The 29-year-old Australian becomes the highest ranked player to join LIV Golf. He will compete in the next event in the series, the LIV Golf Invitational Boston at the International Golf Club in Massachusetts.
Chilean world number 19 Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Cameron Tringale, Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri have also joined LIV Golf.
All players who join will participate in the LIV Golf Invitational Boston, which will take place September 2-4.
CNN has contacted the PGA Tour for comment.
What is LIV Golf?
LIV Golf’s controversial tour has divided the golf world.
The series of breakaways are funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and the man an intelligence report Americans named as responsible for approving the operation that led to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Bin Salman has denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.
LIV Golf has offered huge sums of money for players to leave the established golf tours – the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour – in favor of the new series.
Players leaving for the LIV Golf tour have been suspended by the PGA Tour and criticized for abandoning the foundations of golf.
They have also been criticized for accepting money from a country with a dismal human rights record. Human rights groups have protested the country for carrying out mass executions and its treatment of gay people.
The PIF has pledged to award a total of $250 million in prizes. Each of the first seven events will have a total purse of $25 million, with $20 million split among individual players and the remaining $5 million split among the top three teams at the end of each week.
For each event, players are split into 12 teams, and unlike typical golf events, tournaments are held over three days, not four, with the 48-player field starting with a shotgun start – all at the same time. time – hoping to be a more engaging and action-packed style event.
