Dustin Johnson to headline first LIV Golf Invitational Series event
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Former world No 1 Dustin Johnson will headline the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event at Centurion Club in Hertfordshire this month.
The two-time major winner was an unexpected inclusion in the field for the controversial Saudi-backed event, which boasts an enormous prize fund of £20m.
As expected, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Richard Bland, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer are among the notable names who will also be in the 48-man field.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour refused to grant releases to players seeking to participate in the event, which begins on 9 June, but LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman promised to “defend, reimburse and represent” players if they are met with any form of punishment.
Johnson was among the players set to join the Saudi breakaway league that collapsed in February after Phil Mickelson said he was aware of the country’s human rights abuses and the execution of Jamal Khashoggi but was happy to use their rival proposition as leverage.
Mickelson, who has been on a self-imposed hiatus since then and didn’t defend the PGA Championship last month, was not included in the field for the event at Centurion, however, there does still appear to be a space reserved if he chooses to play.
After the field was made public, Johnson’s manager David Winkle said: “Dustin has been contemplating the opportunity off-and-on for the past couple of years. Ultimately, he decided it was in his and his family’s best interest to pursue it.
“Dustin has never had any issue with the PGA Tour and is grateful for all it has given him, but in the end, felt this was too compelling to pass up.”
Norman faced a huge backlash after he claimed “we all make mistakes” when asked about Khashoggi’s murder at a media day last month. A senior LIV Golf executive resigned soon afterwards, but the Australian was in a typically bullish mood as he hailed the strength of the field.
Norman said: “Free agency has finally come to golf. This is an opportunity to start a movement that will change the course of history by bringing new and open competition to the sport we all love.
“The desire shown by the players to participate in LIV Golf demonstrates their emphatic belief in our model and confidence in what we’re building for the future.”
Full list of players
Oliver Bekker
Richard Bland
Laurie Canter
Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat (Amateur)
Hennie Du Plessis
Oliver Fisher
Sergio Garcia
Talor Gooch
Branden Grace
Justin Harding
Sam Horsfield
Dustin Johnson
Matt Jones
Sadom Kaewkanjana
Martin Kaymer
Phachara Khongwatmai
Sihwan Kim
Ryosuke Kinoshita
Chase Koepka
Jinichiro Kosuma
Pablo Larrazabal
Graeme McDowell
Jediah Morgan
Kevin Na
Shaun Norris
Andy Ogletree
Louis Oosthuizen
Wade Ormsby
Adrian Otaegui
Turk Pettit
James Plot (Amateur)
Ian Poulter
David Puig
JC Ritche
Charl Schwartzel
Hudson Swafford
Hideto Tanihara
Peter Uihlein
Scott Vincent
Lee Westwood
Bernd Wiesberger
Blake Windred