Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed will be the next big names to join LIV Golf.
USA Today
HERTFORDSHIRE, England – Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are the latest players to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which will host its inaugural 54-hole event starting Thursday.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that an announcement is imminent.
A source told SI.com/Morning Reed that DeChambeau and Reed would be attending the first U.S.-based event, June 30-July 2, at Pumpkin Ridge outside Portland, Oregon, and that they had signed for several years.
LIV Golf representatives do not want to comment, although there are plans for future announcements during the Centurion Club tournament.
DeChambeau, 28, champion of the 2020 U.S. Open, had long been debated as one of the players he considered moving to the new tournament series.
But in February, when controversy erupted over critical comments on Phil Mickelson’s PGA Tour, there was a massive change, with several players supporting the PGA Tour and withdrawing the conversation with LIV Golf.
The original plan was for LIV Golf to start a league of 14 tournaments this year with a team element largely in profile. LIV Golf toured a series of eight tournaments this year with 10 scheduled for 2023 and the league launch in 2024.
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Despite all the negativity, LIV Golf managed to get several well-known players, including Mickelson, two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, former major champions Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Charl Schwartzel, along with longtime European stars. Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.
Sumar Reed, the 2018 Masters winner, and DeChambeau would only bolster the lineup.
DeChambeau, who has eight wins on the PGA Tour, has mostly endured a lost 2022 while facing injuries, including a bone fracture in his left hand that required surgery. He tried to get back too early, missed the cut at the Masters and then didn’t play again until last week’s Memorial Tournament, where he lost the cut again.
DeChambeau was asked about LIV Golf and his response suggested he would stay with the PGA Tour.
“Everyone here has their own opinion on this,” he said. “For me, personally, I don’t think at the moment I’m in a place in my career where I can risk things like this.
“I’m loyal to my family that I’ve created around me with sponsors and everything. And from now on, the world of golf will probably change in some way.
“I don’t know what that is. It’s not my job to do it. I’ll keep playing professional golf and enjoy wherever I go, playing with the best players in the world. That’s really all I have, that’s what the rest of my life, because I want to be one of the best players in the world. “
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