NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — The LIV Golf Invitational Series will include more events and a name change in 2023.
The series will transition to the LIV Golf League next year and the events will grow from eight this year to 14 in future years with 48 contracted players on 12 teams. The number of events will be capped at 14.
The Saudi-backed series has grown faster than expected with eight of the top 50 players, and 20 of the top 100, in the current World Golf Ranking joining LIV to date.
The fields for this year’s eight events are fluid as more players defect from the PGA Tour. This week’s field at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland has nine players not in the inaugural event held outside of London, including Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Matthew Wolff, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.
The plan for 2023 is to open the season in March with 48 contracted players. The four-man teams will be set before the season, with the players being selected and recruited by the 12 captains.
The contracts for each player varies with the longest being four years. Phil Mickelson is reported to have signed the largest contract, $200 million, followed by Dustin Johnson at $125 million.
The list of venues has not been finalized. What is known is the number of international sites will expand. This year, the series has stops in England, Bangkok and Saudi Arabia along with five United States sites: Portland; Bedminster, New Jersey; Boston; Chicago; and Miami.
After the first round of this week’s event, Ortiz is the leader of the 54-hole tournament at 5-under, one shot ahead of Johnson.
LIV is receiving $250 million from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and offering purses of $25 million – including $5 million for the top three finishers in the team competition – for the first seven events and $50 million for the series finale in Doral.
“Well, the PGA Tour, what they’ve created with PGA Tour University is great, but they didn’t secure you anything.”
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Last April Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra shocked the amateur golf world when he announced his plans to forfeit his PGA Tour University status and return to Oklahoma State for another year of college.
Two months later he shocked the professional golf world when he announced he was turning professional to join the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series. The 22-year-old Spaniard made his debut this week at the Portland event and explained his reasoning for his change of heart.
“Pretty easy. I love what LIV Golf is doing for golf,” explained Chacarra. “I love the format; it’s kind of the same as college, and I felt I was ready to make my debut — turn pro, and I was talking to my team and Oklahoma State, obviously, and I thought it was the best decision for me and just to play with these guys and get experience and get my game better.”
In his post announcing his initial return to college, Chacarra said he was “convinced that an additional year of hard work in Stillwater will allow me to continue to grow academically and personally, which will only prepare me better for the PGA Tour and my professional career.”
So, what changed in the last two months?
“Well, the PGA Tour, what they’ve created with PGA Tour University is great, but they didn’t secure you anything,” said Chacarra, who explained how his friend and former Cowboy, Austin Eckroat, is playing Monday qualifiers until June. “So I was like, ‘okay, great, I’m No. 1 in college golf and all these things, but the PGA Tour doesn’t secure me anything,’ and I have a tour with also the best players in the world playing here with a great format and that secured me play two years and play consistent golf, and I feel like it was the best part for me to get ready for the pro states.”
“He wanted to play with me,” quipped the first-round leader, Carlos Ortiz, who sits atop the leaderboard at 5 under.
Chacarra was a Haskins Award finalist thanks to an impressive season in Stillwater where he earned three wins, one at the NCAA Columbus Regional, and a runner-up at the NCAA Championship after losing in a four-way playoff.
“I’ll pay $70 to drink $5 beers and watch big-time pro golfers and I don’t give a (expletive) who’s selling the tickets.”
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — For all the controversy surrounding LIV Golf — the Saudi-funded series is bankrolled by a country known to traffic in terrorism and human rights abuses, its creation has infuriated the PGA Tour and its players, all while putting the majors in a tough spot — fans don’t seem to care much.
In fact, they argue, the PGA Tour, and all major sporting events and leagues for that matter, could learn a thing or two from LIV.
“Beers are cheap here, only $5!” exclaimed Benjamin Beecher of Tacoma, Washington, who drove south about two hours for the organization’s first-ever U.S. event. “I’ll pay $70 to drink $5 beers and watch big-time pro golfers and I don’t give a (expletive) who’s selling the tickets.”
Beecher’s attitude was echoed by multiple fans who spoke to USA TODAY Sports Thursday during the first day of play at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, located 20 miles West of downtown Portland.
