Charl Schwartzel took home a staggering £3.2million for winning the opening event of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series at the Centurion Club in Hemel Hempstead last month, as the rebel circuit now heads to the US for three stops.
As ever with the rebels, there has rarely been a dull moment. And all eyes will be on Portland, Oregon on June 30 to witness the next fascinating instalment.
Which players signed up?
Exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport, Brooks Koepka was announced as the Saudi rebel circuit’s latest high-profile signing and will play in the first LIV Series event on US soil.
The four-time major winner is joining brother Chase on Greg Norman’s breakaway tour and will almost certainly be banned from the PGA Tour as a result. His LIV debut in Portland, Oregon, will be another blow to the US Ryder Cup team, who will face five members of 2018 team and three from 2021 being deemed ineligible for next year’s match in Rome.
Koepka, 32, has been in talks with the Saudi-funded series for months and sources have confirmed that the deal has finally been delivered. Dustin Johnson, another former world No 1, signed for an £120 million ($150m) up-front fee and Koepka will have also commanded a seven-figure sum as he takes his place alongside not only Johnson, but Phil Mickelson, Sergio García, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Abraham Ancer, who has been unveiled as a capture.
Where are the eight LIV Golf events?
The breakaway circuit began at the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire, and now moves to the United States for three stops.
It then has two events in Bangkok and Saudi Arabia, before the tour finishes at Trump Doral in Miami at the end of October.
What is the format?
The 48-man field will play across 12 teams of four players, which was determined at a draft on June 7.
The first seven regular season events will consist of three 54-hole events, with no cut and shotgun starts, while the final event will be a four-day team matchplay knockout.
LIV then plans 10 events in 2023 followed by “a full season” of 14 tournaments in 2024 and 2025.
Centurion, like the other seven events in 2022, is being classed by chief executive Greg Norman as “baiter tournaments”, aiming to lure big names who have so far resisted the circuit’s overtures.
What is the prize money?
LIV Golf says the total prize purse for its eight events “will reach an unprecedented $255 million” (£204m).
The first seven regular season events will have a prize pool of $25m (£20m), with the individual winner receiving $4m (£3.2m), the last-placed finisher collecting $120,000 (£96,000) and a team event dishing out $5m (£4m).
At the season-ending eighth event, teams will compete for a share of $50m (£40m) in prize money.
How to watch
Coverage is being streamed on the organisation’s website as well as on YouTube and Facebook, with Arlo White anchoring a three-person broadcast booth.
Why is it controversial?
The Saudi-backed circuit is on a collision course with the two main Tours – the DP World Tour and PGA Tour – who have refused to grant permission to players to appear in the rebel events, with a legal battle between the Tours and LIV Golf likely.
LIV chief executive Norman has also been criticised for heading up the breakaway circut, with its Saudi investors accused of “sportswashing” the country’s poor human rights record.
However, Norman said LIV Golf was “independent” and the Saudis were “not my bosses”. The Australian told Sky Sports: “We [LIV Golf] are independent. I do not answer to Saudi Arabia. I can categorically tell you, that’s not the case. I do not answer to MBS.”
What is the latest news?
The Saudi rebels will be banned from next month’s Scottish Open, but the Ryder Cup reprieve for the European players contracted to the LIV Golf Series looks like stretching on deep into the summer and perhaps beyond.
The eagerly-awaited announcement from the DP World Tour – formerly the European Tour – is expected on Friday and will see the likes of Ian Poulter and Sergio García banished from the $8 million event taking place on July 7-10, the week before the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.
For the first time, the links tournament at the Renaissance Club will be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, after the game’s two traditional powerhouses signed a “strategic alliance” 20 months ago in the response to the LIV threat.
Yet despite the PGA Tour having issued indefinite bans to its members who have signed deals with the breakaway circuit, the DP World Tour will continue to ponder how best to react to those who defied the orders of Keith Pelley after the Tour’s chief executive denied waivers to players who asked to appear in LIV events.