The LIV Golf Invitational Series kicks off on Saturday, June 11th, for the first of eight tentative events to be played through October. The opening tournament takes place at the Centurion Club in London, England.
We bring you five things to know about the LIV Golf Invitational Series as the tournament debuts in less than a week.
5. Who’s participating in the opening event?
Headlines were made last week when the 42 of 48 players in the inaugural field were announced. There were some surprises on the list, headlined by Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch, and some surprising omissions like Phil Mickelson.
In all, 16 players in the field are currently inside the top-100 in the world rankings. Joining DJ in the field are a handful of international players like Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, and Ian Poulter. Kevin Na joins Johnson and Gooch as the top-3 Americans in the Official World Golf Rankings.
4. Where are the other tournaments located?
Following the opening tournament in London, the following four tournaments will take place in the United States. In all, five of the eight events are in the USA with other locations, including Bangkok, Thailand, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The US locations featured on the schedule are Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, The International Golf Club in Boston, Massachusetts, Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago, Illinois, and Trump National Doral Miami in Miami, Florida.
Stonehill in Bangkok, Thailand, and Royal Greens Golf & County Club in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, are the two other international locations scheduled for the first two weeks of October.
3. Where is the money coming from?
The funding for the series is where a lot of the controversy surrounding the league is coming from. The financing is coming from the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.
PIF’s chair is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s king, who was accused of the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The series is being viewed as sports washing, a method to use sports to improve their reputation.
2. What is the format of the events, and how many are in the field?
Each tournament will be played over three days and 54 holes. The tournaments will have no cut and feature 12 teams of four golfers.
For each tournament, there will be a set of 12 captains who will pick their team prior to each event. The top two scores from each team count toward the team competition, and three of the four will count on the final day of play.
1. What is the prize money given out for each event?
The prize money for the series won’t leave any players in the field going hungry. CEO of the series, Greg Norman, announced earlier this year that $255 million of prize money will be handed out.
There is $20 million is prize money given out over the first seven events and a $30 million purse at the final stage. $5 million will be split between the winning team of each event, with a $50 million prize at the final event to the team champion.