Is LIV’s primary source of money problematic? Absolutely, they said. But doesn’t everyone — organizations, corporations and politicians on both sides of the aisle — have ties to something that make you uncomfortable?
“The only difference with this is, it’s more transparent,” said Daniel Freauf, who lives in Salem, 45 minutes south of Portland. He drove up with his wife Charlotte and their three children, including a 1-month old newborn. “Lots of people try to grandstand, but the reality is, we all pay taxes and your taxes sometimes go to other countries that help them build bombs. We are all complicit in it in some way. And I want to watch Phil Mickelson play.”
Phil Mickelson watches his drive on the fourth hole during the first round of the LIV Golf tournament at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
It’s not all bad either, they insisted, as his kids picked grass and giggled at a ball that went flying toward the crowd.
“There are changing stations and nursing stations here, everything is clean and there’s so much stuff for kids,” said Charlotte. “That can be hard to find at a sporting event.”
LIV’s first event in London was capped at 8,000 tickets, but tournament officials declined to give an attendance number for Pumpkin Ridge (it wasn’t crowded). What’s also unknown is how many attendees actually paid for tickets versus being gifted free passes.
The day was not controversy-free by any means: Early Thursday morning, a group of family members whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks held a press conference nearby decrying LIV golfers who have “taken the blood money.” Local and national politicians have expressed outrage that the tournament is being held in Portland.
But because the actual course, located three miles off a major highway, is relatively isolated, there were no casual onlookers passing by. The only people out here were devout fans, curious to see what all the fuss was about.
LIV bills itself as “golf, but louder” and at least Thursday, that was true. There were skydivers and jugglers riding unicycles. Live concerts are scheduled each night after play concludes. Pretty much everyone agrees that LIV is a spectacle, and a far cry from traditional golf tournaments, where onlookers are often shushed. It’s different, for sure — and that’s part of why people like it.
As music thumped across the fan festival and 12 teams of four teed off for a shotgun start, 5-year-old Tanner Austen tried for a hole-in-one at one of the kids’ events. He crouched down, bit his lip while examining the distance and … missed. He accepted consolation high fives and pats on the back with a smile on his face.
Tanner’s dad, Christian, partnered with a buddy, Chris Galloni, and split a $90 family pass, which allowed them to get in with Tanner, Taylor (3) and Tyson (15). All love to play golf, even the toddler. (The moms got the day off and headed to the beach, kid-free.)
“The stars never come to Portland,” Galloni said, who said part of LIV’s appeal is its shotgun start and team format, which is more familiar to the casual golf fan who plays with friends and in work tournaments. Watching this version of professional golf is both relatable and “pure entertainment.”
Seeing “some killer golfers” on a course he regularly plays with friends was a huge plus for Shawn Kuhns, a Portland resident.
Scotty Webb, also from Portland, agreed.
“These aren’t just some sloughs coming around, this is premier golf,” he said. “When you put in on that scale, I appreciate that, I enjoy that.”
Also of note: big-time golf hasn’t been in the Northwest since 2015, when the U.S. Open was played at Chambers Bay, about an hour southwest of Seattle. Most casual golf fans don’t have the money (or the vacation time) to travel to PGA Tour stops, let alone any of the majors. And who knows how long LIV will be around. If this is the only time some of the world’s best athletes swing through town, why not go?
“This is the first sporting event I’ve gone to since COVID and it’s amazing,” said Frank Anderson, a Portland resident. “This is probably one of the best golf tournaments I’ll ever get a chance to go to, you know, 20 miles away from my house. Sign me up.”
“That’s akin to me going to a KKK rally and then saying, ‘I’m just here for the free hot dogs.’ Like, what are they talking about?”
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Brett Eagleson never expected to be here, just 20 miles west of Portland, talking about Saudi Arabia. But the son of one of the nearly 3,000 Americans killed in the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil is determined to share his story, and Saudi Arabia’s role in it.
Specifically, he’d like to share it with the 48 professional golfers who have recently signed up with LIV, the new, Saudi-funded, PGA Tour alternative that makes its stateside debut Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Eagleson said those 48 have “taken the blood money,” while PGA golfers like Rory McElroy, Scottie Scheffler and Kevin Kisner — all of whom have criticized LIV — have shown they value “accountability, truth and justice.”
