone at Centurion.”

How it works

The 48 players will be split into 12 teams of four, with big-name stars taking on captain roles — much like in the Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series — and those skippers choosing from a pool of available players. 

The teams will tee off simultaneously around the course with a shotgun start, meaning all marquee players will be on course at the same time, so no need to wait for your favourite to tee off, with all the action crammed into a few hours rather than the sometimes arduous 10+ hours of golf we see on the regular tours.

Also keeping up the pace is the fact that, with no cut, each tournament will take place over three days rather than four, the 54-hole events running from Thursday to Saturday.

As mentioned, there is no cut, so you are guaranteed to see your favourite players all three days, even if they are having a stinker. That team factor also means players will continue to push even if they are out of the individual running as their team could still earn a title — and a tidy pay day.

There will be an eye-watering $255 million in prize money alone, and with Norman having been pledged a further $2 billion by the Saudi PIF, those purses are only going to get bigger, in the hope of luring the biggest names along the way — the carrot of a hefty signing-on fee also helps sweeten
the deal. 

Norman has said he’s keen to work with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, despite both tours threatening players with bans if they compete in the LIV events.

Norman described the move as “anti-golf” and said several top players have told him they will play without a release.

“Sadly, the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament,” said Norman.

“This is particularly disappointing in light of the Tour’s non-profit status, where its mission is purportedly ‘to promote the common interests of professional tournament golfers.’

“Instead, the Tour is intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market.

“The Tour’s action is anti-golfer, anti-fan, and anti-competitive. But no matter what obstacles the PGA Tour puts in our way, we will not be stopped. We will continue to give players options that promote the great game of golf globally.”

Who is playing? 

News broke on Wednesday morning of the field finally being announced for the inaugural tournament in London from June 9-11 at Centurion Club. Click here for the full list and players to watch.

“Free agency has finally come to golf. This is an opportunity to start a movement that will change the course of history by bringing new and open competition to the sport we all love. The desire shown by the players to participate in LIV Golf demonstrates their emphatic belief in our model and confidence in what we’re building for the future,” said Norman. “We couldn’t be happier at the diversity of our field, featuring players from around the world including major champions and those making their debut with us competing in their first professional event. We can’t wait to start our journey at Centurion Club with this group of first movers who are committed to growing the game in new and exciting ways.”

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The post LIV and let live: All you need to know for the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational event at Centurion Club in England appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
The amazing thing about the disappearance of Phil Mickelson since stating in February was taking time away from the game in the wake of his controversial comments about the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series was the completeness with which his withdrawal from society seemed to take place. The common thought was that he was secluded in Montana (or was it Wyoming?) plotting his next move, but no one truly knew. Bryson DeChambeau and other friends say that Lefty had gone dark, hearing nothing from him and were as curious as the rest of us what he was up to. Had he grown a shaggy beard and a man bun? Had he turned into a coffee-drinking shorts-wearing mountain man?

This week, however, offered the first signs that Mickelson is indeed around and considering a return to life as a professional golfer. On Monday, his longtime agent Steve Loy released a statement saying that Mickelson has registered for next month’s PGA Championship, where he is the defending champion after becoming the oldest winner of a major at age 50 with his victory last May at Kiawah Island. He also has filed an entry for the US Open in June and requested from the PGA Tour a release to potentially compete in the first LIV Golf Invitational event outside London in early June. Loy’s statement came with a warning, however, not to presume when Mickelson might officially return to competition:

“Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play,” Loy’s statement said. “Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”

Rumors of Phil Mickelson’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. He had plenty of speed yesterday at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. pic.twitter.com/N3NhqwEA6v

— Fire Pit Collective (@firepitstories) April 28, 2022

On Wednesday, however, video surfaced of an actual Mickelson sighting … on a golf course!

The Fire Pit Collective says it was from Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in California, so he’s at least returned from secluded cabin life. The question now gets more interesting: When might Mickelson play in a tournament again? The first round of the PGA Championship starts in three weeks at Southern Hills, which would seem to be enough time to get his game into some kind of playing shape. If that didn’t work for some reason, the inaugural LIV Golf event is three weeks later at Centurion in London, buying him more time to decide how to reacclimate with the least amount of fuss.

