Schupak: ‘Free agency’ in golf is not everything Greg Norman dreamed it would be

Those who complained about the PGA Tour no longer have the luxury of picking their schedule.

“Free agency is finally coming to golf,” Greg Norman proclaimed at the debut of LIV Golf last month.

“I feel so happy for the fact that we’ve brought free agency to the game of golf,” he said on another occasion.

To hear Pat Perez, one of the LIV signees, tell it, he’s been rescued from being an indentured servant with the PGA Tour – albeit one who earned more than $28 million during his career.

“I missed my son’s birth last year. August 18, I get a call my wife’s going into labor. I’m in Jersey. I’m getting ready to start the FedEx playoffs. I’m 116 on the list. I can’t leave. I can’t miss it. I can’t get back. I can’t get there and back without spending 150 grand on a private flight. I’m not doing that. So I had to suck on it and I had to miss my son’s birth,” Perez said. “And, you know, fortunately, I made the cut and I moved up my status by playing all right, but it still sucked.”

Only thing is Perez didn’t actually have to miss the birth of his son. He chose to play the Northern Trust. He already had wrapped up his Tour card for the next season by finishing in the top 125. If he wanted to qualify for the BMW Championship the following week (top 70) or Tour Championship (top 30), he would have needed to continue on because he hadn’t played well enough that season to guarantee his spot. Tour veteran Billy Horschel took exception to what Perez had to say.

“PGA Tour says 15 events minimum, all you have to do is play 15 events and you keep your card in those 15 events then that’s fine. If you want to play better or you want to play more so you get a chance to win the FedExCup, so be it. So be it. No one has made you play that first Playoff event to go miss family obligations. No one has,” Horschel said. “Yes, we are independent contractors; we do sign a contract with the PGA Tour to meet certain requirements of the PGA Tour. But we have the opportunity to make our schedule.”

Horschel noted that by the time he played this week at the Genesis Scottish Open and the British Open next week, he will have been gone for five consecutive weeks from his family.

“I made that decision to not see my wife and kids for five weeks. Am I crying about it? No,” he said. “I understand. I’m living my dream trying to play golf professionally and support my family financially.”

Here’s the thing: Perez was an independent contractor; now he’s an employee. This is not an employer you want to piss off. He’s signed a contract to play in all eight LIV Golf events. Next year, that number has been announced to increase to 14. Has Norman really achieved this 30-plus-year-old dream of his?

The PGA Tour and the Europe-based DP World Tour both declined requests from members for releases to compete in LIV events and have since punished players who have violated its tour regulations. In one of the rich ironies, the same players who have said they want to play less have gone to court so they can play more on the DP World Tour. (By the way, I love the nickname for them – ‘The Sour 16.’)

“We want to coexist” with “all the current ecosystems within the game of golf, and we want to do that with the PGA Tour,” Norman told Fox News last month. How exactly would that look in his fantasy world? “I would say support the players … and give their members the opportunity to have other places to go,” he said. “They’re independent contractors. They have every right to do that.”

2022 JP McManus Pro-Am
Graeme McDowell watches his drive at the 10th tee during the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor in Limerick, Ireland. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Except Norman’s circuit prevented Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell from playing in the Horizon Irish Open. Apparently, this notion of his doesn’t work both ways.

The circumstances of Graeme McDowell, who signed with LIV Golf, indicate that Norman isn’t allowing players to freely go and play elsewhere. McDowell, who had agreed to play the Horizon Irish Open, a tournament he had played the past 20 years anyway, in order to get a waiver to compete in the Saudi International in February. But he reneged on the deal because it conflicted with last week’s LIV event in Portland.

“I tried to be fair and I tried to be open with them and put all my cards on the table. Of course, I was very disappointed that the second event fell against the Irish Open. I would have loved to have been there last week,” McDowell told the Irish Independent. “The only thing I can say is I have to be all-in. I’m 43 and 380th in the world. My value to these guys is only so much. I have to try to commit the best I can to the LIV Tour, and that meant not obviously being able to play last week.”

He added: “Listen, I’d love to be back at the Irish Open next year and like I say I can only apologize to the Irish golf fans that I wasn’t there last week. And like I say, unfortunately, I had pretty good reasons for it regards what I have to commit to with the LIV Tour. I have to be all-in with those events. I can’t just dip my toe in.”

