LIV Golf LIVE: Leaderboard and Day 1 scores as Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau join rebel tour in Portland

Golf’s newest and most controversial tour, the LIV Golf Series, hosts its second event in Portland, Oregon this week with the action kicking off tonight. The Saudi-backed venture has added more high-profile names to its roster, with America’s Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Patrick Reed among the latest players to defect from the PGA Tour, joining the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

The American PGA Tour and European DP World Tour have issued suspensions and fines respectively in a bid to halt the breakaway but players Carlos Ortiz and Matthew Wolff have committed themselves to LIV Golf in the last week alone. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, amongst others, have spoken publicly in favour of golf’s two main tours yet the field in Portland is set to be significantly stronger than at LIV Golf’s inaugural event in England last month.

South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel bagged the first winner’s cheque for £3.85m after triumphing at the Centurion Club and another eye-watering £20m prize pot will be on offer in Oregon with the lure of the Saudi-backed rebel series’ riches proving hard to resist for players. The full field of 48 players has been confirmed and the format will continue to be a 54-hole shotgun start played across three days with Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland hosting this week’s event.

Follow all the action from the second event of the controversial tour below:

LIV Golf live updates

• Second invitational event taking place in Portland, Oregon

• Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau latest big names to join breakaway tour

• The event consists of three shotgun start rounds with the final round on Saturday

Team leaderboard update

22:15 , Michael Jones

It’s close at the top of the team leaderboards but Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs lead the way.

1: Fireballs GC (-3)

T2: Hy Flyers GC (-2)

T2: 4 Aces GC (-2)

T2: Majesticks GC (-2)

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

22:11 , Michael Jones

Here’s Hideto Tanihara’s birdie from the bunker earlier on:

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

22:09 , Michael Jones

There’s about 15 holes left to play for the majority of the fourballs. Carlos Ortiz and Bernd Wiesberger lead the way at two-under.

Pat Perez has dropped at shot on the par-4 sixth. He’s back to -1 thru four holes.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

22:07 , Michael Jones

A huge putt for birdie on the fourth just rolls up next to the hole from Phil Mickelson who is stil level for the round after a couple of early pars.

We’re early on in this second LIV Golf event and some of the negatives from the previous tournament remain.

By far the worst one though is the propaganda espoused from the commentary team.

By their accounts the players have never been happier, the sun has never been warmer and golf has never been better. The fans are also as loud as they can be and the technology at this event is unmatched - especially the microphones on the course which catch the conversations between the players and their caddies.

It’s all eye-rolling stuff that is quite clearly a stretch of the truth - at best.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:58 , Michael Jones

Carlos Ortiz’s lead didn’t last long.

Pat Perez and Bernd Wiesberger both join him at two-under after birdies on the fifth and 17th respectively.

Both men have completed three holes with Ortiz still motoring down the 11th which is the third hole for his round.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:54 , Michael Jones

Tanihara chips in!

Hideto Tanihara found the green side bunker off the tee on 12 but plays a perfectley weighted recovery from the sand and flicks the ball onto the green where in rolls two-feet into the cup for a birdie.

What a shot from the new captain of Torque GC.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:49 , Michael Jones

Carlos Ortiz storms into the lead!

The shotgun starts makes it slightly more difficult to determine where the easier parts of the course are but Carlos Ortiz may have started on the jackpot.

Back-to-back birdies on nine and 10 put the Spaniard out front on his own at the top of the leaderboard.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:47 , Michael Jones

Up on the the 17th green Martin Kaymer slides an eagle putt past the right side of the hole but knocks the return home for a birdie to get under par for the round.

Sergio Garcia is playing with Kaymer and he emulates his former Ryder Cup teammate.

Both men are one under thru two now.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:39 , Michael Jones

Brooks Koepka (+1) and Abraham Ancer (+1) both bogey the par-5 first. On the second tee Koepka goes into the rough but Ancer fizzes his drive down the middle.

Charl Schwartzel - who won the last LIV Golf event at Centurian Club - is off to a shocking start. He’s taken a double bogey on the par-4 second hole.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:33 , Michael Jones

The leaderboard graphic is back!

It fluctuates wildly as the players’ rounds progress. During the last event there was a very annoying ping whenever the board updated - which was a lot. Hopefully the event organisers have done away with that.

It seems like they have.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:31 , Michael Jones

Carlos Ortiz - another debutant this week - nicely rolls home a 10-12 footer on the ninth green that curls slightly right to left and drops into the cup just off the edge.

He joins the leaders under par.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:29 , Michael Jones

More birdies to talk about!

Bernd Wiesberger teed off on the par-4 15th and is under par thru one. It’s a good start for the Hy Flyers man.

Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield, started well at Centurian Club and had done so again in Portland. He rolls a putt in for three on the eighth to go one-under too.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:25 , Michael Jones

Pat Perez - one of the new players for this event - shoots to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie two on Hole 3.

His playing partners Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen both putt home for pars.

LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1

21:22 , Michael Jones

There’s a couple of changes to note since I last covered LIV Golf. There is now a live leaderboard on the website which should update as the rounds progress.

On the television footage, the bright leaderboard graphic that was positioned down the side of the screen has gone too. It may come back later though I’m unsure.

Koepka gets underway.

21:17 , Michael Jones

At Centurian Club Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson teed off on the first hole as they were the biggest names to sign up to the tour.

Today it’s Brooks Koepka’s turn for that honour and he smokes his drive straight down the middle of the fairway.

The shotgun start

21:15 , Michael Jones

By far the most distinct part of LIV Golf is the shotgun start for each round where different fourballs tee off on different holes. It’s crazy difficult to keep up with for the fans and the television and I’m not sure they’ll keep it if the tour starts to become legitimised later down the line.

‘They didn’t listen to the players’: Patrick Reed and Pat Perez blame PGA Tour for LIV Golf switch

21:11 , Michael Jones

Patrick Reed and Pat Perez believe the PGA Tour only has itself to blame for losing players to LIV Golf, ahead of the series’ second tournament at Oregon’s Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club this week.

Sitting alongside four-times major winner Brooks Koepka, Perez and 2018 Masters winner Reed ripped into the PGA Tour and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, and said the blame for their departure lay at the feet of the golf organizing body.

“Monahan just shut it out from the start. Didn’t want to listen, didn’t want to take a meeting,” said Perez, a 46-year-old, three-time PGA Tour winner.

“They didn’t listen to the players. Somehow, the tour, they keep talking about ‘Oh yeah, we work for you, we work for the players.’ But it’s the opposite. Seems like we work for them. We don’t have a say in anything.”

Patrick Reed and Pat Perez blame PGA Tour for LIV Golf switch

Lee Westwood insists LIV Golf players shouldn’t face Ryder Cup ban

21:08 , Michael Jones

A defiant Lee Westwood does not believe his Ryder Cup chances should be threatened by his decision to sign up to the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Last week the DP World Tour fined each of the 17 players who played in the Saudi-backed venture’s first event in Hertfordshire earlier this month £100,000 and banned them from next week’s Scottish Open.

It was accompanied by the threat of additional sanctions for further participation and while a Ryder Cup ban has not been publicly mentioned as a punishment it remains an option open to the DP World Tour.

But Westwood, who along with the other rebels will tee it up in the second of the eight-event series at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon on Thursday, believes that should not be the case.

Lee Westwood insists LIV Golf players shouldn’t face Ryder Cup ban

Brooks Koepka responds to Rory McIlroy’s ‘duplicitous’ accusation after LIV Golf move

21:03 , Michael Jones

Brooks Koepka insists Rory McIlroy can “think whatever he wants” after being accusing of being “duplicitous” for the manner in which he joined LIV Golf.

Koepka, a four-time major winner, will make his debut in the Saudi-backed tour this week, with the second 54-hole, 48-man tournament kicking off in Portland on Thursday with a prize fund of $25 million (£20.4m).

The 32-year-old complained at the US Open earlier this month that questions on the Saudi-backed tour were throwing a “black cloud” over the major.

While Dustin Johnson stressed his full commitment to the PGA Tour in March before becoming the first superstar name to join Phil Mickelson ahead of the inaugural event at Centurion Club.

Brooks Koepka responds to Rory McIlroy’s ‘duplicitous’ claim after LIV Golf move

What’s the controversy?

21:00 , Michael Jones

The Saudi-funded tour is on a collision course with the two main golfing Tours - the DP World Tour and PGA Tour - who suspended and fined players appearing in these rebel events, with a legal battle between the Tours and LIV Golf likely.

LIV chief executive Greg Norman has been criticised for heading up the breakaway circut, with its Saudi investors accused of “sportswashing” the country’s poor human rights record.

However, 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.”

LIV Golf live stream: How to watch Day 1

20:57 , Michael Jones

LIV Golf isn’t currently tied to a UK broadcaster, but coverage is being shown via a live stream on their official website, YouTube and Facebook pages, with the action expected to begin at around 9.15pm BST.

What are the teams and who are the captains?

20:54 , Michael Jones

As well as featuring individual winners, each LIV Golf event will have a team component. The 48-player field is split up into 12 teams of four.

Over the course of the three game days a combined score from the lowest team members is totalled to give an overall leader.