Mind you there are dozens of other questions, too, most notably: Has he reached out to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to talk about possibly playing again on the PGA Tour? (Recall that as of March, according to Monahan, the two had not spoken.) Or, as The Telegraph reported, has Mickelson committed to playing all eight LIV Golf events in 2022?

For now, we’ll all take a Phil sighting, even if just two seconds of semi-grainy video, with the knowledge that it reignites everyone’s favourite Mickelson game: “What will Phil do next?”

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The post Phil Mickelson sighting increases speculation on potential return, with PGA Tour and LIV Golf awaiting appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play,” the statement reads. “Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made, but rather to keep all options open.”

The PGA Championship, where Mickelson is the defending champion after becoming the oldest major winner in history last year at Kiawah Island, begins on May 19 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first LIV Golf Invitational event takes place at the Centurion Golf Club near London on June 9-11. It will feature a 48-man field and shotgun starts with a 54-hole, no-cut format that guarantees paydays for each participant.

Mickelson has not played on the PGA Tour since January. Monday evening marked the deadline for PGA Tour players to apply for a conflicting-event release from the tour, which is necessary to compete in any tournament staged opposite a tour event. The PGA Tour granted releases for players to enter the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event funded by the Saudi PIF that’s backing the eight-event International series. But the tour did so with restrictions and emphasised that they did not consider their decision precedent-setting.

A LIV Golf spokesperson told Golf Digest that 15 players inside the top 100 of the World Rankings have signed up for the first event of the series. No specific names were revealed, but the spokesperson said a full field list would be released in late May. Mickelson is currently ranked 54th. The circuit also announced on Monday that the $50 million season-ending team championship will be held at Trump Doral in Miami on Oct. 28-30.

This year’s US Open is at The Country Club in Brookline, and falls the week after the LIV event in England. The US Open is the only major Mickelson, 51, has not won, and he initially needed a special invitation to get into the field at last year’s US Open at Torrey Pines before he won the PGA Championship.

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The post Phil Mickelson files for PGA Tour release to play first LIV Golf event, registers for PGA Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By GolfDigestMiddleEast.com
The LIV Golf Invitational Series took another huge step on Tuesday as it confirmed Trump National Doral Miami as the host for the season-ending Team Championship set for October 27-30.

The Blue Monster will stage the seeded four-day, four-round, match play knock-out event featuring 12 teams competing for $50 million. The Team Championship is the eighth and final event on the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series schedule.

“There could not be a more perfect location to host our biggest event of the year at a course with such a long history with professional golfers, and we are excited to add another piece of history to this famed destination,” said Greg Norman, CEO & Commissioner of LIV Golf. “I am very much looking forward to October to watch these teams go head-to-head to compete for the largest prize purse in tournament history. As we continue to select locations for our events in world-class cities, we knew Miami had to be included in the rota, and the Blue Monster is a fan favourite and a perfect place to end our inaugural season.”

Remastered by Gil Hanse in 2014, the famed Blue Monster is one of the legendary courses in America having hosted professional elite events for 55 years. Stretching over 7,600 yards, the course features a series of strategically placed deep bunkers, long flowing fairways, interesting undulating greens, deep Bermuda rough and a challenging assortment of water hazards — all of which combine for a course that requires both length and finesse to score well. The famous 18th hole is traditionally ranked as one of the most difficult by touring professionals.

“Trump National Doral is one of the finest golf resorts anywhere in the world and we are honoured to host the LIV Golf Invitational Team Championship in October. The iconic Blue Monster is a beloved championship venue that has hosted many of the greatest players in all of golf and we are looking forward to making this event a phenomenal success,” said Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organisation.

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The post Trump National Doral Miami set to host LIV Golf Invitational Team Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The Saudi-backed golf league has a name and has a schedule but at the moment—at least publicly—it has no players, and until those who have signed on say so, the proposed global circuit remains more concept than reality. The PGA Tour has taken a similar stance with commissioner Jay Monahan dismissing the potential rival’s validity (again, at least publicly) and stating the tour is “moving on.” Yet there’s no denying interest remains in the Saudi golf effort and the impact it will have on the sport should it come to fruition. And while the intentions of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are entrenched, one unanswered question will have ramifications on these entities moving forward and the game at large:

How will the major championships—and their governing bodies—handle players who defect to the Saudi league?