And here’s the rub. The same guys who have complained about how hard they had it on the PGA Tour no longer have the luxury of picking their schedule. They have been bought and paid for quite handsomely, and now have to show up when and where they are told (here’s hoping none of the wives of American players go into labor during the two-week swing to Bangkok and Jeddah).

Had McDowell still been an independent contractor, do you think he would’ve missed his homeland’s national open? When he was growing up, do you think he dreamed of winning the Irish Open or a 54-hole shotgun start in Portland?

Free agency in golf – before long it may have some players wanting to fire their agents Freddie Freeman style.

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What is LIV Golf? What you need to know about the upstart series that’s changing professional golf

Everything you need to know as the upstart series prepares for its second event.

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — You see it on the signage lining the walkway as soon as you pass through the gates of a LIV Golf Invitational Series event: 48 players, 12 teams, 54 holes, no cuts, shotgun starts.

At the surface level, that’s the selling point for the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded golf circuit that’s challenging the PGA Tour and shaking up professional golf as we know it. Well, that and multi-million dollar offers with the likes of a reported $200 million for Phil Mickelson.

With the second LIV Golf event scheduled to start Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, we thought it’d be a good time to break down what we know about the new series.

Some Portland-area officials, residents not exactly thrilled that LIV Golf is coming to their area

LIV Golf holds its second event this week but there are many who aren’t exactly welcoming it with open arms.

The LIV Golf Invitational Series is holding its second event this week but there are several people in the Portland, Oregon, area who aren’t exactly welcoming Greg Norman’s breakaway tour with open arms.

According to a story by the Associated Press, the North Plains, Oregon, mayor, as well as officials from surrounding cities, have written Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club’s owner, Escalante Golf, expressing some concerns. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is also speaking out against the tournament.

“We oppose this event because it is being sponsored by a repressive government whose human rights abuses are documented. We refuse to support these abuses by complicitly allowing the Saudi-backed organization to play in our backyard,” said a letter signed by North Plains Mayor Teri Lenahan and 10 other mayors from nearby cities.

Wyden accuses the Saudi government of “sportswashing”.

“It’s just a page out of the autocrats’ playbook covering up injustices by misusing athletics in hopes of normalizing their abuses,” he said.

John Canzano, a longtime Oregon-based sports journalist, wrote two weeks ago that about 20 members quit the club. The head pro also resigned, although it’s unclear if it’s due to the pending LIV Golf event.

“A lot of members are like stuck between a rock and a hard place right now where politically they don’t agree with it at all,” Pumpkin Ridge member Kevin Palmer told the AP. “But I also joined last year and put down like $12,000, and if I leave I don’t get any of that money back.”

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit has its detractors for several reasons, key among them Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, including the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In Oregon, however, there also is anger over the hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart in 2016. The AP story states:

Saudi student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah was facing a trial on first-degree murder charges when he removed a tracking device and vanished. U.S. authorities believe the Saudi government helped arrange for a fake passport and provided a private jet for travel back to Saudi Arabia. The case was featured on “60 Minutes.”

“It’s wrong to be silent when Saudi Arabia tries to cleanse blood-stained hands, in the fight for Oregonians to get justice — Fallon Smart was killed very close to our house in Southeast Portland, and the person charged with the crime, a hit-and-run death, was, based on all the evidence, whisked out of the country by the Saudis before he stood for trial,” Wyden said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The city of Portland is known as a hot spot for activism and protests and residents are expecting more this week but fans who buy tickets will be prohibited from displaying any political signs.

Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are the headliners of the circuit but the Portland event will mark the LIV Golf debuts of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Abraham Ancer, who all defected from the PGA Tour after the first event in London.

There will be 48 players in the field competing for $20 million in prize money. There is also a team aspect which can earns players even more money. Charl Schwartzel pocketed $4,750,000 for winning the London event.

PGA Tour players who competed for LIV Golf have been suspended by the PGA Tour. Some of them voluntarily gave up their PGA Tour membership.

The LIV Golf Portland event, which will feature three rounds, 54 holes and no cut, is is June 30-July 2. The PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Illinois is June 30-July 3.

Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, about 18 miles north of Portland, was the site of Tiger Woods’ third straight U.S. Amateur victory in 1996. Hilary Lunke won the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open at Pumpkin Ridge.

