Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed new golf tour will, after all, attract some of the biggest names in the sport to commit to its new rival league to the established PGA Tour as several top names commit to play in the startup series.Two of the sports biggest stars – and recent winners of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup and the PGA Championship – announced this week that they would join the new LIV Golf Tour, backed by the Saudi PIF and run by Greg Norman. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson both announced their intentions to leave the PGA Tour this week on social media.
Dustin Johnson is one of several top names to commit to the PGA Tour’s new Saudi-backed rival.
For Mickelson, who had taken a break from the PGA Tour after comments he made stirred controversy in the new Saudi-backed league, the time was right to return to golf and commit to a new tour with a “progressive format” that would be “exciting for fans.”
“I am ready to come back to play the game I love but after 32 years this new path is a fresh start, one that is exciting for me at this stage of my career and is clearly transformative, not just for myself, but for the game and my peers. I also love the progressive format and think it will be exciting for fans,” Mickelson said.
Mickelson had won the 2021 PGA Championship, becoming the oldest player to do so in the game’s history. He did not return to the 2022 PGA Championship to defend his title this year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dustin Johnson, who is younger than Mickelson and a recent winner $15 million FedEx Cup in 2020, as well as The Masters in the same year, also said it was time for something new.
“This gives me an opportunity to do what I want to do,” Johnson said.
According the Washington Post, At No. 15 in the world rankings, Johnson will be the highest-ranked player in the field, “but the 72nd-ranked Mickelson, by virtue of his career accomplishments and his popularity, is perhaps an even greater asset to the new operation.”
Louis Oosterhuizen, who is ranked 21st in the world, said he had quit the PGA as well.
Rickie Fowler, whose bright outfits attracted a younger segment to the PGA Tour, is also rumored to join Johnson, Mickelson and others in joining the new tour. The 33-year-old has played pro for 13 years and has five wins on the PGA Tour.
