During the week of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is the Saudi International in Saudi Arabia, an Asian Tour event sponsored by the Public Investment Fund. Alas, the same folks backing the LIV Golf series, which is in numerous lawsuits against the Tour, have created a rift in the golf community over the past year.
And, according to a report from Golf Channel, a ‘few’ PGA Tour players have asked and been granted releases to play in the Saudi International, which is scheduled from Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
The report didn’t specify exactly how many players were granted conflicting-event and media releases. The event used to be a DP World Tour stop until the emergence of LIV Golf.
PGA Tour players and LIV golfers were going to cross paths at points this year, including at Augusta National in three months for the Masters, but they’ll be playing against one another a lot sooner than that.
Past champs include Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell and Harold Varner, all part of LIV Golf.
World No. 3 Cameron Smith will highlight the field for the fifth playing of the PIF Saudi International next month in the Kingdom.
Smith is set to join defending champion Harold Varner III and the top-30 ranked players on the Asian Tour at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Feb. 2-5, with more players to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
“It’s always good to play in a world-class field, I am looking forward to taking on some familiar faces and also competing with the best that the Asian Tour has to offer,” said Smith via a release. The event offers a $5 million purse and is sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as well as SoftBank Investment Advisers, a growth equity firm.
Past champions of the Golf Saudi event include Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell and Varner, three players who have all joined LIV Golf.
The event will be the same week as the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
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We’ve written many times — many, many times — about how LIV Golf is ridiculous, empty and a constant reminder that players are leaving the PGA Tour for a Saudi-backed league funded by blood money. That is still all true.
On Tuesday, we learned of more names making the switch, including British Open champ Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Joaquin Niemann and Harold Varner III.
And it’s that last name I want to focus on: Varner took to Instagram and spoke about why he was joining LIV.
“The truth is, my life is changing,” he wrote. “The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good of a financial breakthrough for me to pass by. I know what it means to grow up without much. This money is going to ensure that my kid and future Varners will have a solid base to start on – and a life I could have only dreamt about growing up.”
“It’ll also help fund many of the programs I’m building with my Foundation,” he continued. “I’ll continue to forge pathways for kids interested in golf. This note is a receipt of for that.”
For once, here’s a golfer saying out loud what we all knew was the case. It’s a financial opportunity, one that will line player pockets real nicely. And for Varner, he admitted that it was giving his kid a life he never had. On top of that, he’ll use some of that money for his foundation.
I wish we’d hear all of this more from some of those big names who joined, instead of the deflections and denials we’ve heard time and time again.
Yes, it’s all about the money. At least Varner came out and just said it. I hope that “receipt” is proof that he’ll stick to his words and use it for good things.
Quick hits: NFL cuts … A bat flip backfired bad … NASCAR playoffs are coming … and more.
View photos of Harold Varner III throughout his career.
Harold Varner III earned his PGA Tour card in 2015 after a couple of seasons on the then-named Web.com Tour.
Varner became the first African American to earn his Tour card through the Web.com Tour. At his first professional win, the 2016 Australian PGA Championship, he became the first American to win the event since Hale Irwin did so in 1978.
Besides breaking barriers, Varner had a solid career in his time on the PGA Tour. Although he never won a PGA Tour event, HV3 did come close to winning the 2019 PGA Championship but struggled in the final pairing on Sunday, shooting 81 to finish in a tie for 36th.
A career best T-2 finish at the RBC Heritage in 2021, he held the 54 hole lead at the event in 2022 before Jordan Spieth erased the lead to win by one.
After the conclusion of the 2021-22 PGA Tour season, Varner III announced he was leaving for LIV Golf. Unlike most of his new colleagues, the former ECU Pirate gave a refreshing answer as to why he chose to leave the PGA Tour.
“The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good of a financial breakthrough for me to pass by. I know what it means to grow up without much. This money is going to ensure that my kid and future Varners will have a solid base to start on – and a life I could have only dreamt about growing up,” Varner wrote in a post on his Instagram account. “It’ll also help fund many of the programs I’m building with my Foundation. I’ll continue to forge pathways for kids interested in golf. This note is a receipt of for that.”
His statement announcing and explaining his decision was just as well, but in a different way. Varner has always been unapologetically himself, a fact that’s led the 32-year-old to be a fan-favorite over the last few years on Tour. The shocking aspect of his statement was how refreshingly honest he was about his reasons for joining LIV, and he didn’t shy away from speaking about the money.