For all of the PGA Tour’s power and jurisdiction, the undeniable and uncomfortable truth is the tour has no authority over golf’s four biggest men’s tournaments. Moreover, the tour is beholden to what happens at those four events. The majors turn players into stars and household names who—to an extent—aid the marketing of the tour and the tournaments under its domain. Make no mistake, the tour has faith in its product; conversely, should a player win a Masters or U.S. Open and be banned from the tour due to their LIV Golf involvement, there’s genuine concern that eyeballs will follow said winner to their next event, tour affiliation be damned. In short: The PGA Tour understands that for its possible punishments and suspensions to hold weight, they need the majors to take a similarly tough stance.

The political matrix of golf’s five families—Augusta National Golf Club, the PGA of America, the PGA Tour, the USGA and the R&A—has historically not been the easiest to navigate. There are egos and pride, envy and resentment, agendas and defences, personal and professional beefs. There is also a fair amount of cross-pollination across the families and an acknowledgement of duty to do what’s best for the game. The synergy among the group has never been stronger, in part due to the collective effort in bringing the sport back in the midst of the COVID pandemic.

However, while Augusta National, the USGA and R&A issued statements supporting the PGA Tour and the then-European Tour in May 2021, those statements didn’t address the playing status of those who defect. Only the PGA of America was direct in its answer, with CEO Seth Waugh stating at the 2021 PGA Championship that those who joined the rival league would not be allowed in future PGA Championships or Ryder Cups—although multiple sources confirmed that no such actions are expected for the 2022 PGA at Southern Hills. Similarly, the 2022 Masters field boasts names that continued to be associated with LIV Golf (sans Phil Mickelson, of course), and—as of this writing—sources within the USGA and R&A do not envision any sanctions handed down prior to their respective championships in June and July, despite the LIV Golf International Series launching the week before the U.S. Open.

Still, there are ongoing conversations and explorations on the proper response to the players who do become formally aligned with LIV Golf.

Patrick Smith

Technically, the measures have already started. In December the R&A dropped its annual exemption into the Open Championship given to the winner of the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit. Officially, the R&A told Golf Digest about the decision, “We review and update our exemptions from time to time and any changes are considered carefully by our championships committee.” The timing of the response raised the question if the move was connected to the Asian Tour’s alignment with LIV Golf. In terms of gestures that are more than just symbolic, what constitutes a proper response varies by tournament.

There’s a sense that Masters chairman Fred Ridley and the folks at Augusta National, for example, have more freedom to take a stand in this matter. Theirs is an invitational tournament, plus, well, it’s Augusta National; the club can do whatever it pleases. While that sentiment is not necessarily wrong, sources tell Golf Digest not to expect a grand, sweeping punishment against those associated with LIV Golf in the immediate future. Even so, Augusta National has a latitude that both Mike Whan and the USGA and Martin Slumbers at the R&A don’t necessarily have, considering the foundations of their events are that they are “open” to everyone. Perhaps the PGA Championship has the easiest out of the four; according to Waugh, players who have lost their PGA Tour membership would lose their PGA of America membership, and they need the latter to compete for the Wanamaker Trophy.

As for the other three majors, sources do point to a possible response to restrict players connected to LIV Golf from playing that works within the present system: changing exemption and qualification criteria. Chiefly, ditching the reliance those three majors have on the Official World Golf Ranking. For example, the Masters invites all those in the top 50 in the world at the end of the previous year and those in the top 50 two weeks before the tournament. The U.S. Open and Open Championship have similar OWGR exemptions, with the PGA Championship inviting those on the Ryder Cup teams that are inside the top 100 OWGR. The reason LIV Golf partnered with the Asian Tour was to ensure the international series was sanctioned and would (presumably) award OWGR points, thus keeping the breakaway players in the conversation for major exemptions. It was a partnership, multiple sources tell Golf Digest, that irked the five families, for it was viewed as buying relevance rather than earning it for their limited field events. In place of the OWGR exemptions, the majors could cast wider nets for the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai standings from the previous season (currently only those who reach the Tour Championship earn a Masters exemption). And to ensure international players still have an avenue, spots could be awarded to the top finishers of the Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour.

