LIV Golf has made impressive inroads into the men’s professional game this year with some marquee names signed to the Saudi-backed series, including Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia.
The signings keep on coming, with the likes of DeChambeau and Koepka announced after the first event as well as Abraham Ancer, Patrick Reed and Paul Casey. And there are set to more names to move over.
It’s thought that additional players could make the jump to LIV after the 150th Open and then again after the FedExCup Playoffs. Golf Monthly has heard a number of players linked with the series and rumours continue to circulate across social media, with names including Henrik Stenson, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama all mentioned.
Video: What is LIV Golf?
Having heard rumours involving Jordan Spieth, the Texan’s agent Jay Danzi confirmed to Golf Monthly that he is staying with the PGA Tour. “Jordan is not in discussions with LIV and is fully supportive of and happy on the PGA Tour,” he said.
Should the whispers of more big name LIV Golf signings turn out to be true, it could be the tipping point to force the PGA and DP World Tours to start thinking about cutting a deal with Greg Norman before the game starts to look even more fractured.
What’s more, any collaboration could potentially lead to further issues, given the strong stance taken by some existing PGA and DP World Tour members over the Saudi-backed league. But who knows if it’ll even get that far, given the DP World and PGA Tour’s anti-LIV rhetoric thus far.
If more top names do move across, though, it seems some form of collaboration would be required in order to stop a scenario whereby the game’s top players rarely compete in the same event (if at all, depending on the Majors’ stance). If that fails to materialise, the golf fan would be the biggest loser.
Rory McIlroy, possibly the most outspoken player in terms of rejecting LIV Golf, is even starting to concede that some form of dialogue may be necessary. “That needs to happen,” he replied when…
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