Aberg is the latest player to reject LIV Golf after Jon Rahm’s departure for the league.
A few days after Viktor Hovland dispelled LIV Golf rumors while also taking PGA Tour management to task, the Norwegian’s Ryder Cup teammate has shot down interest in the upstart circuit.
Ludvig Aberg, who has received offers from LIV Golf in the past, says he denied another offer from the Saudi Arabian-backed league following his breakout rookie season on the PGA Tour.
“When I look back, I am super confident in my decision,” Aberg told SVT Sport via a Google translation. “I will never try to chase money, what I do is to compete. I did the right thing.”
“I want to play against the best, because I am a competitive person and like to compete against the best players,” Aberg said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that at the moment, it’s a bit more fragmented.”
“When I look at the PGA Tour and the competitions there, there is so much history around all the competitions,” he added. “And that’s what I like, that’s what I go for. But then you have to respect everyone’s decisions.”
The 24-year-old rising Swedish star was the first player to earn his PGA Tour card via PGA Tour University and ran with his opportunity. Aberg missed just one cut in 11 starts, finished inside the top 25 eight times including a runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship and his first win at the season-ending RSM Classic. A month before his win at Sea Island, Aberg earned his first professional victory at the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters. As a Ryder Cup rookie, Aberg compiled a 2-2 record, including an impressive 2-1 showing alongside Hovland.
LIV is still trying to fill its teams for the 2024 season, which begins in less than two months in Mexico. Aberg and Hovland joined Tony Finau as the high-profile PGA Tour players who have rejected the league in the wake of Jon Rahm’s departure.
Don’t be surprised if a handful of rising stars command the spotlight in 2024.
Four of the five major champions on the women’s side in 2023 were first-time winners. As for the men? Two of four.
As the golf world moves on from 2023 and looks ahead to 2024, we got to thinking, who is most likely to add a major championship to their resume for the first time in the new year? Several writers on Golfweek‘s staff have made their picks, some surprising, some not so much.
Men’s 2024 major venues: Augusta National Golf Club (Masters), Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), Pinehurst No. 2 (U.S. Open) and Royal Troon (Open Championship).
Women’s 2024 major venues: The Club at Carlton Woods (Chevron Championship), Lancaster Country Club (U.S. Women’s Open), Sahalee Country Club (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Evian Resort Golf Club (Amundi Evian Championship), The Old Course at St. Andrews (AIG Women’s Open).
“I totally understand why he left. That’s a lot, a lot of money.”
Viktor Hovland didn’t hold back when discussing the management of the PGA Tour and responding to whether he could be the next big name headed to LIV Golf.
During a golf podcast with “Fore” in Norway, Hovland, the reigning FedEx Cup champion, said that “I doubt that” you will see him go to LIV as Jon Rahm recently did for an obscene amount of guaranteed money, but he added, “I totally understand why he left.”
“It would be a bit too silly to criticize the players for leaving. After all, you only hear one angle in the media, and there are quite a few different parts happening at the same time here,” Hovland said, speaking in his native Norwegian. The quotes were translated by Eurosport Norway. “I totally understand why he left. That’s a lot, a lot of money.”
Hovland prefaced his comments on the Tour’s management by stating, “Just to be clear: I’m not complaining about the position I’m in, and I’m very grateful for everything.”
Then came the “but … ”
“The management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labor, and not as part of the members. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing,” he continued. “When you then get to see what happens behind closed doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players’ best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best … They are not professional golfers after all. They are businessmen who say that ‘no, it should look like this and that.’ There is a great deal of arrogance behind it all.”
Viktor Hovland smiles as he walks up the 15th fairway with Rory McIlroy during the final round of the BMW Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
Hovland’s name has been linked to LIV for some time. At 26 years old and with the bulk of his career in front of him, the world No. 4 and arguably the hottest player of the last several months is an obvious target for Greg Norman. He would join former Oklahoma State teammate Matt Wolff and a vast pipeline of former Cowboys that includes Charles Howell III and Talor Gooch. But Hovland also said the LIV format isn’t for him, which should be taken with a grain of salt given that Rahm essentially had said the same thing before reversing course.