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Greg Norman says Saudi-backed LIV Golf is applying for world ranking points, calls PGA Tour hypocritical

The second LIV Series event is scheduled to run from June 30 through July 2 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Oregon.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Greg Norman, the commissioner of the LIV Golf Series, has remained fairly quiet during U.S. Open week, but the two-time major winner was interviewed Saturday night on Fox News’ One Nation with Brian Kilmeade. Norman echoed many things he’s said in the past but also announced that the LIV Series is working to make it easier for its players to qualify for major championships going forward.

The USGA announced that it would allow golfers who had qualified to play at The Country Club, and who competed in the first LIV Series event in London, to play in this year’s U.S. Open, but the USGA’s CEO, Mike Whan, said on Wednesday that he could envision scenarios that would make it much harder for LIV Series players to compete in the future. The biggest challenge is LIV Series events do not award Official World Ranking points, but Norman is working on changing that.

“We’re actually applying for OWGR points right now. We’re actually putting in our application probably over the weekend, if not Monday,” he said. “And it’s a very compelling application. We’ve worked very, very closely with the technical committee understanding all the components of what you need to apply for it. And quite honestly, it’s going to be interesting because on the board that votes on the OWGR points for anybody new coming in, here’s Jay Monahan. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Jay Monahan recuses himself from that vote because of what he said on television with Jim Nantz the other day. So it’s very interesting and it’s sad to be, you know, putting that additional exerting pressure on it because our tour is a good tour. It’s supported, it’s got an incredible field. Our point should be that if we get the OWGR out points, then everything else takes care of itself.”

In the interview, Norman commented on Bob Costas’ recent statement that Norman and the LIV Series players were taking ‘blood money.’

“Look, I’m disappointed people go down that path, quite honestly,” he said. “If they want to look at it in prism, then why does the PGA Tour have 23 sponsors doing 40 plus billion dollars worth of business with Saudi Arabia? Why is it okay for the sponsors? Will Jay Monahan go to each and every one of those CEOs of the 23 companies that are investing into Saudi Arabia and suspend them and ban them?  The hypocrisy in all this, it’s so loud. It’s deafening.”

Norman also pointed out that Saudi Arabia sponsors the Aramco Series, a lucrative four-event set of women’s tournaments. Kilmeade noted that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (which is investing in the LIV Series) has also invested in Uber, Facebook, Nintendo and Boeing.

“We’re not going anywhere, we want to do what’s right for the fans, for the players and for our commercial business model,” Norman said. “We are going to forge forward. And there’s been a lot of obstacles, Brian, no question about it. There’s been a lot of obstacles the PGA Tour’s thrown in our path, but you know what? We’ve worked around it because golf is a force for good.”

Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, and Patrick Reed, the winner of the 2018 Masters Tournament, recently announced they are planning to play LIV Series events, and rumors swirled at The Country Club this week about other players who might be choosing to play LIV Series events in the days and weeks ahead.

2022 U.S. Open
Phil Mickelson speaks in a press conference during a practice round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at The Country Club. (Photo: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)

This week, Phil Mickelson was pressed by reporters about his involvement with the Saudi-backed tour and was asked what he had to say to Terry Strada, the national chairperson of 9/11 Families United, who sent the six-time major winner a letter expressing disappointment in his involvement with the LIV Series,

“I would say to the Strada family, I would say to everyone that has lost loved ones, lost friends on 9/11 that I have deep, deep empathy for them,” Mickelson said. “I can’t emphasize that enough. I have the deepest of sympathy and empathy for them.”

Norman says he has no regrets about teaming with Saudi Arabia

“Not at all, because golf is a force for good,” Norman said. “The European PGA Tour, since 2009, had a golf tournament, the Saudi International that’s still in existence since 2019 and during that Saudi International, there were PGA Tour players who were given rights and waivers to go play there. So to me, if golf is good for the world, golf is good for Saudi, and you’re seeing that growth internally, it’s extremely impressive.”

The second LIV Series event is scheduled to run from June 30 through July 2 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside Portland, Oregon.

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‘It’s the right thing to do’: Ahead of trying to end major victory drought, Rory McIlroy explains his role in leading resistance against LIV Golf

“That’s their decision, and they have to live with that.”

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BROOKLINE, Mass. – To no one’s surprise, the first question Rory McIlroy fielded in his gathering with the media Tuesday at The Country Club ahead of the 122nd U.S. Open dealt with the Saudi Arabia-backed, Greg Norman-led LIV Golf.

This despite McIlroy’s scintillating victory last Sunday in the RBC Canadian Open, where he outdueled Justin Thomas and Tony Finau over the last 36 holes for his 21st PGA Tour title. That number was significant to McIlroy, for it is one better than the 20 Tour titles Norman won, which the world No. 3 gleefully pointed out on more than one occasion.