Controversy has surrounded LIV Golf since its inception, though the players taking checks from it continually sidestep questions about their decision to align themselves with Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, Bryson DeChambeau said he thought “moving on” from questions about Saudi Arabia’s human rights atrocities was the best decision, while Pat Perez argued he was just “here to play golf.”
“The callousness of some of these golfers is striking,” said Eagleson, who is scheduled to hold a press conference early Thursday morning in North Plains with 10 other members of 9/11 Justice, a group of people whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Golfers tee off Thursday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. local time.
“It’s interesting to see what money will do and it makes you wonder, where will folks draw the line? How much money will it take so you don’t care about murder or human rights?
“I guess we’ve seen what their price tag is.”
Bryson DeChambeau plays his shot from the 15th tee during the first round of the 2022 U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Photo: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
Eagleson, now 36, was 15 and a sophomore in high school when the Twin Towers collapsed; his father Bruce was last seen dashing up the stairs to help with evacuations. His remains have never been found.
Late last year, President Joe Biden declassified a 16-page FBI report that detailed Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks were Saudi citizens. The country was also the birth place of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida who planned the attacks.
Eagleson said the report is proof Saudi Arabia, which has long been known for its terrible track record on human rights, “killed our loved ones.” And he wants DeChambeau, Perez, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and others to read the documents. He even brought copies.
When he sees the way LIV golfers brush off questions about Saudi Arabia’s troubling history with terrorism and human rights, Eagleson doesn’t feel sadness or pain. He’s enraged.
“The arrogance and ignorance of someone like DeChambeau is unbelievable,” Eagleson said. “If only he know half the pain and suffering that I had to deal with growing up. ‘Moving on’? I wish I could do that. I wish 10,000 other families could do that — we don’t have that luxury.”
As for the golfers’ claim that they’re merely entertainers, and just here to play a sport, Eagleson snorts in disgust.
“That’s akin to me going to a KKK rally and then saying, ‘I’m just here for the free hot dogs.’ ” Eagleson said. “Like, what are they talking about? It’s crazy.”
Eagleson understands many sports leagues have ties to a variety of shady organizations. He doesn’t argue that. But those aren’t his concern, especially right now.
“That’s not our platform,” he said. “We’re making noise about the golfers because they’re choosing to get in bed with the country that killed our loved ones. Do terrible things happen in China? Yes, but I don’t have an FBI document that says China killed my dad.”
Eagleson said 9/11 Justice, which brought 11 people to Oregon from the tri-state area, doesn’t have plans to protest the actual LIV event. He just wants the golfers here to talk to them.
“I would invite Phil Mickelson and everyone else here to have a meeting with us,” Eagleson said. “Let us walk you through these newly declassified documents that show Saudi Arabia Kingdom officials paid to help facilitate the 9/11 attacks. If, at the end of the meeting, you see the pain and hurt in our eyes and still choose to take the money, we’ve said our piece and that’s between you and your maker.
“Honestly, I don’t think Phil or any of these other guys have the courage to talk with us.”
Local leaders in Oregon angered by LIV Golf
Eagleson isn’t the only one speaking out against LIV. Before the tour made its way to Portland, 11 local mayors sent a letter to Escalante Golf, which owns Pumpkin Ridge.
“We believe that we have a moral obligation to take a stand and speak out against this event in order to protect the people we serve,” the mayors wrote. “While our local jurisdictions may not be able to prevent this event, we stand together to voice our concerns about the unwelcomed potential risks, visitors and harm this event could have on our communities.”
It’s not just Saudi Arabia’s ties to human rights abuses and 9/11 that have local leaders angry.
Earlier this week, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) of Oregon told The Associated Press, “It’s wrong to be silent when Saudi Arabia tries to cleanse blood-stained hands,” referencing the August 2016 hit-and-run death of Fallon Smart, a 15-year-old rising sophomore who was killed in Southeast Portland, just blocks from her home.
Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, a Saudi student enrolled at Portland Community College, was facing first-degree murder charges for Smart’s death but removed his tracking device and disappeared before his trial started. Federal authorities believe the Saudi government helped him escape, getting him a fake passport and arranging for a private plane to fly him home. An Oregonian investigation published in 2019 detailed a pattern across eight states, plus Canada, of Saudi students facing criminal charges who managed to escape before their trials.
Contacted earlier this week by USA TODAY Sports, Jeff Muller, the general manager of Pumpkin Ridge, declined to answer questions about the club’s decision to host LIV Golf. Escalante, meanwhile, did not return multiple requests for comment. The Fort Worth-based golf conglomerate bought Pumpkin Ridge in 2015. Before LIV descended here, Pumpkin Ridge’s claim to fame was as the place Tiger Woods won the 1996 U.S. Amateur.
The tournament is scheduled to end Saturday. After this weekend, LIV heads to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey on July 29. Players who have made the jump to LIV from the PGA Tour have praised LIV’s condensed schedule, arguing it’s better for their bodies, and their golf games, if they have more rest.
Another positive that players say factored into their move: LIV’s generous signing bonuses and tournament winnings — players this week will compete for a $20 million purse, and some signing bonuses have reportedly exceeded $100 million — will allow golfers to give back to their communities.
Eagleson has an idea for where players can put their money.
“I would ask them to donate to 911justice.org,” he said.
“Listen to the players for once,” said Patrick Reed.
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — What’s that old adage about communication being the hallmark of a good relationship? Apparently the same goes for professional golfers and their tours as it does for significant others.
Among the many talking points at press conferences this week ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club – where there were enough scripted answers to fill a bingo sheet – was the lack of communication and transparency between the PGA Tour, its players and LIV Golf.
From Patrick Reed saying the Tour should’ve “listened to the players for once” to Pat Perez saying the Tour could’ve at the very least spoken with LIV, here’s a rundown of how players reacted to questions about what could have been.
“It brings something different to the game that we haven’t had for forever,” explained Garcia.
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Players who are competing in the LIV Golf Invitational Series have provided a myriad of answers for their reasons to join the upstart league.
One answer Wednesday during a news conference ahead of the series’ second event at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club stood out from Sergio Garcia, an 11-time PGA Tour and 16-time DP World Tour winner who provided several reasons for his decision.
“I did it because I think this is the future of golf, because I think that this is a great opportunity, not only to do what I love, which is playing golf, but at the same time be able to spend more time with my family and watch them grow,” said Garcia. “I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old so it’s nice to watch them grow as much as possible. I’ve been doing this for 24 years, so traveling a lot and stuff, and make a great living out of it.”
But what is it about the 48-player, 12-team, 54-hole, no cut, shotgun start series that stands out to the 42-year-old so much so to call it the “future of golf?”
Simply put: It’s different.
“It brings something different to the game that we haven’t had for forever,” explained Garcia after his news conference alongside fellow captains Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood. “Pretty much every tournament you play on tour is the same, so it’s nice to have something that brings different concepts together because you have the individual but at the same time you have the team event and it brings different relationships that you build and things like that and different focuses. For me as a captain and as a LIV Golf player, it’s obviously very exciting.”
From “grow the game” to “golf is a force for good,” these answers keep popping up.
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Ari Fleischer stood no more than 20 feet from the stage Tuesday as players took questions from the media ahead of the second LIV Golf Invitational Series event, diligently taking notes on the questions and answers.
The former White House press secretary runs a communications company and was hired as a consultant for everything under “the comms consulting umbrella,” Fleischer told PR Week.
Brooks Koepka and Pat Perez got testy when they said they didn’t receive any sort of media training to deal with the difficult questions about the connection to Saudi Arabia and its human rights record or the current battle between LIV Golf and the PGA and DP World tours.
“I mean, unless you want to do it yourself,” said a snarky Koepka.
Despite both players flip-flopping on their opinions of the new golf series that’s shaking up the professional scene and the fact that the Fleischer Communications website says it provides everything from media training to crisis management and reputation control, we’ll take them at their word.
That said, anyone who has attended or even watched any of the LIV Golf press conferences can attest to the talking points delivered by players both earlier this month at the inaugural event near London and so far this week at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.
We’ll call it LIV Golf bingo.