“I don’t think their product is that great. I’m not such a fan of, for example, playing without a cut,” Hovland said. It should be noted that potentially three of his first six starts on the PGA Tour will be of the no-cut variety. “You need the competition with 150 players and a cut. If you don’t play well enough, you’re out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer. And then it is, in a way, end of discussion.”
Espen Blaker, who was conducting the interview, asked, “So, we won’t get to see Viktor Hovland on the LIV tour right away?”
Hovland all but ruled it out: “No, I doubt that,” he said.
Hovland has committed to several early-season PGA Tour events, including, the Sentry in two weeks, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the WM Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational.
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which funds LIV, are in intense negotiations to complete a deal before the Dec. 31 deadline of its framework agreement.
Hovland has contended in several majors the past two seasons, including playing in the final pairing at the 2022 British Open, 2023 Masters and 2023 PGA Championship, where he finished second. Since that close call, He won the Memorial in June, the BMW Championship as well as the season-ending Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup.
A call to Hovland’s agent, Sam MacNaughton, was not returned before publication.
The winners will be announced in January at The Sentry, the first event of the 2024 season.
Scottie Scheffler was named last year’s PGA Tour Player of the Year in September of 2022. This time around, the award is being doled out in January because of the FedEx Cup Fall Series, which extended eligibility for that award as well as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
Scheffler is among the five finalists for the Jack Nicklaus Award, going to the top player on the circuit.
He’s looking to become the first back-to-back winner of the award since Tiger Woods won it three times in a row from 2005 to 2007. Fred Couples and Nick Price are the only others to win it two times in a row since the award was first given out in 1990.
The Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season was finalized by the PGA Tour Player directors and members of the Player Advisory Council (PAC).
Voting for the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards will take place among PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official FedExCup events during the season. The voting will close on Friday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. ET.
The winners will be announced in January at The Sentry, the first event of the 2024 season, which marks the return of the calendar-based schedule.
Here are the five nominees, listed in alphabetical order below, for the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
The final PGA Tour money list for 2023 is a direct result of LIV forcing the Tour to increase purses.
Whatever the future of LIV Golf, whether an agreement is reached to partner with the PGA Tour or the Saudi-backed league remains separate and continues to play nemesis and antagonist to the tour, the mark has been made.
The final numbers on the PGA Tour money list for 2023 are a direct result of LIV forcing the Tour to increase purses and find more avenues for its players to boost income. Those increases across the board have the tour’s top earners surpassing their LIV counterparts when it comes to prize money.
Of course, the biggest payday for most of those who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV was the initial contract, or signing bonus. This includes a handful of players such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith whose contracts exceeded $100 million.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour handed out more than $560 million in prize money in 2023, including $100 million for the Player Impact Program and $75 million for the Tour Championship. The PIP money goes to the top 20 players who boosted engagement and publicity for the tour.
LIV’s total purse increased to $405 million in Year 2 of its existence. LIV’s purse includes $115 million in team prize money and $30 million split between the top three in the seasonlong individual race.
The LIV schedule includes 14 events compared to 38 on the PGA Tour. Still, the top earners on Tour play around 20 events, some as few as 18, others 23. LIV golfers who qualify for the four majors play at least 18 events. And every golfer enters a handful of tournaments on other tours.
LIV certainly got the attention of the PGA Tour with its massive contracts and increased purses, forcing the tour to dramatically up its prize money game. The Tour’s total prize money has risen substantially since 2021 when it was just under $400 million.
While the threat of more players defecting to LIV certainly played a factor, that money had to come from somewhere. Besides leaning on sponsors to help with the eight signature events with $20 million purses, the Tour received an infusion of money with nine-year media deals with CBS, NBC and ESPN that started in 2022.
The 2023 money list was finalized after distributing the PIP money. The top 10 made about $220 million combined compared with LIV’s top 10, who earned approximately $147 million in prize money.
