When LIV Golf opens its 2023 season, the Saudi-funded second-year circuit will visit several former PGA and DP World tour sites in the quest for supremacy in professional golf.
LIV Golf announced three new events, all at courses with some history on the more established professional tours. LIV will supplant the PGA Tour at Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleón Golf Course on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, which played host to the PGA Tour only a month ago, with a Feb. 24-26 stop in what likely will be LIV Golf’s season opener. The Mayakoba event will come on the same weekend as the PGA Tour’s hard-luck Honda Classic, which finds itself wedged between four “elevated†events on the schedule.
LIV also will visit Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club, a former European Tour site, on April 28-30, and Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, which hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup and other tour events, on June 30-July 2. With the previously announced tournament at Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia, on April 21-23, that brings to at least four the number of continents on which the upstart tour will play next year. LIV Golf is expected to announce the rest of its 14-event schedule soon. A report by Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard about a tentative schedule offered more details, including three stops at courses owned by former President Donald Trump, who has emerged as a key proponent of LIV Golf.
Mayakoba, which for the past 16 years has hosted the PGA Tour, was designed in 2006 by Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s CEO and commissioner. LIV Golf players Graeme McDowell and Pat Perez won PGA Tour titles at Mayakoba, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The PGA Tour has not announced a new site for its $8.2 million Mexico tournament, which Russell Henley won last month, though technology-services provider World Wide Technology has extended its sponsorship through 2027.
LIV Golf debuted this year with seven $25 million, 54-hole, no-cut events before a $50 million season-finale team tournament at Trump National Doral. Next year, the tour intends to build a franchise model similar to those of other pro sports. READ MORE
The PGA Tour claims that any attempt to remove Greg Norman as CEO of LIV Golf would have no effect because of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, are calling the shots for the rival tour. According to a filing Friday in U.S. District Court in Northern California, where LIV Golf sued the tour on antitrust grounds, Norman no longer is running LIV Golf’s daily operations, Sports Illustrated and Golf Channel reported. The tour wants Al-Rumayyan to comply with document requests and deposition subpoenas. LIV Golf’s operation to disrupt the PGA Tour reportedly was code-named “Project Wedge.†READ MORE and MORE
Leaders of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have asked for “sovereign immunity†to shield the deep-pocketed backer of LIV Golf from its financial dealings in its federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, Bloomberg News reported. The PGA Tour accused LIV Golf of unfair competition in enticing top players to break their contracts and defect to the rival tour. READ MORE
The PGA Tour has turned to Washington lobbyist Jeff Miller, a close friend and confidante of U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and apparent frontrunner to become the next speaker of the House, in its bid to sway legislative opinion regarding rival LIV Golf, Axios reported. READ MORE
A federal judge in Florida granted the DP World Tour’s request for an oral argument on Jan. 5 to “quash†a subpoena from LIV Golf that is part of the rival tour’s discovery efforts in its antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, Sports Illustrated’s Alex Miceli reported. READ MORE
Former touring pros Brad Faxon and Smylie Kaufman will join NBC Sports and its affiliate Golf Channel on PGA Tour broadcasts beginning in 2023, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported, citing multiple sources.
Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie, former winners on the PGA Tour who had worked for NBC for more than three decades apiece, were let go last month in what the network said was an effort to “refresh†its telecasts.
Faxon and Kaufman, like their predecessors behind the mic at NBC, are former winners on the PGA Tour.
Faxon, 61, regarded as a putting savant, won eight times on the PGA Tour and twice on the PGA Tour Champions. He worked for five years as Fox Sports’ lead analyst and more recently for Sky Sports. With NBC, Faxon is expected to work in one of the broadcasting towers.