It was his latest salvo at the rival league that held its first tournament last week and has lured top stars away from the PGA Tour including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Bryson DeChambeau with its enormous signing bonuses, huge purses, 54-hole individual and team formats with no cut and a shotgun start.

McIlroy, along with Thomas, has been the face of the PGA Tour’s resistance to LIV Golf, frequently speaking out against it and voicing disappointment in those players who joined (PGA Tour members who joined or will join have been or will be indefinitely suspended from the PGA Tour) despite the alleged human rights violations by the Saudi Arabia regime and charges the country is using its billions of dollars in a sportswashing attempt to overshadow those same atrocities.

“It’s the right thing to do,” McIlroy said when asked why he has been so outspoken. “The PGA Tour was created by people and Tour players that came before us, the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer. They created something and worked hard for something, and I hate to see all the players that came before us and all the hard work that they’ve put in just come out to be nothing.”

He also noted the “massive legacy” of charitable dollars the Tour has doled out.

“They all have the choice to play where they want to play, and they’ve made their decision,” McIlroy said. “My dad said to me a long time ago, once you make your bed, you lie in it, and they’ve made their bed.

“That’s their decision, and they have to live with that.”

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the second tee during a practice round prior to the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club on June 13, 2022 in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Back in February, McIlroy said LIV Golf was dead in the water after more than a dozen of the game’s top stars pledged their allegiance to the Tour’s flag. Some of those players, however, backtracked and headed to the new league.

“I guess I took a lot of players’ statements at face value. I guess that’s what I got wrong,” McIlroy said. “You had people committed to the PGA Tour, and that’s what the statements that were put out. People went back on that, so I guess I took them for face value. I took them at their word, and I was wrong.”

Despite the defections, he said he didn’t think relationships would be strained.

“I’m still going to be close with the guys that have made the decision to play those events. It’s not as if you agree on absolutely everything that all your friends do. You’re going to have a difference of opinion on a lot of things. That’s fine. That’s what makes this a great world. We can’t all agree on everything,” McIlroy said. “I just think for a lot of the guys that are going to play that are younger, sort of similar age to me or a little younger than me, it seems like quite short-term thinking, and they’re not really looking at the big picture.

“Again, I’ve just tried to sort of see this with a wider lens from the start.”

As for his golf, McIlroy likes what he has seen of The Country Club and added he has a little more pep in his step after his win north of the border as he tries to end a major drought of eight years. Adding to his confidence is knowing he is the last player to win a PGA Tour event the week before winning a major championship, pulling off the double with victories in the 2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship.

“It gives you a lot of confidence,” he said. “I think it was the fashion in which I won last week was what gave me the most pride. Got a lead early in the back nine. Lost that lead. Was tied with two holes to go, and then I showed some really good resilience and birdied the last two holes to get the job done.

“My last two showings in major championships have been pretty good (second in the Masters, eighth in the PGA Championship). So I’m getting back to a place where I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with my game and a lot more comfortable at the biggest, not really the biggest championships in the world, but it’s more the biggest and toughest tests in the world. I think my game is now at a place where I feel confident going to these golf courses that are set up more difficult than everyday Tour events and knowing that I have the game and the mentality to succeed on them.”

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Rory McIlroy took a tremendous shot at Greg Norman after winning Canadian Open and fans loved it

Rory from the top rope!

A wild and mostly disgusting week in men’s professional golf had a perfect ending Sunday afternoon with Rory McIlroy getting his 21st win on the PGA Tour in a thrilling finish at the Canadian Open in front of thousands of fans who were having the time of their lives.

McIlroy then celebrated his victory by taking a shot at Greg Norman, which was just so awesome to see happen.

Norman, of course, is the CEO and commissioner  of the LIV Golf league and is leading the charge against the PGA Tour by handing out tons of dirty money to PGA Tour players who apparently have no problem taking money from the Saudi government.

McIlroy hasn’t shied away from speaking out against that league, which made his win Sunday all the more special.

During his post-round interview on the 18th green, McIlroy said: “This is a day that I’ll remember for a long, long time. 21st PGA Tour win, one more than someone else. That gave me a little bit of extra incentive today and I’m happy to get it done.”

That former player he was talking about was Greg Norman, who had 20 wins on the PGA Tour.