LIV’s totals include each individual’s slice from the season-ending $50 million team event at Doral, but not the $5 million awarded to the top three teams in each of the other 13 events. The captains of each team determine how much of that money goes to the four players and how much goes into the team pot for operating fees.
PGA Tour (led by Hovland) vs. LIV Golf (led by Gooch)
Viktor Hovland celebrates with the FedEx Cup after winning the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Viktor Hovland topped the PGA Tour money list this year, bringing in $37.1 million, about $1 million more than LIV’s biggest earner, Talor Gooch.
Hovland’s breakdown was $14.1 from tournament winnings, $18 million for winning the FedEx Cup and $5 million for the PIP.
Gooch won $17.3 million over 14 events, plus $18 million for capturing the individual title and $800,000 for his share from the team competition at Doral. Gooch was a member of RangeGoats, which finished second.
Hovland was followed by Rory McIlroy, who earned $32.9 million, $15 million coming from winning the PIP’s top prize; Scottie Scheffler, who made a tour-record $21 million before bonuses brought his total to $29 million; Jon Rahm at $26.2 million, including $16.2 million on tour and $9 million from the PIP; and Xander Schauffele at $17.9 million.
The top five earners on LIV this year were Gooch, Smith ($23.2 million), Koepka ($17.7 million), DeChambeau ($14.7 million) and Harold Varner III ($9.9 million).
Smith pocketed $8 million as runner-up in the individual race behind Gooch. Koepka placed third, taking home the $4 million bonus.
Hovland, Scheffler and Schauffele each made 23 starts on the PGA Tour, Rahm played in 20 tour events and McIlroy 18.
Smith, Koepka and DeChambeau played 14 LIV events and four majors each. Gooch qualified for three majors and Varner was in two.
Koepka was LIV’s top earner among those who played in the majors, making $5.1 million, including $3.15 million for winning the PGA Championship.
“If he wins, I am going to find someone else to stay with,” Collin Morikawa said.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Viktor Hovland is attempting to do something at this week’s Hero World Challenge that he said he’s never done before at any level in golf – win the same tournament three consecutive times.
Not even Tiger Woods has achieved that feat at the Hero, where he is the tournament host. Woods is a five-time champ and won the event in 2006 and 2007 but in 2008 he was unable to go for the three-peat. Hovland is well aware of all this and said he’s up to the challenge.
“It wouldn’t suck or else I wouldn’t be here,” said Hovland, who took a few minutes between his practice session on Wednesday to talk to Golfweek.
A year ago, Hovland arrived at Albany Golf Club as the defending champion but he wasn’t happy with the state of his game. Winning surprised Hovland but it was a good lesson that he didn’t need to play perfect golf to hold the trophy on Sunday.
“I played great obviously, but I didn’t feel great going into it and I still managed to win,” he said.
But he also refused to be complacent and earlier this year, he changed swing instructors to Joe Mayo, who helped him revamp his short game, which had been holding him back at tougher courses. Hovland won three times in all on the PGA Tour and climbed to fourth in the Official World Ranking. But to a lot of people, himself included as he stated on Smylie Kaufman’s podcast, he’s been playing the best golf of anyone.
The Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings has him second behind only Scottie Scheffler while Data Golf ranks him first and as the 16th best-player all-time in terms of his peak performance (between the British Open and the DP World Tour Championship).
Hovland no doubt is the hottest player in the world, having won his two most recent starts on the PGA Tour at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship and then played a starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory.
His performance has earned the respect of his peers.
“What he’s done kind of this entire year, especially starting at Memorial, it doesn’t surprise me at all because I’ve seen it,” said Collin Morikawa. “I’ve seen it for years. I’ve seen it in college, I’ve seen it even when we first turned pro.”
Veteran pro Jason Day is convinced he could pull off three in a row this week against a 20-man field, which includes the return of Tiger Woods.
“He’s got confidence,” Day said. “Viktor’s played such a good stretch of golf. I don’t know how he spent his break. It really depends whether he’s been hanging with friends or grinding on his game but he’s certainly capable of more great golf.”