Mentioned previously, the U.S. Open and Open Championships are egalitarian by design, accessible to any golfer, professional or amateur (with a low enough handicap). That is an ethos that isn’t changing. Yet one of the current exemptions from local qualifying for both is predicated off OWGR rank. If those are replaced by FedEx Cup and other season-long standings, the thought is LIV Golf members would be forced to play their way into the tournament at the local and final qualifying stages. As one USGA source laid it out, it’s precisely the inverse of the LIV Golf model; rather than guaranteed money against small fields, a LIV Golf player would have to earn their spot on present merit against everyone.

There is one part of the puzzle that seemingly each major championship is struggling to piece together, and that is what to do with former winners. For example, six of the last 11 Masters champs—Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson—have expressed interest or been linked to LIV Golf through their participation at the Saudi International. To this point, only Johnson has publicly stated he intends to say with the PGA Tour. Wins at the Masters and PGA earn lifetime invites; Open victors can play until they are 60, and the U.S. Open champ gets a 10-year exemption. Plus, a win at one major gets you multi-year exemptions into the others. Nearly all of the sources at each governing body, when asked what they plan to do with their champs who defect to LIV Golf, essentially responded “We are working on it.”

No doubt the five families are working on it. But should LIV Golf be believed, that their series will launch this summer, the governing bodies and their majors don’t have much time left. How they respond could keep the LIV Golf series grounded before it truly takes off.

The post Masters 2022: How the majors could respond to the Saudi/LIV Golf series appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Build it and they will come – slowly but surely. That’s the level of Greg Norman’s conviction in the new Saudi-financed LIV Golf Invitational Series which went from long rumoured to finally confirmed concept overnight, albeit without a single player named. 

Set to debut at The Centurion Club near London in June, the series will feature eight events in 2022 – half of them in the U.S. – with individual and team components and a whopping $255 million in prize money.

RELATED: Intriguing Asian Tour clash as LIV Golf insist new series is ‘100% additive’ to pro game rather than PGA Tour rival

With Norman as commissioner, the events will showcase a fan and broadcast friendly format where 48-player fields (divided evenly into 12 squads for the team aspect) will contest shortened 54-hole tournaments with shotgun starts and no cut.

Trumpeted as the “building blocks of a next-generation golf experience”, the first seven “regular season” tournaments will offer $25 million purses –  $20 million to be shared by the field and $5 million between the top three teams. By comparison, the PGA Tour’s richest ever event was the just-completed The Players Championship at $20 million.

An overall individual champion will be crowned at the conclusion of the seventh event, slated for Royal Greens Golf & Country Club near Jeddah in October, and will earn the majority share of a bonus $30 million pool for the top three players. The series will then culminate with a match-play Team Championship in late October at an as yet confirmed venue but with an eye-popping $50 million purse locked and loaded.

Here’s the schedule released overnight:

June 9-11: Centurion Golf Club – London
July 1-3: Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club – Portland
July 29-31: Trump National Golf Club Bedminster – New Jersey
Sept 2-4: The International – Boston
Sept 16-18: Rich Harvest Farms – Chicago
Oct 7-9: Stonehill Golf Club– Bangkok
Oct 14-16: Royal Greens Golf & Country Club – Jeddah
Oct 28-30: Team Championship (Venue TBC)

The most critical components, namely confirmed players and how and who will broadcast the series globally, were glaring omissions in Wednesday’s announcement from the Norman-fronted and Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf Investments. But Norman is adamant even some of the most gun-shy stars will eventually find the league’s lucrative charms impossible to resist, despite PR gaffes in recent weeks.

He reportedly emailed invites to 250 golfers, all of them male, on Tuesday night and was delighted with the feedback according to a Golf.com report.

“I’ve got to tell you, from a player’s perspective, the amount of response [has been] unbelievably positive,” Norman said. “I’m talking about single-digit ranked players in the world, emailing me first thing this morning, just so excited to hear about what we have to say and what we’ve got.”

