The third tournament of the LIV Golf Invitational Series begins at the end of July with 48 golfers teeing it up at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The break-away league is led by two-time major champion Greg Norman and funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Following the format of the first two events, the tournament will consist of 12 teams of four players with an individual winner as well as a team winner. Play begins on Friday, July 29th with a winner crowned on Sunday, July 31st. Captains of each team will draft their teams prior to Friday’s start.
The individual stroke play event will take place over three days with 54 holes being played. There is no cut and shotgun start. The top two scores from each team will count toward the team total over the first two days and three scores will count toward the tally on the final day of play.
The field has yet to be announced, but you can expect many of the same faces that played at Pumpkin Ridge near Portland, Oregon. In addition to the regulars, Paul Casey is expected to make his LIV debut.
A $25 million dollar purse will again be up for grabs with $20 million divided amongst the 48 individual players and $5 million split between the four-man winning team.
The tournament runs parallel with the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detriot, Michigan. Across the pond, the DP World Tour hosts the Hero Open at Fairmont in St. Andrews that week.
Trump National Golf Club Bedminster
The private golf club just outside of New York City opened 18 years ago in 2004. There are 36 holes on the property, which is owned by former United States President Donald Trump, and it was designed by famed golf course architect Tom Fazio and his son.
The course was originally scheduled to play host to the 2022 PGA Championship, but that was altered to Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma after the committee viewed hosting at Trump National as “detrimental to the PGA of America brand”.
Tournament play will take place on the Old Course, a par-72 track that stretches over 7,500 yards. The course is rated one of the Top 100 Courses in the World and played host to the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open.
The Old Course features numerous bunker complexes and countered green landscapes that offer a stiff test for the players.
Series Money Leaders
A pair of South African golfers have already cashed in enormously over the first two events. Charl Schwartzel won the inaugural event at the Centurion Club near London and Branden Grace earned the victory state-side in Portland.
Grace has amassed $6,400,000 in winnings over the first two events with Schwartzel right behind him netting a cool $5,265,000. Hennie du Plessis, another South African, is third with a two-tournament total of $3,403,000.
Rounding out the top five money leaders is American Dustin Johnson in fourth with $2,650,000 and the fourth South African on the list Louis Oosthuizen with $2,616,667.