This is so good:

Here’s the full interview:

Twitter loved it.

LIV Golf kicks Phil Mickelson’s biographer, Alan Shipnuck, out of news conference

Maybe Phil Mickelson has had enough of Alan Shipnuck or Greg Norman wanted to make a point.

Maybe Phil Mickelson has had enough of Alan Shipnuck or Greg Norman wanted to make a point.

Either way, one of the strangest days in recent golf history ended at the Centurion Golf Club near London on Thursday evening with Shipnuck, the author of “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” being removed from what’s known as the flash interview area at the LIV Golf Invitational Series inaugural event.

Shipnuck, a partner for The Fire Pit Collective, traveled to the United Kingdom for the event and followed Mickelson during his opening round. Afterward, Mickelson spoke to members of the press, as is customary.

However, Shipnuck was not allowed to join.

He wrote on Twitter:

Well, a couple of neckless security dudes just physically removed me from Phil Mickelson’s press conference, saying they were acting on orders from their boss, whom they refused to name. (Greg Norman? MBS? Al Capone?) Never a dull moment up in here.

Golfweek reached out to Shipnuck, who replied in a text message: “I was credentialed and I was standing in the flash area at the start of Phil’s presser when they came for me.”

Not allowing a credentialed press member to attend a player’s press conference is unheard of on other golf tours, but things got stranger in the moments afterward.

Shipnuck sent text messages to LIV Golf’s commissioner, Greg Norman, to point out the incident, and Norman replied that he had not heard about it. Shipnuck did not know when he sent the message that Norman had seen the whole thing.

In an email to Golfweek, Shipnuck said: “I have no ill will toward Phil. I just wanted to ask him one boring golf question, which is my job. Either he is being way too sensitive or the LIV folks are being too overprotective but, either way, they are overreacting.”

This incident comes two days after Associated Press reporter Rob Harris was cut off, removed from the LIV media center and reprimanded by LIV officials for not being “polite.” Harris was allowed back into the media center about 10 minutes later, according to ESPN.

“The security guards were inappropriately aggressive and physical, considering I was just standing there trying to make sense of the bizarre reasons they were citing for wanting to remove me,” Shipnuck said.

The second round of the LIV Golf London event is Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET time. LIV Golf does not have a TV deal but is streaming the tournament on its YouTube channel.

“This whole situation is messy and ridiculous,” Shipnuck said to Golfweek. “If I have another boring golf question for Phil I’ll ask it because I did fly 6,000 miles to be here and I’m not inclined to be silenced by Greg Norman and his goons.

“Or maybe I’ll just focus on Chantananuwat Ratchanon. … he seems like a nice kid.”

Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio contributed to this article.

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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan drops hammer on golfers playing LIV Golf Invitational Series

In a memo sent to members of the PGA Tour on Thursday, commissioner Jay Monahan was true to his word.

In a memo sent to members of the PGA Tour on Thursday, commissioner Jay Monahan was true to his word toward players who opt to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

You are no longer welcome on the PGA Tour.

“We have followed the Tournament Regulations from start to finish in responding to those players who have decided to turn their backs on the PGA Tour by willfully violating a regulation,” Monahan wrote in the memo obtained by Golfweek. “Simultaneous to you receiving this memo, the players are being notified that they are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup.

“This also applies to all tours sanctioned by the PGA Tour: the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica.”

The memo was sent shortly after the first tee shots were hit in London in the first LIV Golf Invitational Series events.

Among those suspended were Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Matt Jones. Also suspended were players who have resigned their membership, including Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.

The first of eight events of the LIV Golf Invitational Series this year began Thursday at the Centurion Club outside of London. In addition to staggering signing bonus – Phil Mickelson reportedly received $200 million to sign – LIV Golf presents a team format consisting of 54-hole, no-cut, 48-man fields featuring more than $255 million in prize money.

The winner this week in London will receive $4 million.

The league is spearheaded by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.

“Today’s announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members,” LIV Golf said in a statement. “It’s troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond.”

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Photos: LIV Golf International Series at Centurion Golf Club in London

The inaugural LIV Golf International Series golf tournament is at Centurion Golf Club in London.

The inaugural LIV Golf International Series golf tournament is at Centurion Golf Club in London.

The three-day, 54-hole, no-cut, big money event is June 9-11, with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and others headlining the field.

Signage at the event had phrases like “Welcome to the Future” and “Golf But Louder”.