Hovland said he took 3 ½ weeks off after the Ryder Cup and visited Norway, and then went and finished T-2 at the DP World Tour Championship. Asked to explain why he’s had so much success at Albany Golf Club, a course designed by Ernie Els, Hovland said, “You’ve got to hit it straight and it blows a lot and I like playing in the wind.”
Hovland is sharing a house this week again with Morikawa, a two-time major winner, but he won’t have the same room this year as the FedEx Cup champ got upgraded to the master bedroom.
“I had the master bedroom the past two years and that hasn’t worked out for me, but it has for him,” Morikawa said. “So I decided, and I texted him yesterday to make sure he was taking the master bedroom. We showed up at like 3 a.m. (Tuesday), so it was nice to find my little guest room in the corner. He’s got everything he needs.”
And should Hovland repeat it definitely won’t suck, as he put it, but it will mean he’ll need a new roommate when he returns next year.
“If he wins, I am going to find someone else to stay with,” Morikawa said. “Something has to change, something has to give.”
For the fifth time in his career and second year in a row, Rory McIlroy claimed the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title. However, he wasn’t victorious this week as that honor went to his Ryder Cup teammate, Nicolai Hojgaard.
Hojgaard, who finished second at last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, closed with an 8-under 64 at Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth Course that included a stretch of five straight birdies on the back nine – Nos. 13-17 – to beat Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace and Viktor Hovland by two shots. This was the 22-year-old’s third DP World Tour title and first Rolex Series win.
“It means a lot. It’s the sweetest one,” he said. “It’s so much hard work been put in the last couple years, and this year has been a really good year if I look back on it, I feel like the only thing I need, was missing, was a win, and to get it this week, this field, is unbelievable.
“I mean, I can’t believe it’s just happened.”
McIlroy, who tied for 22nd at 10 under, sounded satisfied after winning yet another season-long title.
“It’s great. I think it shows my consistency year-to-year. I think over the last ten years, I think I’ve won eight season-long titles between America and between here, so it just shows my level of consistency,” he said. “I said to Harry on the last green, there’s a few guys that are able to beat me sort of one week or the next week but I don’t think there’s a lot of people that can beat me throughout the entire season.”
It was a special round for Matt Wallace on Saturday at the DP World Tour Championship.
The 32-year-old from England shot 12-under 60 in the third round at the DP World Tour Championship, moving into the lead by one shot with 18 holes to play at Jumeirah Golf Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Wallace, who has four DP World Tour wins in his career, leads Viktor Hovland, the 2023 FedEx Cup champion, and Tommy Fleetwood by one shot.
Wallace’s round was special, marked by nine straight birdies on the back nine to shoot 27 and card a 60, the lowest round on the DP World Tour this season.
Matt Wallace of England walks to the 18th green during Day Three of the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 18, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
“What a day, an amazing day,” Wallace said. “Just tried my hardest to get myself back into the tournament. I’m really happy that I’ve been able to do that. Played great.
“Again at the end, I didn’t even think there was a 59. Honestly I think it helped me a little bit. I just played nicely coming down the stretch, just keep getting one more if I could and I managed to do that.”
Wallace’s eagle chip on the 18th hole came up just short of the hole, however, a closing birdie to cap the stellar back nine was a feather in the cap of the best round of Wallace’s life. With a win Sunday, he would win his first Rolex Series title, even though Rory McIlroy has captured the Race to Dubai, the DP World Tour’s season-long points race, for the fifth time.
Hovland and Fleetwood matched 66s on Saturday, continuing their trend from the first two days after matching 69s and 66s the first two days.
Even the FedEx Cup champion was impressed with Wallace’s day.
“That’s ridiculous,” Hovland said. “You know, it played easier today, not a lot of wind. Greens were soft. But the greens are very grainy. It’s hard to make putts. On some of the pin locations, like 17, for example, I don’t know, that’s a tough one to get close to. So there is a lot of good pins. And yeah, I mean, 60 out here, that’s ridiculous.”
Asked by Golf Oklahoma’s Ken MacLeod where this one ranks, Hovland joked, “Way up there.”
Musician Jerry Reed wrote the song “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” back in 1971, a good 26 years before Viktor Hovland was born, but he might as well have had the Norwegian golfer in mind.
Hovland’s heater continued this week as he and fellow former Oklahoma State golfer Ian Davis combined to win the 2023 Oak Tree National Pro Scratch Invitational in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Hovland and Davis needed to go two extra holes on Friday at Oak Tree National to win the 36-hole two-man team event over Hovland’s former Cowboy teammate and roommate Zach Bauchou and amateur Conrad Walcher.
Hovland, 26, extended his win streak to four straight – the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in August, the Ryder Cup as a member of Team Europe, which concluded earlier this month, and thanks to Davis holing a 15-foot curling birdie putt at the ninth hole in Friday’s playoff, he just keeps winning. Hovland, who has banked $33.5 million including the FedEx Cup this season, earned a whopping $12,500 for the first prize in his home state.
Hovland and Davis shot 2-under 69 on Thursday to trail by three but carded four birdies on the front nine in strong winds and chilly conditions on Friday (Hovland bundled up in a Ryder Cup beanie) and tacked on two birdies on the back nine to shoot 65, the low round of the tournament.
Robert Streb and amateur Danny Mitchell finished third while first-round leaders Taylor Moore and Trevor Stafford took fourth at 6-under (66-70) at Oak Tree National, which is scheduled to host the U.S. Senior Open.
Hovland announced he’ll be playing in the DP Tour World Championship in Dubai (Nov. 16-19) with $3 million awarded to the winner and his final start is expected to be at the Hero World Challenge, which begins Nov. 30. The two-time defending champion of the event held in the Bahamas? None other than Hovland.
The tournament is not open to the public and really ought to be seeking a TV or streaming partner.
The PGA Tour has a rare off-week on the schedule next week, which means the best golf on the planet might be happening Oct. 26-27 in Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, at the Oak Tree National Pro-Scratch Invitational, where the purse is all of $30,000.
But where else can you see world No. 4 Viktor Hovland, who banked $18 million as FedEx Cup champion, play in a two-day competition for a first prize of $12,500?
The former Oklahoma State golfer, who still calls Stillwater home, will make his first appearance since the Ryder Cup at the Pete Dye layout and team with former Oklahoma State golfer Ian Davis, the 2022 Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Champion.
Hovland, who won the Memorial, BMW Championship and Tour Championship this season, is an Oak Tree National member, and according to Golf Oklahoma, his trophies from those three victories are currently on display in the OTN clubhouse. He and his partner better bring their ‘A game’ because they will be facing a stacked field that includes fellow PGA Tour members Taylor Moore, Austin Eckroat, Max McGreevy, Robert Streb and Sam Stevens, as well as 2024 PGA Tour rookies Kevin Dougherty, Chris Gotterup and Scott Gutschewski.
There will be LIV Golf players, too, including former Cowboys Charles Howell III, Peter Uihlein and Matthew Wolff. There will be one noticeable absence: member Talor Gooch, who last week won LIV Season long points race cashing an $18 million bonus check and has won this event three times previously, is unable to play due to a prior commitment.
Quade Cummins, Logan McAllister, Josh Creel, Rhein Gibson, Tom Whitney and Michael Gellerman are representing the Korn Ferry Tour. Several other pros with Oklahoma ties and who are working their way up the pro ranks are expected to play as well: Zach Bauchou, Jonathan Brightwell, Blaine Hale, Matt Mabry, Tyson Reeder, Charlie Saxon and Jared Strathe.
Ryan Munson, who is serving as unofficial tournament chairman and helped assemble the field, told Golf Oklahoma it was “by far the best field” in the history of the event dating to 2010.
The tournament is not open to the public and really ought to be seeking a TV or streaming partner. Paging the Golf Channel!