I noticed a trend of similar answers and seemingly scripted talking points during LIV Golf press conferences.
Variations of phrases such as “golf is a force for good,” “we’re golfers/we’re not politicians,” as well as talking points on respecting opinions have been used this week in Portland and earlier this month in London. There also seems to be a new player response to answer why they joined LIV Golf. In London, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen were the two players to mention time at home with family as a reason, with Ian Poulter adding, “So the legacy standpoint is, I’m trying to provide for my family, which is the first and foremost thing that I want to do.” This week, seven of the nine players brought in for press conferences used more time at home as an answer.
With six more events still to come in the 2022 series, four of which are in the United States, players are bound to face more questions about their reasons for joining LIV 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.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan spoke for just over 40 minutes and outlined a new structure for the circuit.
CROMWELL, Conn. — The Travelers Championship, with a date that many people would think is among the worst on the PGA Tour calendar—the week after the U.S. Open—is a success story that commissioner Jay Monahan loves to discuss. He knows the tournament well, having graduated from Trinity College, which is just 11 miles away from TPC River Highlands in Hartford. But on a soggy Wednesday afternoon, Monahan was in the media center to talk about something else: the threat the LIV Golf Series poses to the PGA Tour and what the tour plans to do moving forward.
As it turns out, Monahan spoke for just over 40 minutes and outlined a new structure the PGA Tour plans to implement soon.
Here are five key takeaways from his news conference.
McIlroy criticized his colleagues for saying one thing and then doing another.
CROMWELL, Conn. — For a world-class athlete, Rory McIlroy looked exhausted as he spoke with the media Wednesday at TPC River Highlands. His raingear was drenched, he was unshaven and his body language screamed that he’d rather be back in bed or on a sofa sipping coffee.
Then again, waking up around 5:00 a.m. and playing in a rain-soaked pro-am with four hackers for five hours will take the bounce out of any pro’s step.
There will be no rest for the weary, however, because McIlroy has a 7:45 a.m. tee time with Kevin Kisner and Webb Simpson Thursday morning in the opening round of the Travelers Championship.
“I must say, after the board meeting yesterday, my head hit the pillow, and I was out,” he said with a half-smile, referring to the PGA Tour board meeting McIlroy attended Tuesday afternoon after going to a player-only meeting with commissioner Jay Monahan at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
This is the fourth consecutive event for McIlroy – although he did fly home to Florida Sunday evening before hopping back on a plane Monday night and coming to Connecticut – and each tournament has brought tension and stress.
“Memorial is a very demanding golf course. (The RBC Canadian Open) wasn’t so demanding, but when you get yourself in contention and you play a weekend like that, then that takes quite a lot out of you,” McIlroy said. “And then you follow that up with a U.S. Open. So I think it’s a combination of everything. Mentally I’m totally fine, but I’m, you know, it will be nice to sort of rest up this afternoon and get another good night’s sleep and get ready to play tomorrow. But four weeks in a row is pretty rare for me these days. I haven’t played four in a row in a while and you start to remember why.”
Asked if he was surprised to learn Koepka has chosen to join the LIV Series, McIlroy, one of the PGA Tour’s strongest supporters, didn’t hold back.
“Yes, because of what he said previously. I think that’s why I’m surprised at a lot of these guys because they say one thing and then they do another,” McIlroy said. “I don’t understand that, and I don’t know if that’s for legal reasons or if they can’t, I have no idea. But it’s pretty duplicitous on their part to say one thing and then do another thing.”
McIlroy spoke to the media before Monahan’s press conference. Still, many of the details that the commissioner talked about had already been reported, and McIlroy sounded like he is a proponent of the changes that will come after the end of next season.
“I think having the FedEx Cup season go to a calendar year, like January to August, I think that would be a pretty good idea,” McIlroy said. “It gives guys the opportunity to play if they want to play in the fall or if they don’t want to play in the fall they don’t have to, they’re not forced to, it’s not going to make a difference in any way.”
McIlroy also acknowledged that keeping everyone happy, the stars and the rank-and-file players, is going to be hard. Different people have different needs and priorities.
But for McIlroy, the priority is getting rested and holding his game together for one more week.