“The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good of a financial breakthrough for me to pass by. I know what it means to grow up without much. This money is going to ensure that my kid and future Varners will have a solid base to start on – and a life I could have only dreamt about growing up,” Varner wrote in a post on his Instagram account. “It’ll also help fund many of the programs I’m building with my Foundation. I’ll continue to forge pathways for kids interested in golf. This note is a receipt of for that.”
While Varner never did earn that elusive first win on the PGA Tour, the North Carolina native qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season this year. He also won the 2022 PIF Saudi International, which stirred rumors that he was fielding interest from LIV Golf.
“I’m obviously not going,” Varner said to SI in June after receiving what he called a “nuts” offer from LIV Golf. “I’ve spoken with (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay (Monahan), I’ve spoken with a lot of people I look up to and it just wasn’t worth it to me for what it was worth. That’s pretty simple.”
Varner will make his LIV Golf debut this week at The International in Bolton, Massachusetts.
At the conclusion of the Tour Championship, expect the next wave of LIV Golf announcements to come quickly.
Cameron Smith, who has long been rumored to be heading to the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led series, is among at least five other players who will tee it up at LIV Golf’s fourth event in Boston next week, according to reports from Sports Illustrated and Golf Channel. Smith declined to comment on his departure at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and Niemann told Golf Channel on Friday he had yet to make up his mind.
Joining Smith and Niemann will be Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale, Harold Varner III and Anirban Lahiri, according to the reports. Golf Channel reported Mito Pereira is also heading to LIV Golf, but SI said Pereira wasn’t going to play in next week’s event.
Smith, Niemann and Pereira are all automatic qualifiers at the Presidents Cup for the International Team, but if they were to join the breakaway series, they would all vacate their spots and be suspended from the PGA Tour.
The Presidents Cup is set for next month at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Both Smith and Niemann are playing in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta this weekend.
NFL head coaches are always good for some of the best tirades we’ve ever seen in sports. You’ve got Dennis Green’s “They are who we thought they were” that is absolutely legendary. Herm Edwards’ “You play to win the game,” masterpiece. There are so many more that come with that, too.
What might be even better than those, though, is Jim Mora’s “Playoff” rant. The coach was asked about the Colt’s playoff chances after a game where they turned the ball over 5 times (!!!).
We’re just over two decades away from the rant and it still reverberates across sports. Today, specifically, it showed up in the golf world.
Harold Varner III, who is one of the 125 players preparing to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs this weekend, had an absolutely perfect putter head cover celebrating his accomplishment.
Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. He has the quote down perfectly and it’s just such a creative cover to have. 10 out of 10. This thing is perfect in every way.
Playoffs?!? Just the best.
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The LSU product dropped a 38-foot putt from off the green to capture his third PGA Tour victory of the season.
FORT WORTH, Texas — With his longtime coach Randy Smith eyeing each swing, Scottie Scheffler spent a little extra time on the range at Colonial Country Club on Sunday working through low knockdowns, something the world’s top-ranked player hadn’t done particularly well through the tournament’s first three days.
Looking for his fifth win in his last 10 starts — and to become the first player to win five PGA Tour events before June 1 since Tom Watson turned the trick in 1980 — Scheffler knew the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge would be more about standing strong in the wind than sprinting toward the lead.
With consistent winds in the 30 mph range making the small greens at Colonial even tougher than usual to hit, Scheffler’s strategy was spot on — and nearly worked.
But as he and others fought to keep their heads afloat, Sam Burns found an even better plan of attack — get out early, play well and wait for the pack to come back to him.
Burns earned his third victory of the PGA Tour season by posting an early 65, then waiting as others struggled to deal with the wind.
He then beat Scheffler — his buddy, with whom he shared a house at this year’s Masters — by dropping an incredible, winding 38-foot putt from off the green on the first playoff hole.
For the few hours before Burns’ heroic putt, however, he wasn’t even in the conversation.
At one point on the back nine, five players all sat at 10 under as Scheffler, Davis Riley, Brendon Todd, Harold Varner III and Scott Stallings found themselves all tied. Meanwhile, Burns sat in the clubhouse at 9 under.
Riley, who briefly held the lead, was the first to fade away, dropping a shot on No. 13 and then knocking a drive on the next hole out of bounds through a chain-link fence.
Todd, who considers Colonial his favorite course on Tour, dropped strokes at Nos. 11 and 12. Varner then had a stretch of triple bogey-double bogey-triple bogey on Nos. 12-14.
And Stallings tried to stay above water but lost single strokes at 12, 14 and 17 to fall off the chase.