There is no TV deal for the league so fans had to watch a live stream on the LIV Golf’s YouTube channel to catch the action.

But it didn’t take long after the new breakaway league started before PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo suspended those golfers who chose to play in the new league.

Check out some photos of the new breakaway league.

Controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series is here. What you should know.

The LIV Golf Invitational Series is already disrupting the dynamics in professional men’s golf.

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series will make its debut this weekend in London.

The league announced a field of 48 players, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen.

The league is already disrupting the dynamics in professional men’s golf and could continue to do so as its season continues. Yet, hanging above the shifting balance of power in the business of golf are the questions of ethics and morals facing players and executives who have joined the league, in light of multiple accusations against the Saudi Arabian government of alleged human rights violations.

Here is everything you need to know about LIV Golf.

Why is LIV Golf so controversial?

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth investment fund of Saudi Arabia and one of the largest in the world, has backed and is financing LIV Golf Investments, the parent company of LIV Golf. As the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman is the head of the PIF. According to a declassified U.S. intelligence report released in February 2021, Salman approved an operation “to capture or kill” Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.

The Saudi government is accused of other human rights violations and has invested in Western athletic opportunities in an apparent attempt to improve its image, a practice known as “sportswashing.”

What will be the format?

There will be seven regular season events in different cities on three continents — London, Portland (Oregon), Bedminster (New Jersey), Boston, Chicago, Bangkok, Jeddah. The season will culminate in a team championship in Florida at the Trump National Doral Miami course.

Each event will be a 54-hole, three-round, no-cut competition. The league will incorporate shotgun starts to expedite play. A 48-person field has been announced and players will be split into four-person teams.

The team championship will be a four-day, four-round event in which the teams will be seeded in a knock-out playoff bracket.

What are the prize payouts?

Each regular-season event is scheduled to feature a total purse of $25 million, with $20 million going toward individual prizes and the remainder going toward the team competition. The first-place prize for individual players will reportedly be $4 million and the team that places first will earn $3 million.

Over the course of the season, the player who is crowned champion will take home $18 million, while second place will collect $8 million and third will earn $4 million. Players who compete in a minimum of four events will be eligible for these awards.

During the team championship at the end of the season, each of the 12 teams will receive a cut of the $50 million purse. The first-place team will win $16 million.

When will LIV Golf hold its inaugural event?

The inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament will take place June 9-11 at the Centurion Club, which is about 25 miles northwest of London.

Who will play in the inaugural event?

The LIV Golf league announced its captains for the 12 teams that will compete in the inaugural event in London. Each team has its own name and logo.

  • Captain, team name
  • Dustin Johnson, 4 Aces
  • Graeme McDowell, Niblicks
  • Ian Poulter, Majesticks
  • Kevin Na, Iron Heads
  • Louis Oosthuizen, Stinger
  • Martin Kaymer, Cleeks
  • Peter Uihlein, Crushers
  • Phil Mickelson, Hy Flyers
  • Sergio Garcia, Fire Balls
  • Sihwan Kim, Smash
  • Talor Gooch, Torque
  • Wade Ormsby, Punch

Other notable players on the roster include Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel, Sam Horsfield, Andy Ogletree and Branden Grace.

Have any players turned down LIV Golf?

Tiger Woods recently reaffirmed his commitment to the PGA Tour. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said in an interview with the Washington Post that Woods turned down a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer from LIV Golf that was “about high nine digits.” Rory McIlroy has also declined.

Eighteen-time major champion Jack Nicklaus turned down two offers “in excess of $100 million” for the chance to be the face of the league.

What has been the reaction to those who joined?

Though several prominent PGA Tour players have resigned their membership to join LIV Golf, those have faced harsh criticism. For its part, the PGA Tour has threatened serious penalties for those PGA Tour members who play in the LIV Golf Series events. Some players, like Dustin Johnson, have resigned their membership with the PGA Tour to join LIV golf. Others, like Phil Mickelson, have said they intend to play in major championships.

With the U.S. Open set to take place June 16-19, the weekend following the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational, the U.S. Golf Association released a statement Tuesday saying it would not penalize any player invited to the U.S. Open who had played in the LIV Golf Invitational in London.

How are teams chosen?

The captains of the teams were selected by LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman and the league’s tournament committee. Each team-appointed captain will select three players for their team’s open slots in a snake draft format. The exception to that is that five of the non-captain players are not eligible to be drafted because they “have pre agreed” to play together on certain teams.

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