Whether that bravado translates into tangible big-name signings remains to be seen.

The series was recently declared “dead in the water” by Rory McIlroy after a swathe of top-name players pledged their allegiance to the PGA Tour following disparaging comments by pro-breakaway Phil Mickelson against the Saudi Government, in effect LIV Golf Invitational Series’ Saudi financiers. Mickelson also called out the PGA Tour for their “obnoxious greed” and admitted he was effectively using LIV Golf Investments, funded by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF), as leverage against the PGA Tour.

Sam Greenwood

Mickelson has not been seen or heard from since posting an apology of sorts to social media. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, meanwhile, has doubled down on his promise of suspensions and possibly even lifetime bans for players who join the Saudi series and recently insisted the U.S. circuit – and by association its strategic partner the DP World Tour – had “moved on”.

That was before Wednesday’s announcement. Norman remains convinced the Saudi league would win any potential legal battle over the rights of players, as independent contractors, to pick and choose their schedule.

“I believe players will increasingly make progress in achieving their right to play where they want and when they want,” Norman told Global Golf Post.

“We will help in any way possible. But in the interim, we see a global pool of talent we can tap into to develop and promote. In many ways, we’re a start-up enterprise. We have a long-term vision that will start modestly and grow. Mark my words: Players, including the game’s biggest names, will increasingly join us. And make no mistake: We are here for the long term.”

The ability for players to tee it up where and when the want is something Norman has been battling for since the mid 1990s when he teamed with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch in an attempt to create a “World Golf Tour”. The concept was squashed by then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem but Norman’s resolve has endured. 

“For decades, I fought for the right of a player to have the opportunity and choice to go play wherever he wants without having restrictions,” Norman said. “I remember when I was the No. 1 player in the world, trying to get the right to go back and play in my home [Australian] tour. And I fought for home-tour release rules. Why do we have to apply for a waiver for that? You know, players can apply for a waiver and get it. And I’ve heard as recently as of this year that some European tour players just went and played without even getting a release.

“The players see their opportunities. They’re independent contractors. They have this freedom of choice. I’ll just sit back and give them the new opportunities.”

LIV Golf is providing more than $400 million in seed capital to ensure those opportunities in 2022.  It is also promising “additional announcements forthcoming”, critical among them sure to be the announcement of players for the London event. The sports world will be watching via livgolf.com – and for the reaction from the PGA Tour-DP World Tour alliance. As Norman keeps saying, “this is just the beginning”. 

The post Norman confident $255 million LIV Golf Invitational Series will prove irresistible to game’s biggest names  appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Not so, insists Greg Norman. The LIV Golf Invitational Series Commissioner says the door remains open to Lefty joining the new $255 million series slated for an early June start on the outskirts of London, despite the American’s self-confessed ‘reckless’ comments.

RELATED: Norman confident $255 million LIV Golf Invitational Series will prove irresistible to game’s biggest names

Mickelson hasn’t been heard from since apologising to the “visionaries” behind the new series, LIV Golf Investments, which is bankrolled by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund. The six-time major champion concluded his social-media mea culpa by saying he “desperately need some time away to prioritise the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”

Just as PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said he is open to talking to Mickelson, Norman said he would welcome a call from the Ryder Cupper when Lefty was ready.

“I have not spoken to him in quite a while,” Norman told Golf.com on Wednesday morning. “I’ve wanted to leave him alone. He wanted to have his own space, so I just respect that. 

“He’s been great for the game of golf. He’s got a fan base that’s incredible. He’s done things that many other players wish they could emulate over their career. And I wish him nothing but the best. I really do. From a player-to-player perspective, we’ve all screwed up in our lives. We’ve all made some stupid statements and comments over a period of time that we wish we could take back.

“At the end of the day, I just want Phil to know from a player’s perspective, and as the CEO of LIV Golf, that we welcome him back [when] he wants to come back and play the game of golf.

“It’s up to him. It’s on his time schedule. And as he clears his head and gets himself back to the game of golf, the better off the game of golf will be.”

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