The information is not trivial: according to Sports Illustrated, PGA Tour players will be authorized to compete in the new LIV Golf qualifying events. DP World Tour players are still waiting for a decision… PGA Tour players will therefore be free to choose.
They will be able to align themselves with the LIV Golf qualifications, with if successful a drastic choice to make: leave the PGA Tour for good to join the very lucrative circuit launched in 2022 by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia or stay on the American circuit and forget the LIV and its huge winnings.
Liv Golf, news
The new LIV selection event should allow three players to join the circuit led by Greg Norman. It will take place in 3 stages from December 8 to 10 on the Abu Dhabi Golf Club course. A PGA Tour spokesperson revealed that these selections are not tournaments “banned” by the American circuit.
Thus, all PGA Tour card holders will be able to try their luck. French players included… The DP World Tour is still considering this authorization for its members. It will be interesting to see which players on the American Tour choose to take a chance.
For the “non-ranked” of the PGA Tour, this open door is all the more attractive as the new system of “premium” tournaments will offer significant prizes to the very best, but those who are above 70th place of the “Money List” risk seeing their earnings reduced.
LIV Golf, also known as Super Golf League is a professional golf circuit. It was founded in 2022, with the sponsorship of the Public Investment Fund (it is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia)1. The circuit rivals the PGA Tour (United States) and the DP World Tour (Europe), offering substantially higher prize money.23 The name LIV refers to the total number of holes to be played in each event (54 in Roman numerals, corresponding to 3 rounds of 18 holes), as opposed to the usual 72 holes (4 rounds of 18 holes) in other tours.
Alternatively, 54 is the score obtained by making a birdie on each hole on a par 72.2 course. In March 2022, LIV Golf CEO, former professional golfer and former world number one Greg Norman, announced the schedule for the first season of the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
This consists of eight tournaments, to be played over a total of 54 holes without a cut. Each tournament will have a field of 48 players, which will be grouped into 12 teams of four players, with simultaneous starts. The total amount of prizes to be distributed amounts to 255 million dollars.45
• DP World Tour from Johannesburg to Sydney• Jordan Spieth on Tiger Woods' focus: PGA Tour players always on his mind• Tiger Woods surprised by PGA Tour/PIF merger process• Richard Bland weighs in on Jon Rahm's possible move to LIV Golf• Richard Bland confirms Graeme McDowell's move to a new team in LIV Golf• Liv Golf and Jon Rahm at an advanced stage