Scheffler, who failed to make a birdie through 18 holes, made knee-knocking par putts of nine, six and eight feet in the final four holes to force the playoff. His only previous appearance in a playoff was when he captured his first Tour victory, as he beat Patrick Cantlay on the third hole at the WM Phoenix Open.
Scottie Scheffler lines up his putt on the first green during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
But Burns, who already had victories this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship and the Valspar, posted the day’s best round, including a 30 on the front nine. Burns teed off nearly 90 minutes before Scheffler, and the LSU product took advantage of beating the afternoon gusts, although the world’s 10th-ranked player did play the final seven holes at even par.
He admitted that he wasn’t even thinking about the leaders as he made his way through his final round.
“I never really did, to be honest. When you start the day seven back, I knew Scottie was at 11, I mean, the way that guy is playing right now, who would have ever thought that you’d have a chance seven back?” Burns said. “But I mean, with the wind we had today and the way the golf course is set up, to go out and shoot the score that I did today was really good.”
When the playoff started, the nearly two-hour delay didn’t seem to faze Burns, as he piped a drive well past Scheffler on the first playoff hole and then calmly drained the 38-footer for the victory. Scheffler followed by just missing his putt from 37 feet away.
For Burns, this has become a huge season. The 25-year-old from Shreveport, Louisiana, has eight top-10s in 17 starts on the year and now is only behind Scheffler (four) in terms of Tour wins on the season.
And while the two are extremely close, Burns knows his buddy was not taking it easy on him.
“Yeah, we’re probably best friends,” Burns said. “But at the same time I can assure you, he wanted to beat me more than anybody else and I wanted to beat him more than anybody else, and it just happened to be the two of us at the end.
“It’s going to be a fun story that we’ll get to have for the rest of our careers, and fortunately, I got the better end of it this time, but hopefully, we’re at the beginning of these situations in the future.”
Ever wondered where players like Ian Poulter, Justin Thomas and Harold Varner III get those incredible belts?
If you’ve ever wondered where PGA Tour players get their timeless belts, we found the spot — and it’s epic. House of Fleming in Atlanta, Georgia, makes alligator belts and exotic skin accessories.
Robert Fleming Childs, known also as Gator Bob and Bobby Belts, didn’t start this business with golfers in mind, and it wasn’t until teaching professional Butch Harmon asked for a couple of belts for a student of his in 1996. That student was Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods was the first golfer to sport House of Fleming belts and now these magnificent, handcrafted belts can be seen on players like Ian Poulter, Justin Thomas, Harold Varner III, Dustin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Phil Mickelson and in every major championship.
Justin Thomas hits his tee shot on the seventh hole during the final round of the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational golf tournament at TPC Southwind in a pink belt. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
Childs didn’t come from an affluent background. It took maxing out a credit card in 1982 shopping for skins in France and a lot of hope to produce one of these belts. Childs had a vision of what his belts could be, but he never imagined they’d be worn by some of the best players in the world.
House of Fleming gets their materials imported from Italy in about every shade and finish under the sun. When you walk into the building you see exotic skins of all colors laid out and boxes of remaining skin pieces from previous projects. In addition to belts, he makes yardage books, shoes, purses, wallets, and coasters — and doesn’t say no to requests often.
Childs doesn’t spend money on marketing or trying to get his belts into top retailers across the company. His success comes from word of mouth. One of Bob’s favorite projects was when some of the 2020 Ryder Cup Team asked him to make specific Ryder Cup-themed belts as gifts for everyone.
Saturday is for the … wait for it … wait for it … the walk-up music.
It’s Saturday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which means it is finally time for a tournament tradition unlike any other.
Players have feasted on beignets, chargrilled oysters, jambalaya and all the other delicacies that make Nawlins a non-stop party.
But Saturday is for the … wait for it … wait for it … the walk-up music.
New Orleans is a city with its own soundtrack – the tournament usually coincides with the Jazz Festival, but it starts a week later this year – and you don’t have to go very far to hear live jazz in the French Quarter. Sometimes, all you have to do is stand on Bourbon Street.
We think first tee tunes should be a more regular thing – maybe not at the staid British Open but who doesn’t love hearing a little diddy when a batter steps into the batter’s box at a baseball game? For now, we’ll settle for this one-hit wonder at the Zurich and appreciate the time and thought the players gave to what apparently can be a challenging exercise – just ask Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa. (This list was curated before the cut was made on Friday night.)
Here are a few of our favorites with the entire list at the bottom:
