How to watch Saudi LIV Golf tour in London: Players, prizes, more
Following months of rumor and controversy, the PGA Tour has ultimately met its bona fide challenger.
The LIV Golf Series — an audacious Saudi-backed start-up tour — is hoping to take the world of golf by storm. With two-time main champion Greg Norman on the helm, LIV Golf has pried away an array of distinguished figures from the PGA Tour, with the promise of profitable payouts in return. Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson are among the many notable golfers to flee to the brand new circuit.
And because the exodus from the PGA Tour escalates, the image {of professional} golf is rising murkier by the minute.
Here is all you want to know in regards to the LIV Golf tour forward of its inaugural occasion on Thursday, June 9:
What is the Saudi-backed golf league, LIV Golf?
LIV Golf is a start-up tour hoping to set up itself as a breakaway circuit and competitor to the PGA Tour. It is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), therefore incomes the “Saudi Golf League” moniker.
Amongst the appeals of LIV Golf, golfers are paid on a per-event foundation and don’t have to commit to an entire occasion schedule. Other differentiators from the PGA Tour embrace fewer tournaments, no cuts and play consisting of three rounds for a complete of 54 holes.
Event fields are additionally confined to 48 golfers, who’re then divided into twelve four-man groups for a mix of particular person and crew competitors. Play will start in a shotgun format, with gamers teeing off on the similar time at completely different holes.
Saudi LIV Golf controversy defined
The PIF has pledged $400 million alone to fund the league’s inaugural 2022 season, $255 of which can be allotted for prize money.
These profitable figures, although, have raised crimson flags when positioned in dialog with Saudi Arabia’s latest historical past.
The Saudi Arabia authorities has regularly been accused of human-rights violations, in addition to struggle crimes. Most notably, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was discovered to have accredited the 2018 homicide of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
LIV Golf, then, has been criticized by some as “sportswashing,” an try by the federal government to divert consideration from its wrongdoings and cast itself as a “normal” nation by means of the projection of sports activities. Norman, for one, has downplayed the importance of Khashoggi’s homicide when defending his involvement with the tour.
When is the Saudi Golf LIV Invitational?
The circuit’s inaugural season kicks off Thursday, June 9 for a three-day occasion in London on the Centurion Club. Across its four-month season, LIV Golf will host eight occasions — seven particular person occasions and one crew championship, the place gamers will coalesce to vie for the LIV Golf crew trophy.
A full schedule of occasions is included under:
London, England: June Sept. 11
Portland, Oregon: June 30 – July 2
Bedminster, New Jersey: July 29-31
Boston, Massachusetts: Sept. 2-4
Chicago, Illinois: Sept. 16-18
Bangkok, Thailand: Oct. 7-9
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Oct. 14-16
Miami, Florida: Oct. 27-30
How to watch the LIV Golf Invitational
The London occasion begins Thursday, June 9 at 9 a.m. EST. Play might be streamed at LIVGolf.com, YouTube and Facebook; the circuit has not but reached a broadcast tv deal in the United States.
Who is competing in the Saudi Golf League, and who’s not?
LIV Golf has lured a powerful assortment of golfers from the PGA circuit, headlined by Johnson, the highest-ranked participant to be a part of the tour at No. 15, and Mickelson.
Other top-50 gamers embrace Louis Oosthuizen (No. 21), Bryson DeChambeau (No. 26), Kevin Na (No. 34), Talor Gooch (No. 35) and Patrick Reed (No. 36).
For now, Johnson stays the most-touted defector, with a big portion of the game’s upper-echelon remaining in the PGA Tour.
World No. 8 Rory McIlroy hasn’t modified his thoughts on the LIV tour since its inception. The Irishman reiterated his ideas this week.
“I think my stance on it has been pretty clear from the start,” he mentioned forward of the RBC Canadian Open. “It’s not something that I want to participate in. I certainly understand the guys that have went. I understand what their goals and their ambitions are in their life. I’m certainly not knocking anyone for going. It’s their life, it’s their decision, they can live it the way they want to.”
Saudi Golf League Prize Money
Not solely has LIV Golf shelled out ludicrous quantities of money to lure golfers to the tour — Mickelson, as an example, was given $200 million — however the circuit is upping the ante on prize money, too.
Each occasion has a $20 million prize pool, together with a smaller $5 million purse reserved for crew competitors. Individual payouts vary from an estimated $4 million for the primary place finisher to $120,000 for the final place finisher. October’s final Team Championship, in the meantime, carries a $50 million prize pool.