The Stingers GC won the team event in London and will be looking to triumph again in the US this week. Here are the captains and which team they’re in charge of:

• Louis Oosthuizen - Stinger GC

• Bryson DeChambeau - Crushers GC

• Lee Westwood - Majesticks GC

• Hideto Tinihara - Torque GC

• Dustin Johnson - 4 Aces GC

• Martin Kaymer - Cleeks GC

• Wade Ormsby - Punch GC

• Graeme McDowell - Niblicks GC

• Brooks Koepka - Smash GC

• Phil Mickelson - Hyflyers GC

• Sergio Garcia - Fireballs GC

• Kevin Na - Iron Heads GC

Full player list for Portland event

20:48 , Michael Jones

Who is in the field?

• Abraham Ancer – Mexico

• Richard Bland – England

• Itthipat Buranatanyarat – Thailand

• Laurie Canter – England

• Eugenio Chacarra – Spain

• Bryson DeChambeau – USA

• Hennie Du Plessis – South Africa

• Sergio Garcia – Spain

• Talor Gooch – USA

• Branden Grace – South Africa

• Justin Harding – South Africa

• Sam Horsfield – England

• Yuki Inamori – Japan

• Dustin Johnson – USA

• Matt Jones – Australia

• Sadom Kaewkanjana – Thailand

• Martin Kaymer – Germany

• Phacara Khongwatmai – Japan

• Sihwan Kim – USA

• Ryosyke Kinoshita – Japan

• Brooks Koepka – USA

• Chase Koepka – USA

• Jinichiro Kozuma – Japan

• Graeme McDowell – Northern Ireland

• Phil Mickelson – USA

• Jediah Morgan – Australia

• Kevin Na – USA

• Shaun Norris – South Africa

• Louis Ooosthuizen – South Africa

• Wade Ormsby – Australia

• Carlos Ortiz – Mexico

• Adrian Otaegui – Spain

• Pat Perez – USA

• Turk Pettit – USA

• James Piot – USA

• Ian Poulter – England

• Patrick Reed – USA

• Charl Schwartzel – South Africa

• Travis Smyth – Australia

• Ian Snyman – South Africa

• Hudson Swafford – USA

• Hideto Tanihara – Japan

• Peter Uihlein – USA

• Scott Vincent – Zimbabwe

• Matt Wolff – USA

• Lee Westwood – England

• Bernd Wiesberger – Austria

• Blade Windred – Australia

How much is the prize money?

20:42 , Michael Jones

Each regular season event will have a prize fund of $25m - every player in the field receives a cut, with a guaranteed $4m for first and $120,000 for last place. Of the $25m, $5m will be split between the top three teams.

The top three players in the overall individual championship will receive a split of $30m, with the overall champion taking $18m, the runner-up receiving $8m and third place getting $4m.

The season-ending team championship has a prize fund of $50m, with the winning team splitting $16m and the team who finishes last receiving $1m. Each player receives a 25 per cent cut.

For comparison, the winner of the PGA Championship, one of golf’s four majors, receives $3m out of a total prize fund of $15m.

What are the rules?

20:36 , Michael Jones

LIV Golf Series events will be played over three days and 54 holes, rather than the traditional four-day events with 72 holes. There won’t be a cut, either, so the 48 players who start the week will play all three rounds.

There will also be individual and team competitions within the same event. The individual competition will be won by the player who shoots the lowest score over 54 holes, as normal.

The team competition, however, will be made up of 12 teams of four players, with team captains selecting the teams using a ‘snake draft’ ahead of the opening event at Centurion Club. Teams will also have their own unique names and logos.

In terms of scoring, the best two individual scores will count towards the team’s overall total across the opening two rounds, with the best three scores combining on the third and final round. The team with the lowest overall score at the end of the third round will be the winner.

What is LIV Golf?

20:30 , Michael Jones

Reports of a new breakaway league first emerged in 2019 but gathered pace last year as two-time Open champion Greg Norman became the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series as its chief executive.

With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund financing the series, there is a clear link to the Saudi Arabia government, whose record on human rights has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.

But what for a long time was considered to be a bargaining threat to the traditional PGA and DP World Tours and nothing more took shape as the LIV Golf Series, which also features new competition rules and what tournament organisers say is an “exciting” new format.

LIV Golf returns with second invitational event

19:28 , Michael Jones

The controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tour returns this week as LIV Golf hits America with its second event being held at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon.

The breakaway series continues to gather momentum with a number of new players announced since it made its debut at Centurion Club just outside London earlier this month. Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are among the high-profile players to have recently defected from the PGA Tour joining the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen.

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have attempted to come down hard on rebel players, issuing suspensions and fines, but the eye-watering sums on offer are proving hard to resist for some players.

South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel won the maiden event in Hemel Hempstead and claimed the £3.85m pot with his team, Stingers GC, also claiming the top prize in the team event.