Kaufman, 31, won once in three full seasons on tour but has made only one cut in 14 starts in the past four years after losing exempt status. He is expected to work as an on-course analyst after having been in front of the camera at a handful of events earlier this year. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Canadian Mike Weir will captain the International team when the 2024 Presidents Cup returns to Montreal, the PGA Tour announced. Weir, 52, of Sarnia, Ontario, won eight times on the tour, including the 2003 Masters. He appeared in five consecutive Presidents Cups (2000, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009), compiling a 13-9-2 record against superior American teams highlighted by a 1-up singles victory against Tiger Woods in 2007 at Royal Montreal Golf Club. Weir served as an assistant captain in the past three editions. The biennial match is scheduled for Sept. 26-29 at Royal Montreal’s Blue Course. The U.S. leads the series, 12-1-1. READ MORE
Luke Donald, the captain of Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup team, announced 18 of the 20 players for the inaugural Hero Cup next month. Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari will captain 10-man teams from Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe, respectively, that will play a series of matches on Jan. 13-15 in Abu Dhabi as Europe prepares to host the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome. Two more spots for the Hero Cup will be announced after the DP World Tour finishes 2022. READ MORE
Nicolas Colsaerts was named an assistant captain for Europe in the 2023 Ryder Cup, captain Luke Donald announced. Colsaerts, 40, a three-time DP World Tour winner from Belgium, competed on Europe’s victorious 2012 Ryder Cup team. He will join Denmark’s Thomas Bjørn and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari as assistants for the Sept. 29-Oct. 1 match at Marco Simone in Rome. READ MORE
The DP World Tour’s season rankings have been renamed the Race to Dubai Rankings in partnership with Rolex. READ MORE
Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai will continue to host the DP World Tour Championship through 2031 in a 10-year deal announced by the tour. The DP World Tour’s season-ending event, which Jon Rahm won last month, has been played on Jumeirah Golf Estate’s Earth Course since 2009. READ MORE
Thriston Lawrence was named winner of the Sir Henry Cotton Award as rookie of the year on the DP World Tour. Lawrence, 26, of South Africa, won twice in earning the all-rookie honor before adding the Investec South African Open title on Sunday. READ MORE
South Africa’s Sunshine Tour strengthened its agreement with the DP World Tour, introducing two tournaments in March that will be co-sanctioned by the tours plus four events on the developmental Challenge Tour. The SDC Championship, on March 16-19 at St. Francis Links in St. Francis Bay, and the Jonsson Workwear Open, on March 23-26 at Steyn City in Johannesburg, will bring to six the number of co-sponsored events on the Sunshine and DP World tours. READ MORE
Major champions Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas became the first players to commit to joining co-founders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in the inaugural season for TGL, the nascent team series backed by TMRW Sports. The “tech-infused golf league,†to operate on Monday nights in partnership with the PGA Tour, plans to debut in January 2024 with six three-man teams of tour players. READ MORE
The Asian Tour announced that it will play the International Series Oman on Feb. 9-12 at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat. The $2 million tournament will be one of 10 International Series events in a partnership with LIV Golf on the Asian Tour schedule, which has yet to be released. READ MORE
Dick Copas, who led Georgia’s men’s team to 17 NCAA tournament appearances and seven Southeastern Conference titles in 25 seasons as coach through 1996, died Nov. 17 after a lengthy illness, the university announced. He was 88. READ MORE
Whittier College, an NCAA Division III school near downtown Los Angeles, scrapped men’s and women’s golf among four sports that were discontinued at the end of their seasons in a cost-cutting move, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Poets’ football program, which boasts President Richard Nixon as an alumnus and launched the coaching careers of NFL legends George Allen and Don Coryell, joined men’s lacrosse among the cuts. READ MORE
In the past two weeks, six players have earned exemptions into the 2023 Open Championship via the Open Qualifying Series. Dan Bradbury, Sami Valimaki and Christiaan Bezuidenhout advanced from the Joburg Open, and Min Woo Lee, Haydn Barron and Alejandro Cañizares earned spots at the ISPS Handa Australian Open. The 151st Open will be played July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. READ MORE
Sandy Jones, a Scot who spent 25 years as chief executive of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, died after a short illness. He was 75. READ MORE
Royal Bank of Canada, whose sponsorship of Canada’s national open and a number of prominent touring pros was undercut this year by defections to LIV Golf, moved to restock its roster of spokesmen. RBC announced the signing of Americans Sam Burns, Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young, all in their mid-20s and enjoying fast starts on the PGA Tour, to endorsement deals. READ MORE
Amy Alcott will captain the U.S. team in the 2023 Ping Junior Solheim Cup, the American Junior Golf Association announced. The matches, which pit 12 American girls ages 12-18 against their European counterparts, are scheduled for Sept. 18-19 at La Zagaleta Golf Club’s Old Course in BenahavÃs, Spain. READ MORE
Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, will host the 2023 Palmer Cup on June 8-10, organizers announced. The annual team matches pit U.S. male and female collegians against their international counterparts. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon
