Henrik Stenson will have renowned caddie Fanny Sunesson back on his bag in Dallas as she makes her LIV Golf debut.

Sunesson is reuniting with Stenson at Maridoe Golf Club and will also be on his bag for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush next month.

The first woman caddie to win a Major championship when she was on Sir Nick Faldo's bag, Sunesson was Stensson's full-time partner for five years between 2006-11.

And after such a long and distinguished career, she's now making her debut in the LIV Golf League this week in Dallas.

“I’m a rookie again, right?” Sunesson said in Dallas. “It’s a new place and a new tour. It’s nice to be back with Henrik. I’m loving it.”

Stenson won The Players Championship and WGC Matchplay with Sunesson on his bag, and despite this being their first professional event together since the 2019 Masters their relationship remains a strong one.

“It’s a certain comfort level to have her on the bag,” Stenson said. “It always is when you’ve got someone you work with for many years, and you know well.

“In particular, she’s a perfectionist. She always wants to make sure that she knows every possible question that might come her way. Preparation is one of the lead words for her.”

Stenson was in need of a caddie as his regular bagman Marcus Larsson is needed back in Sweden - ironically enough as he's heavily involved with the Stenson Sunesson Junior Challenge the pair have collaborated on.

Larsson will be back with Stenson after the Open at Portrush, taking in LIV Golf events in Spain and the UK.

“He couldn’t really get away this week,” Stenson said. “He had to hang back and take care of the logistics. So Fanny is out here.

“Just great to catch up with her. On the golf course, we end up talking about a lot of other things than necessarily if a 7-iron was three yards long or three yards short. It’s kind of relaxing that way. You switch off in between shots.”

Henrik Stenson has been one of the prominent figures in golf throughout a career which boasts 22 professional wins across the globe. The Swedish legend currently ranks in the top-25 for the most European Tour wins in history (11), and has also accumulated 6 PGA Tour wins.

Since his switch to LIV Golf, Stenson has added another victory to his resume and currently tees it up for Majesticks GC. With an overwhelming amount of experience and knowledge, gleaned from over 26 years in the professional game, Henrik Stenson is the sort of player amateur golfers should look to learn from in order to improve their own game.

With that in mind, we sat down with Henrik Stenson and asked him to share his 5 best golf tips to help you shoot lower scores...

Henrik Stenson

1. Iron Play

It’s all about consistency – that’s what you want in your iron play. I’ve built my overall game around finding fairways and being able to attack with anything from 4- to 9-iron on approaches. That range of irons is probably where I’ve been the best over my career.

I think the reason I do so well with them is that I hit down on the ball quite a bit and generate a high launch with a lot of spin. It gives me the advantage that I can stop the ball quickly on the greens when conditions are a little firmer.

You need to have a consistent set-up for consistent ball-striking. We’ve all got certain things we’re better at in this game, and for some reason iron play has always been my biggest strength. I don’t really think about it too much. I just kind of react to shots in front of me. It’s easy to lose sight of the perfect ball position, your aim and your balance in the iron game, so make sure you do those three things right every time.

Also, don’t let too many small things creep into your mind as it’s easy to get off track when you do that. Try to find the baselines in your iron swing and keep yourself close to them.

2. Bunker Shots

Bunkers are what many amateurs fear most. You want to swing the club like a consistent pendulum, the same as in putting. You build momentum on the way back and just casually let the club collect the ball on the way down.

You’ve got to be willing to throw the bounce into the sand so it cushions against the sand when you strike it and allows the ball to come out high.

A proper set-up would be ball more towards the left foot, open the face and swing the club a couple inches short of the ball in the sand. Many of you just stop the club at the ball instead of allowing it to do its work.

3. Playing Under Pressure

If you prepare well beforehand and have a good plan in place of how you’re going to play the course and the positions you want to be in when you’re playing each hole, then you need to also have your mindset engaged on trying to execute that plan as well as you can.

In tense situations you’ve got to stick to your routines and do things the same each time. That’s what really separates the ones who are really good under pressure and the ones who tend to lose their footing a little bit.

You counter that by staying calm, sticking to your routines and doing the things you set out to do before the heat even entered the situation. That’s crucial for trying to win golf tournaments and for you club golfers when you’re trying to play your best.

4. Chipping

Decisive is one of the key words for playing good golf and solid chips. In my practice stroke, I often use my left hand and the momentum I’m creating with it to let the weight of the clubhead swing underneath the ball and pick it up.

I like to hold the face a little bit open on chips to expose a little bit more bounce and let the club pick it up. A lot of times, people have their hands too far forward or set-up is too square and the ball too far back.

You’re taking away a bit of the bounce, then, and it becomes a sharp leading edge and too stabby. Tell yourself through the chip to ‘let it flow’.

5. Putting – Line And Pace

Pace is a huge factor in three- putting. Many times you see club golfers race eight-footers five or six feet by. But if you only had the right pace you could work the putt out backwards, then pick out the line you have to take.

Know how you want to hit a putt – that comes with practice and trusting your tempo – then pick your line based on how far you know you need to take the putter back. The easiest way to save a couple of shots is better pace control in your putting.

Oh... and one last thing. Before you head out on your pursuit of progress - don't forget to check out our best Black Friday deals to ensure you have the everything you need to play better golf.

Henrik Stenson is a player who has won pretty much everything there is to win in golf. Major champion, FedEx Cup champion, Ryder Cup winner, and a lot more wins on the PGA and DP World Tours. But what clubs does he put in the bag now as a full time LIV golfer? We take a look here.

Driver

What driver does Henrik Stenson use?

Stenson has been using Callaway clubs for a while now and this continues today as he uses a full bag of clubs from the brand at the moment. At the top of the bag he starts with a Callaway Epic Max LS driver fitted with a Grafalloy Blue x-stiff shaft. This driver was launched back in 2021 as was one of the very few drivers out on the market that combined low spin with shot-shaping adjustability thanks to the sliding weight at the rear, something Henrik utilises in the draw setting.

• Read our full Callaway Epic Max LS Driver Review

Fairway Woods

What 3-wood does Henrik Stenson use?

Stenson's fairway wood slot is arguably the most famous in his bag setup. His three-wood at the moment is a Callaway Diablo Octane model which dates back to roughly 2008, and he uses it with a Grafalloy blue shaft which dates back to 2003 or so. This had been part of his setup for many, many years but he shocked all when he replaced it with another model in 2019 but a couple of years later, it returned. Stenson has said in the past that he has a box full of Grafalloy Blue shafts in his loft because they're no longer made, having been released in 2003. That way he can retire before even coming close to running out of shafts!

We believe he also carries a Callaway X Hot five-wood as well which is an older model and it also has a Grafalloy Blue shaft.

Irons

What irons does Henrik Stenson use?

Additionally, his irons have not changed for years as he continues to use some Callaway Legacy Black irons fitted with Nippon Pro Modus3 120X shafts and they go from three-iron to pitching wedge. The irons were a third-generation release in Callaway’s “Legacy” lineup in 2013, and they were only released to limited markets outside North America. Roger Cleveland helped design the irons, alongside Callaway Japan, and they looked to offer good looking irons for better players that also wanted a degree of forgiveness.

Speaking to PGA Tour.com in 2022 Stenson said; "I came off the U.S. Open in 2013, and I hit too many fliers at Merion. My caddie Gareth [Lord] at the time walks into Callaway and asks them to give us some options that don’t fly too much out of the rough, and the boys in Europe built up the Legacy Black. When the irons showed up, they felt great and looked good, and I didn’t hit too many fliers with them. They’ve been in the bag ever since."

Wedges

What wedges does Henrik Stenson use?

Stenson then opts for two Callaway Jaws MD5 “Raw” wedges with 52 and 58 degrees of loft respectively. The Jaws MD5 wedges are constructed from 8620 mild carbon steel and the Centre of Gravity (CG) of the wedges is precisely placed to create a soft, crisp feel. A big focus was also on the shape of the wedge, with Roger Cleveland using his 23 years of experience to create a profile that is appealing from all angles.

• Read our full Callaway Jaws MD5 Wedge Review

Putter

What putter does Henrik Stenson use?

Finally, he uses an Odyssey Stroke Lab Big 7 putter. In our testing we thoroughly enjoyed the performance on offer because it is offers very good alignment with its three sightlines and is forgiving across the face. His particular putter comes with a Garson grip where the flat face is positioned on the target side of the putter to help Henrik with his hand position and feel.

Ball

What golf ball does Henrik Stenson use?

He also uses a Titleist Pro V1x ball which is one of the most popular models out on Tour. It features the same reformulated 2.0 ZG Process Core and softer cover as the Pro V1 for enhanced distance plus improved feel and control. What separates the two is the Pro V1x is the lower spinning model which makes sense given the importance of distance out on Tour at the moment.

• Read our full Titleist 2023 Pro V1 ball review

Shoes

What shoes does Henrik Stenson wear?

Stenson is also an Ecco ambassador and uses a pair of the Biom H4 golf shoes which are finished in his 'Iceman' colorway, but he does also use the more traditional finishes as well. We loved these shoes in testing because the leather upper has a premium feel and the Gore-Tex membrane is breathable and fully waterproof.

• Read our full Ecco Biom H4 golf shoes review

Henrik Stenson WITB: Full Specs

Driver: Callaway Paradym, 8.5 degrees with Project X HZRDUS Yellow Hand Crafted 60 6.5 shaft

3-wood: Callaway Diablo Octane, 13.5 degrees with Grafalloy Blue shaft

5-wood: Callaway X Hot, 17 degrees with Grafalloy Blue shaft

Irons: Callaway Legacy Black (3-PW) with Nippon Pro Modus3 120X shafts

Wedges: Callaway Jaws MD5 (52-10S, 58-8C) both with Nippon Modus Tour 120 X shafts

Putter: Odyssey 2-Ball Ten

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Shoes: Ecco Biom H4

One of Europe's most popular, and best, players, Henrik Stenson has won the Race to Dubai twice and the 2016 Open in record fashion. Get to know the popular Swede better with these facts. 

HENRIK STENSON FACTS

1. He played badminton and soccer as a child.

2. His family didn't play golf. He was introduced to the game by his friend Pontus who lived down his road. They would go to the driving range together.

3. He became the first Swedish male golfer to win a Major Championship.

4. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden.

5. In 2013, he became the first man to win both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai. He also won both season-ending Tour Championships at East Lake and in Dubai.

6. He is a natural left-hander who learned to play golf right-handed. 

7. He began playing rounds aged 12 and got a handicap of 18 from the ladies tees. By the next summer his handicap was 9. He was a scratch handicap played at 18.

8. He married his wife Emma in 2006 in Dubai. They met at the University of South Carolina and have three children - Lisa, Kalle and Alice.

9. He and Emma moved to Florida from Dubai in 2012. They live on the Lake Nona Golf and Country Club estate.

10. He has never become World No.1, but has spent 24 weeks as World No.2 in his career, the same as Colin Montgomerie. Only three men have spent longer as World No.2 without reaching the top spot - Jose Maria Olazabal (35 weeks), Jim Furyk (39 weeks) and Phil Mickelson (270 weeks).

11. In 2008, he and Robert Karlsson won the World Cup of Golf for Sweden.

12. His favourite sport is Formula 1, closely followed by tennis, skiing and football.

13. His five favorite golf courses are St Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Augusta National, the Majlis Course at Emirates GC and Le Golf National.

14. His golfing idols growing up were Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo. Stenson said, "I have played with both and even if they were past their prime it's a great memory to have!"

15. He launched Henrik Stenson Eyewear in January 2017.

16. He is a Celtic fan. 

17. His nickname is 'Iceman' because of his cool demeanour. 

18. He won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

19. Stenson was named Team Europe's Ryder Cup captain in March 2022 but was forced to give up the position after joining the LIV Golf League in June 2022.

20. He won the individual title on his LIV Golf debut in 2022 at LIV Golf Invitational Series Bedminster.

21. Stenson says he has made seven hole-in-ones throughout his life.

22. If he could acquire a trait from any other golfer, Stenson would choose Jordan Spieth's putting from 2015.

23. He says the greatest influences on his golfing career have been his coaches.

24. He is co-captain of LIV Golf side, Majesticks GC along with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.

25. In three seasons in the LIV Golf League, Stenson has finished 18th (2022), 25th (2023), and 35th (2024).

HENRIK STENSON BIO

Henrik Stenson PGA Tour Wins

Henrik Stenson LIV Golf League Wins

Henrik Stenson has asked for "consistency" from the DP World Tour over fines and bans handed out to players who compete primarily in the LIV Golf League.

Stenson joined LIV in 2022 alongside Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood - all of whom now co-captain Majesticks GC - and all three ultimately felt compelled to resign their DP World Tour membership over rising financial sanctions. The Swede was also required to give up his Ryder Cup captaincy role.

Westwood revealed - while appearing on Peter Finch's podcast - that his outstanding fines figure was over $1 million before he walked away from the tour on which he had featured for almost 30 years.

The Englishman also went on to claim that more recent LIV signings, such as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, are "getting fined a figure, but it's nowhere near the figure that myself, Ian Poulter, and a few others got fined" before also accusing the Wentworth-based circuit of lacking consistency when handing out punishments.

And, speaking to Garrett Johnston on his podcast 'Beyond The Clubhouse', Stenson echoed his teammate's sentiments by suggesting Rahm and Hatton have not been treated as harshly as the initial cohort who moved to the PIF-backed league.

Regarding Rahm and Hatton's chances of featuring at Bethpage in 2025, the man who was set to lead Europe at Marco Simone said: "They're two world-class players - everyone knows that - so I'd be surprised if they weren't to be on the team.

"On the same note, though, given how a lot of other European players that went to LIV have been treated, looked upon, and fined - you talked about inconsistency earlier, I'd like to see some consistency in how all of this is dealt with.

"I think you just need to treat everyone the same. Either you can be a member of the European Tour and the European Ryder Cup team [or you can't]. Are you fining certain players in certain situations and not in others and so on? Consistency is all that everyone is after."

In response to both Westwood and Stenson's comments, a DP World Tour spokesperson said: "For clarification, the DP World Tour has been entirely consistent in our approach throughout the disciplinary process. Players have received identical sanctions for the same breaches when relating to the same conflicting events."

Stenson's thoughts arrived days after the European Tour announced a streamlining of the Ryder Cup qualification process.

Starting with the DP World Tour's British Masters at the end of the month, golfers competing on either the European or US-based circuit will all be placed into one points list, with more points available for PGA Tour events and Majors. No points will be available on the PGA Tour until January 1, however.

Stenson, who is no longer under consideration for a spot anyway as a result of not being a DP World Tour member, believes the changes will have very little effect on which 12 players ultimately make Luke Donald's squad as the blue and gold dozen attempt to defend the Cup.

The three-time Ryder Cup winner said: "It's gone away from having a European points list and a world-ranking points list to just having one list. You're probably going to see the same end result in terms of which guys are going to be at the top after qualifying.

"Clearly, they're going to be the ones who you're going to want on your team because they're the ones who play a world schedule. But it certainly seems like it was changed to a little bit more of a PGA Tour flavor in the European rankings.

"I think you're going to see the same end result, no matter how you set up the list."

Ludvig Aberg has made golf seem so ridiculously easy since turning pro, it is almost hard to imagine him facing many problems.

But the Swede admits his once reliable driver has gone off the boil and says he is now working daily to solve the issue, which helped cost him the Scottish Open title at the weekend.

It is far from ideal preparation for Aberg's first Open bid this week at Royal Troon - having been inspired watching Swedish compatriot Henrik Stenson win there in 2016.

European Ryder Cup hero Aberg, 24, only turned pro last June but has already won on the PGA and DP World Tours - banking him over $11million in prize money. He was on course to notch another win at the Scottish Open but a final round 73 cost him as Bob MacIntyre prevailed instead. 

Aberg assessed: "Over the last couple of weeks, I've had this - it's basically the same issue. As a golfer, you're always going to have tendencies that you work towards. It kind of progressed and got a little bit worse over the tournament.

"I'd say I got away with it a little bit more Friday and Saturday, but the tendencies were still there. Kind of like coming under it, behind it, flipping it, and it's not a very nice place to hit drivers from.

"I'm working on the tendencies. I'm trying to score as well as I can. Sometimes you get away with a little bit more, and sometimes you get a little bit more exposed. I think Sunday was a good example of when I wasn't in the fairway, it was tough. Being better off the tee would have been a little bit easier, obviously, to score a better score."

Aberg says he and his coach will now get back to working on the issue in the early stages of this week before the first round at Troon on Thursday.

He added: "Me and my coach, we use the term of like brushing your teeth. You do it every day, and you try to work on it a little bit, a little bit, a little bit so you don't get too far off on one side or the other. That's what we're trying to do.

"Monday through Wednesday we've got a little bit more time, and obviously during the tournament days, you do that as well. It's not like I'm reinventing the swing or anything like that. It's the same tendencies I've had for a long time. You just need a little bit of a push in the right direction, and that's the case."

Last time the Open was at Troon on the Ayrshire coast, Stenson won a thrilling duel with Phil Mickelson to emerge triumphant on -20 to give Sweden its first male Major champion.

Aberg said: "That day should be a national holiday in Sweden. It was a very cool day. I vividly remember watching that with my friends, and it's cool to see what he's done for Swedish golf, and he's doing, so obviously it was the pinnacle of that."

Phil Mickelson partnered Henrik Stenson in the final pairing in the closing round of The Open Championship in 2016 at Royal Troon. The American, the Open Champion of 2013 at Muirfield, began the day one shot behind Stenson’s 54-hole lead. On the first hole, Mickelson set the tone for this duel, delivering an 8-iron from the 1st fairway that only just missed the cup. He birdied while Stenson dropped a shot and the championship lead was immediately overturned. 

Mickelson marched onwards to shoot a bogey-free six-under-par 65. On any other day, it would have been a convincing tournament-winning performance to leave Sweden still longing for its first men’s Major Champion after a decades-long catalogue of near misses, but Stenson was undeterred. He birdied the next three holes, reclaimed the lead and then shot 31 on Troon’s notorious back nine to post 63, eight-under-par, and beat Mickelson by three shots.

Stenson’s sublime round was crowned when he holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th hole to open a two-shot lead. His 63 remains the lowest final round by a champion in the long history of The Open, bettering 64s shot by Greg Norman at Royal St George’s in 1993 and Cameron Smith at St Andrews in 2022.

Stenson’s 72-hole total score of 264 also remains an Open Championship record, while Mickelson was left with a record he didn’t want: a total score of 267, the lowest ever by a runner-up. It was later matched by Jordan Spieth in 2021 at Royal St George’s when he lost out to Collin Morikawa. 

Stenson also became only the fourth Open Champion to post four rounds in the 60s (68, 65, 68 and 63), following Norman in 1993, Nick Price at Turnberry in 1994 and Tiger Woods at St Andrews in 2000. 

And, for the record, only one other golfer in the history of the Majors has scored 63 in the final round to win – Johnny Miller in the 1973 US Open at Oakmont. At Troon eight years ago, Stenson forged his way deep into golf’s record books and there he is likely to remain forever.

A modern classic

“Going up against a world-class player like Phil, I knew he was never going to back down,” starts Stenson in an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, reflecting on the greatest day of his career. “I think that helped the way I dealt with the challenge mentally, in that I knew I just had to go out and go after it. I knew I could not tiptoe around and hope that Phil would shoot 73 in the final round – that was never going to happen. In the end it became a bit of a classic duel, in terms of the two of us trading punches all the way around the golf course.”

A five-time Major Champion at the time, Mickelson held the 36-hole lead that week and he and Stenson played the final two rounds together as they turned The Open into a two-way battle. American Bill Haas was in third place after three rounds, five shots adrift of Mickelson in second place, and on the final leaderboard, JB Holmes rose to third place. But he may as well have been playing in another championship – he was a full 11 shots off Mickelson’s score.

As Stenson and Mickelson walked off the 18th green on the Sunday, arms around each other, they knew they’d held the full attention of the sporting world between them for those two days. Mickelson might well have been regretting the prescient words he shared with Stenson a month beforehand, when they were paired together in the US Open at Oakmont.

“We had a bit of a wait during the early part of the second round at Oakmont,” recalls Stenson, now 48 years old and aged 40 in the summer of 2016. “I was hitting the ball nicely and Phil paid me a really nice compliment, saying: ‘The way you are playing is really well suited to the Majors and I think you are going to do really well in one of these.’”

Mickelson was referring in particular to Stenson’s accuracy with his long-irons, which was a cornerstone of the Swede’s success as he compiled a record of 17 wins across the DP World and PGA Tours between 2001 and 2017, including victory in the Tour Championship and the FedExCup in 2013. 

“At the time, I told Phil that I appreciated the nice comment,” adds Stenson, “and that I hoped he would be happy if I won a Major as long as it did not come at his expense. That was four weeks prior to Troon. It was ironic.

“That was the first thing I said to Phil as we walked off the 18th green. We had our arms on each other’s shoulders and I said: ‘Do you remember the conversation we had?’ And he said, ‘Oh yes, I remember it clearly.’ 

“Getting praise from one of the best in the game is something you don’t take lightly. Phil knows what it takes and we know how he has played in the Majors over the years, so if Phil pays you a compliment like that, it is something to really appreciate.

“Unfortunately for Phil, I had one of those days at Troon that was one out of a hundred, I guess. He shot a bogey-free 65 in the final round of a Major, and 99 times out of 100 that would have been a winning performance, but it turned out to be my week.”

Not easy to get over

Two weeks later, in the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol, Mickelson’s manager, Steve Loy, confided in Stenson that Mickelson was left bewildered by what happened at Troon.

“Phil was a little shocked by the whole outcome, which is understandable,” says Stenson. “Phil said that it was the first time in his career that he had played that well yet not walked away with the trophy. We were both part of a great duel and a great moment in the history of The Open. Obviously I could talk about that Open for hours, but I am not sure Phil wants to!”

Mickelson would recover eventually and defy all odds to claim his sixth Major title five years later, at the age of 50, in the US PGA at Kiawah Island. His victory over Brooks Koepka made Mickelson golf’s oldest Major Champion, and it might turn out to have been his last hurrah in mainstream golf – the 54-year-old has been competing on the LIV Golf Tour since June 2022. 

Stenson enjoyed his last win on the main tours at the 2017 Wyndham Championship and joined Mickelson on LIV just weeks after being named European Ryder Cup captain. Stenson lost the captaincy but won on his LIV debut at the LIV Golf Invitational Bedminster, which earned a $4 million winner’s cheque to ease the pain of being fired from the Ryder Cup. 

Newspaper headlines dubbed the 2016 Open ‘High Troon’ and it has often been compared to the Open of 1977, the ‘Duel in the Sun’ at Turnberry, when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus also enacted an epic battle over the final two rounds. In a rare Ayrshire heatwave, Watson ultimately edged Nicklaus by a single shot. Hubert Green finished third that year, ten shots behind Nicklaus, and American author Michael Corcoran even wrote a book about it, Duel in the Sun. 

In 1977, Nicklaus finished four rounds with a total score of 269. That would have set a new championship scoring record had Watson not finished on 268. What made the Duel in the Sun even more significant was that the world of golf had been waiting for someone to rise up and challenge Nicklaus – the greatest player the game had seen. At Turnberry, Watson confirmed he would be the man to finally tame the mighty Golden Bear. That championship saw one generational great give way to the next.

Praise from a legend

“I received a hand-written note from Jack [Nicklaus] after he had watched our final round in 2016,” shares Stenson, who accepted honorary membership to Royal Troon in 2022 when he and his family visited to open a renovated short course. “He said he and Tom played phenomenal golf in 1977 at Turnberry, but that Phil and I had played even better. It’s pretty cool to have that note in my trophy cabinet. It was not something he needed to do.”

The 2016 Open did not match 1977 in terms of its bearing on the hierarchy at the top of the world game (Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy were competing for the No.1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking at the time), but the 2016 Open was the equal of 1977 in terms of the extraordinary quality of a two-man battle for the Claret Jug.

In an interview after the 2016 Open, 18-time Major winner Nicklaus said: “Phil Mickelson played one of the best rounds I have ever seen played in The Open, but Henrik Stenson just played better. He played one of the greatest rounds I have ever seen. He drove the ball well; his iron game was great; his short game was wonderful; and his putting was great. Henrik was simply terrific. To win your first Major Championship is something special in itself, but to do it in the fashion Henrik did it in makes for something incredibly memorable.”

The bigger picture

“The one thing missing for me was a Major,” says Stenson, who pocketed a first prize of £1.175 million that day. “I didn’t doubt I could win one, but when you turn 40, you know you are not going to have many more chances.”

In his acceptance speech at Troon, Stenson paid tribute to his long-time friend, Mike Gerbich, who died on the eve of the 2016 Open. Gerbich was a past captain at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, and he and his wife Francie had taken the Stenson family under their wings for the few years that the Stensons made Dubai their home.

“I knew Mike was ill with cancer and battling away,” says Stenson. “I had texted Mike a few days earlier and didn’t hear back, and then I received word of his passing on the day before The Open, so it suddenly felt like Mike had a presence with us and we played for him.

“Did that make me play with greater freedom? It is always hard to tell, but certainly sometimes thinking about something else can help when you are playing golf. The old saying, ‘beware the injured golfer’ is true, because you are just focusing on making your way around the course and before you know it you have put a good score together. I am sure it can be similar when you are a little bit distracted in some way, and you play for a different purpose.”

Which is the greatest Open of them all? Well, that question is subjective, but ‘High Troon’ has to be among the contenders. As Troon prepares to stage the 152nd Open, the 2016 chapter remains unrivalled within the career and achievements of Stenson. 

“The Old course at Royal Troon is among the top courses in the world, and the club will always have a special place in my heart,” he says. “I am looking forward to going back in July. Hopefully I can show up with some form and see how far I can go.”

This year Royal Troon will host the Open Championship for the 10th time, coming 101 years since it first staged the event back in 1923.

There have been some low scores over the Ayrshire course during those nine times the Claret Jug has been won here, and some legendary figures have claimed the spoils.

Bobby Locke and Arnold Palmer won their second Opens here, Tom Watson won his fourth and Todd Hamilton claimed one of the biggest surprise victories the tournament has ever seen.

All that plus Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson putting on a stunning show on one of the most exhilarating Open Sundays in history - let's look at all the Open winners at Royal Troon.

Arthur Havers - 1923

The first Open held at Troon came in 1923 after a James Braid re-design of the course, and the title went to Arthur Havers in dramatic fashion.

The Englishman holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to earn a one-shot victory over Walter Hagen and claim his one and only Major.

Back in the days when The Open was staged over two gruelling 36-hole days it was some effort, with Havers finishing the first round T2 then climbing into a lead he'd never relinquish.

Bobby Locke - 1950

South African great Bobby Locke won the second of his four Open titles and successfully defended the crown he won at Royal St George's the year before.

Locke was the only player in the field to finish under par with his one under giving him a two-shot victory over Argentina's Roberto Di Vicenzo.

His score of 279 was the best in the four-round era of the Open to that date - beating the previous mark of 283.

Arnold Palmer - 1962

The great Arnold Palmer also successfully defended his Open title at Royal Troon, which was also his second Claret Jug and sixth of his seven Major triumphs.

Palmer was in great form in 1962 as he'd also claimed his third Masters title back in April to make this his second year of winning two Majors.

And he was dominant at Troon as his record 12 under par score of 276 gave him a six-shot victory over runner-up Kel Nagle in an event that also marked Jack Nicklaus' first ever Open appearance.

Tom Weiskopf - 1973

Just the one Major title for Tom Weiskopf but it came in style with a three-shot victory over newly-crowned US Open champion Johnny Miller and Neil Coles.

Weiskopf went wire-to-wire to win on 12 under par, which equalled Arnold Palmer's Open scoring record set at the same course.

Gene Sarazen made a hole-in-one at the Postage Stamp in another memorable moment for this tournament - but the Open, and the Claret Jug, belonged to Weiskopf.

Tom Watson - 1982

The links genius that is Tom Watson won his fourth Open title as he managed to fend off Nick Price and Peter Oosterhuis to win by a shot on four under.

It gave Watson back-to-back Majors after his US Open victory just a month earlier, and was the seventh of his eight Major titles.

A top 10 also containing Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Fuzzy Zoeller and Jack Nicklaus all battled hard in tough scoring conditions, but it was Watson who outlasted them all.

Mark Calcavecchia - 1989

A dramatic way to win his one and only Major title for Mark Calcavecchia, as he emerged with the Claret Jug after a playoff with Greg Norman and Wayne Grady.

Norman shot a course-record 64 to get into the first ever Open playoff to use the four-hole aggregate format, but then collapsed on the final hole.

The Australian found two bunkers then hit one out of bounds as he failed to even complete the hole as Calcavecchia was the last man left standing. 

Justin Leonard - 1997

Another only Major victory here for Justin Leonard but the American did it in great style as he overturned a five-shot deficit with a sparkling Sunday 65.

Jesper Parnevik held the 54-hole lead but the Swede could only manage a 73 on Sunday while Darren Clarke carded a 71 to both finish three shots off the surging Leonard.

Despite his flying six-birdie salvo on the front nine, Leonard never topped the leaderboard playing in the penultimate group until he birdied 17 - leading Parnevik to then crumble and bogey his final two holes behind him.

Todd Hamilton - 2004

It was no surprise that an American won The Open at Troon for the sixth successive time, but the identity of that American was a huge shock as outsider Todd Hamilton beat Ernie Els in a playoff.

Again there was drama as Hamilton looked to have blown it on the 18th as he made a bogey while Els left himself a 12-footer for the title, but he left it short and it went to a playoff.

And again against all the odds Hamilton held his nerve to shoot level par over four holes to claim one of the most unlikely Open victories we've seen.

Henrik Stenson - 2016

Final round Open duels can be thrilling, nervy epics, but none have ever had the sheer quality that Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson dished up on Sunday as they traded heavyweight blows up and down the Ayrshire coast.

Quite ridiculously Mickelson went bogey-free in a round of 65 that would more than do the job under normal circumstances, but Stenson was in the zone and birdied four of the last five holes to go from joint leader to three-shot winner.

The Swede equalled the course record with a final-round 63, ironically matching Mickelson's effort from the first round, while his 20 under par total was the lowest in Open history.

But to shoot that 63 in this event in the final round while under the most severe pressure and Mickelson firing birdies at him left, right and centre was just an incredible way to win a Major.

LIV Golfer and 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson has admitted he is "a little bit baffled" that all four men's Majors have not fought harder to ensure all of the best players in the world are at their tournaments.

While much of the conversation in men's pro golf is about trying to reunify the top of the sport - ensuring the very best are competing against each other at least four times a season - some players feel they are being unfairly left out due to poor world-ranking positions as a result of playing in the LIV Golf League which does not offer the relevant points.

Talor Gooch previously stated his displeasure at being omitted from The Masters due to his lowly OWGR position and said he would not try to qualify for the US Open following a lack of special invite for the 2023 LIV Golf Individual champion. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm called on the four key tournaments to consider an exemption for the "left out" LIV golfer.

And Stenson, who qualifies for the 2024 Open at Royal Troon in July as a past champion, feels Gooch and his peers certainly have a point when it comes to feeling frustrated at their snub.

Speaking exclusively to Golf Monthly, Stenson said: “I am a little bit baffled by the stance the Majors have taken. I imagine the Majors all want to have the best players in the world in their tournaments, so not to make that happen is interesting."

The Swede - who was supposed to lead Team Europe into the most-recent Ryder Cup in Rome before being stripped of the post once he had joined LIV - feels given the four Majors are supposed to be disinterested parties when it comes to golf's politics, they should do what they can to attract whoever they want into their events.

Stenson continued: “The Majors should not take up someone else’s fight. With LIV golfers not earning world ranking points, you can build a strong case that there should be spots in the Majors for best LIV players who are not already exempt. Whether that is three or five spots, that can be debated, but there should definitely be a pathway into those events.

"There are some really strong golfers on LIV who are having a much harder time getting into the Majors without world ranking points, even though they are definitely playing to the highest standard.

"Some people say the LIV golfers made their choice, but for me the question is whether the Majors want to have the best players in their fields.”

While Stenson is certainly not the only one to stand on this side of the fence, there are many others who have pointed to cases like Joaquin Niemann. The Chilean teed it up in several Asian Tour and DP World Tour events around the turn of the new year in a bid to qualify outright for The Masters.

Although he fell short from an OWGR point of view, Niemann's Australian Open victory booked his spot at Royal Troon and ultimately paved the way for a place at Augusta courtesy of a special invite from the tournament's committee. Niemann also later confirmed he had been handed an exemption into this week's PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Stenson will return to Scotland in July off the back of a T13 finish at Royal Liverpool in 2023 and hoping for a shock repeat of his 2016 victory.

Majesticks GC might be struggling to produce their best form in the LIV Golf League at the moment, but one of the team's co-captains has been lighting up an AFL ground with some unforgettable golf.

Henrik Stenson was fresh off the back of a one-over par first round at LIV Golf Adelaide on Friday when he rocked up at Port Adelaide's AFL home match against St Kilda in the evening.

At half-time of the Power's 82-72 victory, the Swedish golfer thrilled the crowd by winning one fan a brand new car. It is unclear exactly what the challenge was, but Stenson was seen striking a golf ball towards the centre spot where Port Adelaide's mascot was waiting with a flag.

Once the ball landed on its target, the fans inside the ground erupted and Stenson tossed his golf club out in front of him in celebration before running towards the on-rushing mascot and embracing the blue figure.

Darren Marschall of Salisbury Downs was revealed to be the lucky winner on the big screens around the stadium. Meanwhile, Stenson was heard asking announcer Jarrod Walsh in regard to the fan, "do you think he'll buy me a drink?"

Friday night was not the only occasion that Stenson thrilled Aussie supporters that day, though. On the increasingly famous 'Watering Hole' back at The Grange Golf Club, the 2016 Open Champion almost recorded an Ace at the par-3 12th, but was inches away from seeing the ball drop.

Playing alongside his teammates, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, and Sam Horsfield, Stenson was left with a tap-in birdie - one of just three on the day.

Elsewhere on day one of LIV Golf Adelaide, Cameron Smith acted as the Pied Piper of South Australia on the 18th as hundreds of golf fans flocked to follow the 2022 Open Champion down the fairway at the end of his round with Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

And speaking of Garcia, the former Masters champion will tee it up in a group with Horsfield and 2008 Ryder Cup rival, Anthony Kim during round two on Saturday. The pair faced off 14 years ago at Valhalla, with the American recording a pulsating 5&4 victory over Garcia in the lead-off match in the Sunday singles.

Want to be at the 152nd Open at Royal Troon? With the R&A anticipating a high level of demand from fans for next year's championship, tickets are made available by a ballot.

That ballot opened on Tuesday, 27 June and runs through until Tuesday, 25 July. This window will give fans worldwide plenty of opportunity and a fair chance of being at the at the famous Ayrshire links from 14-21 July 2024.

The ticket ballot is available exclusively to members of The One Club, the free-to-join membership programme that you'll need to register for before entering the ballot.

Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said: “The Open is a real highlight in the global sporting calendar which golf and sports fans everywhere look forward to enormously. We have seen demand to attend the Championship rise each year and so continuing with the ticket ballot is the most effective means to ensure that as many fans as possible get a chance to secure their ticket.

“We are looking forward to returning to Royal Troon for another special week in July next year when the Championship will be held there for the tenth time in its renowned history.”

The Open was last played at Royal Troon at 2016 - and it was an epic. An inspired Henrik Stenson lifted the Claret Jug after his final-round 63 gave the Swede a three-shot victory over Phil Mickelson.

J.B. Holmes finished an incredible 11 shots further back in third, as Stenson and Mickelson lapped the field, just like Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson had done in what became known as the 'Duel in the Sun' following their classic tussle in 1977 at Royal Turnberry.  

A balance of allocations will ensure every generation of fan from all over the world, as well as throughout the UK and the local area, will be able to attend. Meanwhile, ticket prices for next year’s tournament have been frozen at current levels, and will start from £95 for an adult on Championship days and from £25 on practice days.

In addition, a new Ticket Plus option has been introduced for the first time and is available to buy now, offering fans an elevated experience in which they can enjoy The Open in a relaxed environment with access to a private bar and gourmet food trucks.

The “Kids go Free” programme remains in operation, too, with half-price youth tickets available for 16-24 year-olds. Meanwhile, a range of premium hospitality experiences are available to purchase now, whereby fans can guarantee their place at the Championship in luxurious surroundings with a fully inclusive dining and drinks package. 

ENTER OPEN 2024 TICKET BALLOT

After the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, The Open heads back to the North West of England and Royal Birkdale.

It's then up to St Andrews in 2027 for another instalment at the Home of Golf.

Beyond that, it's not yet been confirmed which of the courses on The Open Rota will stage the 156th Open, or whether a new venue will be added.

153rd Open Championship - Royal Portrush (13-20 July, 2025)

The Open heads to Royal Portrush in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, for just the third time in July.

After a 68-year gap, the second staging of The Open at this venue was won by Ireland’s Shane Lowry in 2019, a hugely popular result for the home crowd.

The County Offaly native went into the final round with a four-shot lead, and although he only managed a 72 on Sunday, he finished six shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood.

In 1951, the only other time The Open has been staged here, it was Englishman Max Faulkner who came out on top.

154th Open Championship - Royal Birkdale (12-19 July, 2026)

The Open returns to the Southport venue for the 11th time and the first time since Jordan Spieth's remarkable victory in 2017.

The American picked up five shots in his last five holes after carving his tee shot onto the driving range at the 13th.

Royal Birkdale was founded in 1889 and was awarded royal status in 1951. Three years later, Peter Thomson won the first of his five Claret Jugs; he would also win here in 1965.

The roll call of winners includes Arnold Palmer (1961), Lee Trevino (1971), Johnny Miller (1976), Tom Watson (1983), Ian Baker-Finch (1991), Mark O'Meara (1998) and Padraig Harrington (2008).

155th Open Championship - St Andrews (11-18 July, 2027)

St Andrews will host The Open for the 31st time in 2027, five years on from when Cameron Smith putted everyone into submission.

From Tom Kidd’s success in 1873 to Smith's victory in 2022, the famous Old Course has witnessed more memorable moments than any other Open venue.

Players to have tasted success on the Fife links include Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

It was here, of course, that Woods clinched the first of three Claret Jugs, delivering an absolute masterclass in 2000.

Where will The Open take place in 2028?

Speculation continues to mount that Portmarnock could host The Open in the not-too-distant future.

The Open has never left the United Kingdom before, but the club, which is located on the north-east edge of Ireland's capital, Dublin, has long been tipped to host golf's oldest Major Championship.

As for 2028, could Trump Turnberry get the nod? At this stage, we can only speculate.

It's the final Major of the year and the most historic in golf as the 151st Open Championship takes place at Royal Liverpool on July 20-23.

And it's also a final chance to see all of the best players in the world battling against each other as players from the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf will all compete at Hoylake.

There's still no Official World Golf Ranking points available for the 54-hole, shotgun start tournaments in the LIV Golf League, but with Major champions among their ranks and a host of top performers before the split in golf there will still be a decent group from LIV.

And the band of LIV contenders will be led of course by defending champion Cameron Smith, who joined Greg Norman's new tour shortly after lifting the Claret Jug at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews last year.

Previous winners Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen can play in the Open until they're 60, and they will be joined by fellow Major champions Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.

Koepka has a fresh five-year exemption after winning this year's PGA Championship, while Johnson and DeChambeau are in the third year of their exemptions from winning the Masters and US Open respectively in 2020.

Reed is in the final year of his exemption from winning the 2018 Masters but could book a return next year with a top 10 finish at Hoylake.

Fellow LIV golfers Charl Schwartzel, Brandon Grace and Laurie Canter all secured their spot through Final Qualifying, taking the total number of LIV Golf players in the Open field to 16.

LIV Golfers who are in the Open Championship

• Abraham Ancer
• Brooks Koepka
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Cam Smith
• Dustin Johnson
• Henrik Stenson
• Joaquin Niemann
• Louis Oosthuzien
• Patrick Reed
• Phil Mickelson
• Richard Bland
• Talor Gooch
• Thomas Pieters
• Charl Schwartzel
• Brandon Grace
• Laurie Canter

Amazon Prime Day is next week, and we at Golf Monthly have been searching through all the early offers to find the best ones for you, to check them out go to our Amazon Prime Day Golf Deals post.

Martin Kaymer says LIV Golf players should be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup in the future, but admitted Europe shouldn’t make a late change for this year as “there’s too much chaos anyway” in the current men’s game.

The PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) may have agreed a deal to try and bring men’s golf back together again, but for now Ryder Cup qualification remains a headache.

European captain Luke Donald is moving forward towards Rome without any LIV Golf involvement – meaning the likes of Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood will play no part on or off the course at Marco Simone later this year.

The waters are a bit muddier for Zach Johnson with Brooks Koepka looking nailed-on to finish in the automatic qualifying spots in the Team USA Ryder Cup standings, while Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and even Patrick Reed could press their cases with strong showings at the Open next month.

And Kaymer, forever written into Ryder Cup folklore as the man who finished off the Miracle of Medinah in 2012, would like to see LIV Golf players included in future events – even though for this year at least there’s “too much chaos” to change European plans this late in the day.

“I think this year nothing should change, if you ask me. There’s too much chaos anyway, obviously the US team is their own thing,” said Kaymer.

“But, going forward, it would be nice for the golf fans and us players who want to play against the best players from both continents and I think it shouldn’t matter where you play, whether it is LIV, DP World, PGA Tour.”

Kaymer wants golfers from all tours to be eligible for future Ryder Cup, but accepts it’s too late to change things for Europe now – which includes quashing any talk of Henrik Stenson being included after the Swede lost the captaincy after switching to LIV.

“Wherever you play, you should be eligible for the Ryder Cup if you’re good enough,” Kaymer added. “This year it should stay the way it is because imagine the chaos that would come out if Henrik Stenson was being picked! 

“For the future I think the fans want to see the best players competing and that would be my way forward.”

McDowell hopeful of Ryder Cup return

McDowell, another man to grab the winning point in the Ryder Cup as he completed the 2010 success at Celtic Manor, agrees with Kaymer about the best players qualifying regardless of where they play.

And although he's not playing well enough right now, he thinks he could play his way back into future Ryder Cups.

"I’m not playing well enough to be considered for the 12 places," said McDowell. "Do I believe I can play in the future? Yes, I believe I’m good enough to be out there. 

"Would I like to be in Rome to help Luke Donald out? Of course I would love to be there. There’s too much water under the bridge regarding the prep which Luke and his backroom staff have done and we wish them well. 

"Do I think there are any players on LIV good enough to play on the European Ryder Cup team? Yes, I do think there are a couple of guys and we’ll have to see how it all shakes out. 

"I think it should be the 12 best European players against the 12 best US players. In the end, it doesn’t matter where they play.”

Olympic spirit was high when golf's return to one of the biggest sporting events in the world was announced after more than a 100-year absence.

Not since 1904 in St. Louis had golfers battled it out for the fabled gold medal, before Peter Dawson and Ty Vatow, president and vice president of the International Golf Federation (IGF) respectively at the time, led the argument for the sport to be reinstated. 

And in 2009, the International Olympic Committee voted in favour of golf's bid and confirmed it would be part of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"It's the end of a long journey, or the beginning of a new one," Dawson said, after the first tee shot was struck at the Olympic Golf Course in Brazil's capital city.

The field for both the men's and women's competition was limited to 60 players and based on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). Specifically, the top 15 in the rankings at the cutoff point were eligible, although each country was limited to a maximum of four players.

Outside the top 15, a maximum of two from each country that didn't already have two or more representatives then qualified until the field was set. Competition was particularly tough to make Team USA. Americans have long dominated the world rankings, but in the end, Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler suited up for the stars and stripes.

Kuchar finished highest of the American contingent in the 72-hole stroke play shootout, clinching the bronze medal behind Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson who took gold and silver respectively, but the event seemed to take on particular significance for Fowler. He marked the occasion by getting a tattoo of the iconic Olympic rings on his right forearm.

Fowler finished in a tie for 37th at level par, alongside Danny Willett and 13 shots out of the medals, but will always be able to say he represented his country on arguably the grandest stage in all of sport.

During the Games, Fowler was pictured hanging out with fellow athletes from other sports and even got an Olympics-themed haircut. Former Olympic diver Sam Dorman, who won a silver medal in Rio, tweeted "Forever Olympians @RickieFowler" after the pair got inked with matching tattoos.

But Fowler wasn't the only American to get a permanent reminder of his Olympics experience. Lexi Thompson, who finished in a tie for 19th in 2016 and 33rd at the 2021 Tokyo Games, also got a commemorative tattoo on her left wrist, as can be seen below.

For all the money the biggest names in golf now play for, especially on the men's side, it shows that there are some things that can't be measured in zeros in a bank account. 

Padraig Harrington thinks LIV Golf players should be allowed to play for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup in the wake of the deal between the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Harrington, who captained Team Europe at Whistling Straits in 2021, told The Telegraph: “I think the Ryder Cup is going to have the LIV players back. Luke’s got to pick his best team at the end of the day. Absolutely. Wherever Luke can get his best team out there he should do that.“

The chances of European LIV golfers making the team had seemed almost non-existent following the DP World Tour’s victory in its legal battle against the players and the resignations of several from the Tour, including all-time record Ryder Cup points scorer Sergio Garcia.

However, the deal that shook the golf world earlier in the week may have reopened the door to the likes of Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson to compete at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in the biennial tournament after all.

That would require rule changes, in particular to those who had resigned, but Harrington doesn’t think it should be an obstacle. He continued: “I know the rules have to change but rules have been changed before. The whole idea of this new [agreement] is, look, let’s not do any harm or damage to anybody in this situation. What I’m suggesting is everybody’s given a kind of clean slate.”

Harrington also insisted some LIV Golf players would be worthy of selection. He said: “The [LIV players] definitely warrant consideration. They’re good players. I don’t know if they’re going to be selected in the top 12 players at this stage. But to suggest that there aren’t players capable of being Ryder Cup players over at LIV would be silly.”

One potential issue could be the rifts that had been opened as a result of players joining the circuit, most notably between former best friends Garcia and PGA Tour stalwart Rory McIlroy.

Again, though, Harrington doesn’t think it’s insurmountable. The Irishman has not always seen eye to eye with Garcia, either, and said: “For a week, you know, you get over it. Myself and Sergio used to hug at the Ryder Cup. When you are playing you get over these things. You work through it. You’d be surprised when you get in a team [environment] a bit of tension does help. You want a bit of drive in there.”

Garcia, Westwood and Poulter would likely be future captain material were it not for their moves to LIV Golf. Their resignations from the DP World Tour appeared to end any lingering hopes they had of taking on the role. However, Harrington thinks that has all changed with the announcement of the historic deal.

He said: “Absolutely I think it opens up again down the road. I think this opens it all back up. The next captain is not decided in any shape or form. But there did seem like a nice roll of captains going forward.”

A few weeks ago we seemed to have finally made peace with the fact that the European heroes from the past couple of decades would no longer be part of proceedings at Marco Simone in Italy.

Part of this was fairly flattering to the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter but they’ve been part of the competition's furniture for so long that many have struggled to let go of the prospect of a European team without the pair of them.

A sounder reality check is that Westwood is now 50 and has a best finish of 20th (in a field of 48) in seven starts this year. For Poulter, now 47, it’s been a similar tale of mediocrity with The Postman failing to deliver all season other than a 12th-place finish at Mayakoba in February.

Elsewhere Paul Casey, Graeme McDowell and the short-lived captain for these matches, Henrik Stenson, have failed to register much of note. Thomas Pieters joined LIV in February and is yet to post a top-15 finish in six starts and, should that form continue, it would be a long shot from Donald to choose him should things be relaxed.

But where things become interesting, for Europe at least, is the whereabouts in late September of Sergio Garcia.

The competition’s record points scorer is no longer a member of the DP World Tour which, by the letter of the law, means that he can’t be part of Luke Donald’s side. Something which Rory McIlroy, who has reportedly fallen out with the Spaniard over the past year’s disintegration of the game at the highest level, pointed out in his press conference in Canada this week. 

According to McIlroy, if you’re not a member, then you’re not coming in.

“I don't think it changes. The ruling in that arbitration court was upheld that the European Tour can uphold the rules and regulations and sanction people for leaving the Tour, for harming the Tour. And again, I think it's a moot point, because all those guys have resigned their membership. If you're not a member of the European Tour you can't play the Ryder Cup. So to me it's a moot point.”

In a statement to the players from the DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley it reads: "Similar assumptions have been made that European players who have resigned from the Tour will now be able to be part of this year's Ryder Cup. Once again, it is not that straightforward.

"There are only two criteria for being a member of the European Ryder Cup team, namely: (1) you are European and (2) you are a member of the DP World Tour. To meet the second criterion, they would have to ask for reinstatement and there would have to be exceptional circumstance to allow it. I stress again, it would be difficult and highly unlikely that that would happen."

So not impossible. After the past 12 months the 'highly unlikely' possibility of a turnaround here would fade into relative inconsequence given what else is going on.

Come September the golfing kaleidoscope is going to look very different. Brooks Koepka will be part of the US team and he might well be joined by other LIV stars, like Dustin Johnson who went 5-0-0 in 2021. Aside from their skills they’ll arrive with little personal baggage in terms of personalities and Zach Johnson’s side will be further bolstered as they go about winning on European soil for the first time in 30 years.

In these most ludicrous of golfing times, and in light of what has happened this week, it would be faintly ridiculous for one captain to be able to have a full deck to choose from while Europe, the underdogs, would be limited.

The rules and regulations might say a lot of things but you might easily argue that they can all be thrown out the window when it now comes to the Ryder Cup. This is day two of this new era and already the noises coming out of everyone's mouths are beginning to sound very different. 

It might not be a merger as such but Garcia’s new bosses now sit under the PGA Tour umbrella and, while it’s a PGA-run event, he will almost certainly, you would have to think, be available for selection.

Unlike Koepka and Johnson the Spaniard is a different beast and his behaviour has been, at best, erratic over the past year. He was part of the first LIV event at Centurion and he’s repeatedly played the victim, something that he excels at.

But there have been patches of form and his record, and impact during a Ryder Cup week, would make it a no-brainer to include him. We might not see him paired with McIlroy in the opening exchanges on Friday morning but we know who he’ll play with and one thing that Donald is lacking in after the demolition at Whistling Straits are partnerships.

Matt Fitzpatrick spoke earlier in the year about the possibility of Garcia being part of the team in Rome.

"I think there definitely are a few personal relationships that have been dented by this [the LIV vs PGA Tour civil war]. I'm not bothered, I just want to win, and I'm sure those boys do too. Sergio would be the one that would stand out for me, particularly," Fitzpatrick told Sky Sports. "I don't know the details of [his relationship with McIlroy]. I'm happy to share a room with him, if that's going to be the case, I can corner him off for everyone else."

Then there’s Jon Rahm, who will fall in straight alongside his compatriot, and he, like his American opposition, just wants the best of Europe to feature.

"We had a great partnership at Whistling Straights. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think to me is embedded into the roots of the Ryder Cup. Look with Seve and Ollie were able to do throughout their partnership, right. So it's a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event," Rahm said. 

“It's the best Europeans against the best American, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn't matter. It's whoever is best suited to represent the European side. And I have a hard time to believe that the best player Europe has ever had, the most successful player Europe has had on the Ryder Cup isn't fit to be on the team.”

For years Donald and Garcia have been bosom buddies and it would have seemed unthinkable that one wouldn’t play for the other. With six captain’s pick the unthinkable is now all of a sudden, more likely, that Donald won't use one of them for his old mate.

The news hit our inboxes, Twitter feeds and smartphones, and we didn't believe it. Was it April Fools' Day? A spoof email? Had the PGA Tour website been hacked? It was a bombshell that had come out of nowhere.

The PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf, have joined forces and the game appears to no longer be fractured. The PIF will be the exclusive investor in the new unnamed and for-profit entity, which will combine the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf.

It's been a messy, ugly and bizarre last 12-and-a-bit months and I didn't like where the fractured future of the men's professional sport was going. So my initial reaction to this is that it can only be a good thing.

My other reaction is 'oh wow this is going to take another 12 months to sort out'.

A fractured sport was already starting to look less for wear. The Players Championship in March, supposedly the 'fifth' Major and one of the strongest fields in golf, was a relatively damp squib without its defending champion or any of the LIV players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. You could feel that the 'product' had been weakened.

The PGA Championship numbers were the lowest since 2008 despite an excellent tournament. This, to me, showed that the sport was perhaps struggling to reach that mainstream audience as more casual fans began to lose interest. They didn't know who was playing where, there was too much golf on and the best players weren't playing against each other enough. Hell, we didn't even know who the best players in the world were anymore due to LIV's lack of world ranking points.

Then there's the DP World Tour seeing some of its big names like Garcia, Stenson, Westwood and Poulter resigning their memberships and essentially being forced to leave the tour that they all still love. 

And the Ryder Cup's record points scorer Sergio Garcia never being captain? Poulter the 'Postman' never being captain? Henrik Stenson being stripped of the captaincy. It's been a wild last year for the men's game.

LIV Golf did an impressive job in assembling a mostly-star roster with some of the sport's biggest names. Are they the game's best players? Not all of them, but they were some of the golf's most well known figures and characters who we all had grown to know and enjoy watching and hearing from. Not seeing them week-in, week-out playing in big, historic PGA Tour events was a huge loss for viewers.

The LIV format certainly has its fans but the success of it is arguable. Was it really going to make huge money for the PIF? Would it have ever got a huge TV deal on networks like CBS or NBC in the US and Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland? Probably not. It had been cast aside from many in the establishment and was seemingly fighting with a lot of money in a small pond.

Add in the lawsuits and it seems like this coming together was the right thing for the sport. The Public Investment Fund and its interest in golf wasn't going away, and the fracturing wasn't good for anyone. On certain weekends, fans had DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf events to choose from. That's simply too much. 

Golf is a popular sport but it's up against huge sports like football, basketball, soccer, F1 and everything else, so it needs to showcase its best to compete. Has it consistently been showcasing its best this last year? Definitely not.

It seems like a very, very small number of people knew what was going on with this merger and the rest of the golfing world, including the biggest name players like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and even LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, will now unpack what has happened and begin to start to think about what's next.

What is next? I have a lot of questions.

• Will LIV Golf exist next year?
• Are the likes of Koepka, Smith, DJ and co. coming back to the PGA Tour?
• What does the PGA Tour schedule look like next year?
• Can LIV Golfers now play in the Ryder Cup?
• Can LIV Golfers, the Europeans especially, be future Ryder Cup captains again?
• How can Jay Monahan keep his job? Players turned down hundreds of millions of dollars to stay loyal to the PGA Tour
• If LIV continues, will the biggest names all play in it? Will McIlroy join Team Smash?
• What happens with the world rankings? Will LIV now give up on them?
• Are purses on the PGA Tour now set to skyrocket?
• Is the Saudi International now going to be a Major?
• What happens to Greg Norman now?
• Will we finally get a 'world tour'?

I'd imagine that the game's key figures don't know the answer to many of these questions yet, and that's what's going to be going on behind the scenes over the next 6-12 months.

All we do know is that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment fund now has its seat at the table. The lawsuits are over. The fracturing is over. Golf has a new future.

Is it inevitable? Perhaps. Is it good for the sport? I think so.

Sure, many of the PGA Tour loyalists like McIlroy, Rahm, Matsuyama and co. have lost out on joining LIV Golf for hundreds of millions of dollars but overall the professional golfers are going to get even richer with this new 'entity'.

PGA Tour purses have reached $25m this year and all LIV Golf events carry $25m prize funds. Will they go up to $40m next year? It's not out of the question. Players certainly seem upset on the whole having been left out of any negotiations so far but once the dust settles they'll be playing on a tour that has investors with assets worth a reported $620bn.

Golf has all become about money now, just like all other sports. That might sound like a bad thing, but we'll be able to see the best against the best more often - and that can only be a good thing?

This last year has been a wild ride for men's golf. The next year could be even more wild.

A tournament with a unique format returns for its third outing as 78 players each from the DP World Tour and LET compete, albeit from different tees.

The 2023 tournament takes place at Ullna Golf and Country Club near Stockholm in Sweden, and Linn Grant competes in her homeland as she defends her trophy. In 2022, she cruised to a nine-shot win over compatriot Henrik Stenson and Scot Marc Warren. There’s no Stenson this year as he now plays for LIV Golf, but Warren returns looking for his first win since the 2020 Austrian Open.

As well as Grant, who won the LET’s Race to Costa Del Sol in 2022, another local big name is 10-time DP World Tour winner Alex Noren. The 40-year-old last won on the Tour in the HNA Open de France five years ago, and he will be hoping the backing of the home crowd can inspire an 11th win this week.

Another Swede will also be confident of success given her recent form on the LPGA Tour. Madelene Sagstrom has two top-20 finishes and one in the top 10 in her last three tournaments on the Tour, and she will surely be relishing her debut in this tournament. 

Like Sagstrom, Czech player Klara Spilkova has found some good recent form, with top five finishes in her two most recent LET events, and she plays too. Elsewhere, Gabriella Cowley was the closest LET player to Grant on the leaderboard in 2022, with a tie for 15th, and she will be hoping for another positive performance. 

Swedish legend Annika Sorenstam, who will also compete in this year's US Women's Open at Pebble Beach, also plays. 

Australian Jason Scrivener performed admirably in the 2022 tournament, with a tie for fourth, and he will be hoping to recreate the form of his last top 10 finish, a tie for seventh in January’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Spaniard Santiago Tarrio and Dutchman Darius Van Driel finished in the same position as Scrivener last year, and they will also play.

Elsewhere, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands will also be eyeing victory following a good recent run of his own, including finishing third in February’s Hero Indian Open and achieving a tie for the same position in the Korea Championship two months later.

Players will compete for a $2m purse, with the winner taking home $340,000.

Below is the prize breakdown and field for the 2023 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed.

Scandinavian Mixed Prize Money 2023

Scandinavian Mixed Field 2023

• Alexander, Casandra
• Alonso, Carmen
• Angurasaranee, April
• Arafi, Tiffany
• Armitage, Marcus
• Arnaus, Adri
• Arvidsson, Elin
• Axelsen, John
• Babnik, Pia
• Baldwin, Matthew
• Bekker, Oliver
• Beveridge, Laura
• Björk, Alexander
• Blixt, Jonas
• Bramwell, Lee Anne
• Brewerton, Becky
• Bringner, Sofie
• Broberg, Kristoffer
• Broch Estrup, Nicole
• Brun, Julien
• Burke, Hannah
• Cabrera Bello, Rafa
• Campillo, Jorge
• Carta, Virginia Elena
• Catlin, John
• Cheenglab, Trichat
• Cowan, Olivia
• Cowley, Gabriella
• Crocker, Sean
• Dagar, Diksha
• Davidson Spilkova, Klara
• Davies, Rosie
• De Jager, Louis
• Deilert, Isabella
• Dimmock, Annabel
• Donaldson, Jamie
• Duncan, Louise
• Elvira, Nacho
• Fanali, Alessandra
• Ferguson, Ewen
• Folke, Moa
• Forrest, Grant
• Forsström, Simon
• Forsterling, Alexandra
• Freiburghaus, Jeremy
• Fuenfstueck, Laura
• Gainer, Cara
• Gallacher, Stephen
• Garcia Rodriguez, Sebastian
• Garcia, Nicole
• Gavins, Daniel
• Givens, Eleanor
• Grant, Linn
• Grechi, Emma
• Green, Gavin
• Grimberg Lignell, Andrea
• Guerrier, Julien
• Gustavsson, Johanna
• Hall, Lydia
• Hanna, Chase
• Harm, Leonie
• Hedwall, Caroline
• Helligkilde, Marcus
• Henry, Kylie
• Hewson, Alice
• Hidalgo, Angel
• Hill, Calum
• Hillier, Whitney
• Hisatsune, Ryo
• Holmey, Lauren
• Humphreys, Lily May
• Iturrioz, Nuria
• Janewattananond, Jazz
• Johnson, Felicity
• Jonsson, Tobias
• Jordan, Matthew
• Kawamura, Masahiro
• Kieffer, Maximilian
• Kinhult, Marcus
• Kjeldsen, Søren
• Kobori, Momoka
• Koivisto, Tiia
• Kouskova, Sara
• Lacroix, Frederic
• Law, David
• Lennarth, Camilla
• Leth-Nissen, Amalie
• Levy, Alexander
• Li, Haotong
• Lindberg, Mikael
• Lindblad, Ingrid
• Lombard, Zander
• Long, Hurly
• Lorenzo-Vera, Mike
• Luiten, Joost
• Macintyre, Robert
• Maclaren, Meghan
• Magnusson, Anna
• Mansell, Richard
• Melecka, Tereza
• Melichova, Jana
• Metraux, Kim
• Molinari, Edoardo
• Mora, Anne-Charlotte
• Morrison, James
• Nadaud, Nastasia
• Nemecz, Lukas
• Nilsson, Emma
• Noren, Alex
• Nørgaard, Niklas
• Onishi, Yuri
• Paratore, Renato
• Paul, Yannik
• Paulsen, Maiken Bing
• Pelaez Trivino, Ana
• Pepperell, Eddie
• Pettersson, Lisa
• Pulkkanen, Tapio
• Ramsay, Richie
• Rozner, Antoine
• Rudgeley, Kirsten
• Sagstrom, Madelene
• Samooja, Kalle
• Sauzon, Agathe
• Schmidt, Patricia Isabel
• Schober, Sarah
• Scrivener, Jason
• Sharma, Shubhankar
• Shinkwin, Callum
• Söderberg, Sebastian
• Sorenstam, Annika
• Southgate, Matthew
• Spitz, Emma
• Stavnar, Madelene
• Sullivan, Andy
• Syme, Connor
• Tarning Soenderby, Smilla
• Tarrio, Santiago
• Thomson, Michele
• Townsend, Hugo
• Van Dam, Anne
• Van Driel, Darius
• Veerman, Johannes
• Von Dellingshausen, Nicolai
• Walters, Justin
• Wang, Jeunghun
• Waring, Paul
• Warren, Marc
• Wessberg, Linda
• Whitnell, Dale
• Wikstrom, Ursula
• Williams, Chloe
• Wilson, Oliver
• Witt, Sophie
• Wolf, Christine
• Young, Liz

It’s not been the most eventful couple of weeks on the global professional tours, so I thought I’d do something a bit different and count down my five favourite moments since I started working as an on-course commentator for Sky.

I do sometimes have to pinch myself that I’m able to walk the fairways with the world’s best players in the game’s biggest events. I don’t take it for granted.

One of the things I really look forward to is getting my schedule at the start of the year. Of course, I go straight to the Majors, but there are some events I always look out for after the year’s big four.

Two of those are the Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship, and two of my top five broadcasting moments have come at those.

5. Lowry at Wentworth, 2022

I have so many great memories at Wentworth – I held the course record there, 63, for over 20 years and I live just around the corner. It’s a special place and when the BMW PGA is on, the buzz is quite something. It’s like Ascot.

It’s incredible to be a part of and it was great to see Shane Lowry hold off Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm last year. Lowry had said how much he’d love to win at Wentworth, and he closed things out with a sublime approach to the last to set up a closing birdie and a one-stroke win. I was with the final group and that shot will stay with me for a long time.

4. McIlroy, 2016 Irish Open

Shane’s mate, Rory McIlroy, is number four on my list with his victory in the 2016 Irish Open at the K Club. If you’ve never been to an Irish Open, go. Seriously. There’s nothing quite like it – the atmosphere is special. It was unreal to watch Rory hit two unbelievable 5-woods to the 16th and 18th greens, the latter setting up a victory-sealing eagle.

I’ve played golf with Rory and discussed those shots and he actually says the approach to 16 was better, even though it finished some 20 feet away. He says it’s one of the greatest shots he’s ever hit, because there was water right, Russell Knox had just pulled ahead and he was in need of a spark. The atmosphere was just electric. I sensed something special was about to happen and walked directly behind him, about 50 paces back. It’s not something I normally do, but I’m so glad I did it.

3. Stenson vs Mickelson, Troon 2016

Third on my list is the 2016 Open Championship, when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson had an almighty duel. On the 17th hole, Stenson hit the purest long-iron I’ve ever seen and heard. He didn’t hole the putt, but it was the best shot I’ve ever seen in the Open Championship. I was 60 yards in front up the fairway, but I could hear the thud off the clubface. It’s a brutal par 3 and he had Mickelson breathing down his neck.

Of course, he made birdie up 18, too. I actually picked up the divot from his approach and planned to give it to him after the round, but I chickened out in the end! It was a duel to rival Watson and Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977.

2. Portrush, 2019

Another special, special Open was the 2019 Championship at Royal Portrush. I think it was the greatest Open and having an Irishman win on the island of Ireland was like nothing else I’ve experienced. There are certain times where I stop for a moment and reflect on how much of a privilege it is to do what I do for a living.

Marching along with Lowry and a joyous home crowd was one of them. It was an honour to be there calling shots. The celebrations afterwards were something else and there’s a reason The R&A is taking The Open back to Portrush so soon, in 2025. I just can’t wait.

1. G-Mac, Celtic Manor 2010

Lowry’s win almost made it to number one, but in the end I’ve gone with Graeme McDowell’s putt on the 16th during the Sunday singles in the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. I’ve never heard a noise like it. There were thousands and thousands of people on the bank singing their hearts out.

I’m sure if you asked G-Mac what the loudest roar he’s ever heard is, he’d say that. That week, the weather was so bad for so long and the rain was torrential, but the sun decided to come out for that moment. It was like the golfing gods were shining a light on the Twenty Ten course. I just can’t believe it was 13 years ago. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Ian Poulter has responded to Jon Rahm's support for Ryder Cup legend Sergio Garcia by saying the World No.2 is "the only person who gets it" as the European side looks to be without LIV Golfers.

"it’s just golf.. politics aside it’s just golf," Poulter wrote on Twitter in reply to a video of Rahm speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament.

Rahm was passionate in voicing how he'll miss Sergio Garcia in Rome this year and remained adamant that Team Europe should be made up of the 12 best players regardless of which tour they play on.

“I'm going to miss him. We had a great partnership at Whistling Straits," Rahm said of his fellow Spaniard, who last week said that Luke Donald essentially told him he had no chance of making the team.

"I'm going to mention history again one more time. A Spanish duo in the Ryder Cup I think to me is embedded into the roots of the Ryder Cup. Look with Seve and Ollie were able to do throughout their partnership, right. So it's a little sad to me that politics have gotten in the way of such a beautiful event.

“It's the best Europeans against the best Americans, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn't matter. It's whoever is best suited to represent the European side.

"And I have a hard time to believe that the best player Europe has ever had, the most successful player Europe has had on the Ryder Cup isn't fit to be on the team.”

“I was excited about the possibility of playing with Jon again, and I know that Jon was also excited about that possibility, too," Garcia said last week. "Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, at least for now.”

Garcia, Poulter, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Richard Bland have all resigned their DP World Tour memberships so will not be featuring in any future Ryder Cups as things stand. The resignations came after the DP World Tour won February's arbitration panel hearing against its members who played in LIV tournaments despite not having conflicting event releases signed off by the tour.

It means that the DP World Tour is able to fine and suspend players for going against declined releases, meaning that LIV players would face huge fines and suspensions for continuing to play on the Saudi-backed tour while remaining members of the European circuit.

LIV Golf trio Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia have been interviewed by the United States Department of Justice, along with lawyers from the PGA Tour, according to a New York Times report.

The Tour remains involved in a probe by the Justice Department that was spurred by the advent of LIV Golf, as the Saudi-backed circuit fronted by CEO Greg Norman has accused the Tour of anti-competitive behaviour and joined an antitrust lawsuit first filed by Mickelson and DeChambeau in U.S. District Court in August 2022.

In July, players’ agents received inquiries from the DOJ’s antitrust division regarding laws about participating in non-tour events and the Tour’s actions related to LIV. The tour has countersued LIV, responding: "if anyone is competing unfairly, it is LIV, not the tour" - and contends the LIV-backed lawsuit is a "cynical effort to avoid competition and to freeride off of the tour’s investment in the development of professional golf."

Other golfing bodies have become embroiled in the problem, including Augusta National Golf Club, the USGA and PGA of America, which is hosting this week’s PGA Championship, where both Mickelson, a former champion, and DeChambeau are teeing it up.

All three players have been suspended from the Tour following their defections to the upstart league, with court filings revealing Mickelson had been previously suspended for attempting to recruit players to join the new circuit.

The Tour has faced antitrust claims before. In the early 1990s, the Federal Trade Commission concluded a four-year investigation into whether it had violated antitrust laws, partially due to a rule stipulating permission for a conflicting-event release, which the Tour has invoked this year to suspend those who have joined LIV Golf.

No federal action was taken at the time and it was then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem (a lawyer himself who worked in President Jimmy Carter’s administration) who received much of the credit for this.

LIV Golf lost a key legal battle last month against the DP World Tour, as a UK arbitration panel upheld the DP World Tour’s right to suspend and fine its members for joining LIV. 

Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Garcia and Henrik Stenson all resigned from the DP World Tour earlier this month, which ended their Ryder Cup careers. Richard Bland also quit the Tour. 

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has come out on top in most of the early rulings, although the lawsuit and countersuit between the two rivals is still very much in its infant stages.

Zach Johnson largely sidestepped questions about whether he’d select any LIV Golf players for his USA Ryder Cup team this year, saying the decision is “not on my radar right now.”

A huge question hanging over Johnson is whether he would select LIV Golf players like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed for the Ryder Cup.

Those playing for Greg Norman’s new tour, although eligible, would likely require a wildcard unless they produce some stellar showings in the Majors to make enough points and finish in the top six.

And while it seems unlikely a player like Reed or DeChambeau would be any good for the team room, Koepka and to a larger extent Johnson seem universally liked by the players still on the PGA Tour and could slip right in.

And while Luke Donald now has clarity with European stalwarts Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson resigning, Johnson is still facing those awkward questions.

Questions the Team USA captain largely sidestepped at the PGA Championship by insisting his wildcard picks were “not even a discussion item” right now, but did admit that the six automatic qualifiers will have their say, adding he’ll let “those guys that make it on merit help me formulate my team.”

The captain does seem open to LIV Golf players taking part, but hinted he’d not spoken to either his namesake Dustin Johnson or Koepka – and it seems they’ll find it hard to impress him unless it’s in the Majors.

“Really difficult for me to judge,” Johnson added. “I don't know the golf courses they're playing. Never seen them. I'm not there on foot in person.

“I get to see them, I guess, technically three or four weeks a year, this year. So that part is difficult, but you're talking about a number of guys that are my friends. I would fully embrace the opportunity to speak with them if they want to chat with me. That would be amazing.

“I'm an open book. They can call me. They have my number, et cetera, et cetera. I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm shutting that down. I am fully in as the Ryder Cup captain for the Team USA and whatever that looks like.

And on Dustin Johnson’s chances, he added: “You're talking about an individual whose resume is extremely deep and wide. He's certainly in my generation one of the best players I've ever competed against, but it's not fair for me to guess his true form or anybody's true form that I can't witness.”

He had a similar message for Koepka despite his Masters display: “He played really good that one week, but it's one week. I don't want to sit here and say that it's concrete, it's the only thing we're going to be looking at.

“It's one week, at a major venue, at the Masters tournament. He played great. There's still a lot of golf between now and then.”

The European Ryder Cup side has taken somewhat of a hit over the past month. After the DP World Tour won its February arbitration hearing against a number of its members who play in LIV Golf, many of those who joined the Saudi-backed circuit resigned their membership after fines and suspensions were issued.

Obviously, the news has affected Team Europe, with many legends of the Ryder Cup, like Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter not eligible to feature in either a playing or captaincy role. However, that's now by-the-by and, as current European Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald, stated in a press conference at the PGA Championship, "ultimately, that was their decision."

Donald, who took over the role after Henrik Stenson joined the LIV circuit back in July 2022, spoke ahead of the second Major of the year, with the former World No.1 stating: "As I said a couple weeks ago, it's a shame that there were some resignations. A lot of these guys have built their legacy around the DP World Tour and their participation and everything with the Ryder Cup. Ultimately, that was their decision and, unfortunately they're off the table now for selection purposes for myself."

He went on to add: "As I said, I've always tried to concentrate on looking at all the players that week in, week out are committed to try and make that Ryder Cup and that hasn't changed. My situation is what it is. I've got to always take what I have in front of me and kind of go forward. I'm still excited about all the players we have on offer, both rookies and established players, and I think our team will be very good."

Along with Team Europe, Team USA have also lost a number of individuals to LIV, with the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau all leaving the PGA Tour to pursue their venture elsewhere. Although the PGA Tour has imposed sanctions on these players, they are, theoretically, available to qualify or get picked for the American side, something which Donald hasn't spoken about with opposition captain, Zach Johnson.

"I think in terms of what Zach is doing and his options, I think that's kind of his call," claimed Donald. "Whether LIV players play on his team, again, I haven't really talked to him much about it as a captains' agreement. Let's not forget there's still LIV players that can still play on my team. They're still eligible if they're members of the Tour and were born in Europe. That is still a possibility for some guys...

"To be honest, I think that the team selections should be pretty separate. I'm in charge of the European team and what's best for us, and he's in charge of the US Team and what's best for him. I think that's just how it should be."

Getting underway at the end of September, there is still plenty of golf to be played between now and the first tee shot at Marco Simone. However, one thing that Donald openly admitted is that there will likely be rookies on his team, with the 45-year-old explaining that "there's a lot of different factors that go into it, but we'll have to see what the makeup is," adding later, "I probably won't go into names, but I think it's always good to see how potential rookies do in Major championships."

Billy Foster says it's "incredibly sad" that the likes of Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter will never captain Europe in the Ryder Cup after the trio opted to resign from the DP World Tour and effectively end their association with the biennial contest. 

A sports arbitrator ruled in favour of the DP World Tour against 12 LIV Golf players who appealed Keith Pelley's decision to issue fines and suspensions for teeing it up in the inaugural event on the breakaway circuit in June last year.

The three-person Sports Resolutions UK panel upheld the Tour's conflicting-event release regulation and Pelley's right to use it when appropriate to hand out future or retrospective sanctions.

Rather than risk further financial punishment, a number of LIV players quit what was formerly the European Tour, including Westwood, Poulter, Garcia and later Henrik Stenson, meaning none of them will ever be able to captain Team Europe, even if they do return to the Tour one day.

Foster, who caddies for Matt Fitzpatrick but enjoyed spells working for Westwood and Garcia previously, expressed his dismay at how the saga has unfolded.

"Something needs to be worked out. For me personally for what’s just happened - to Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter - I think it is incredibly sad," Foster said. "You can understand both opinions, I am not saying they should or they shouldn’t.

"I think it's an absolute travesty that those players, two of whom I caddied for, are not going to be Ryder Cup captains. I think that's incredibly sad for what they've done for the European tour and for what they've done over the years.

"I know people say they had a choice, they made their bed and they have to lie in it but they are in their late 40s and they’ve been offered an easier life for more money and less tournaments. 

"You can't blame them but they’ve still got a lot to give for the European Tour. So I think it's incredibly sad."

Westwood, an 11-time veteran of the Ryder Cup, hit out at Pelley after resigning his membership, saying he didn't "want to play under that sort of regime." Foster has been in contact with his former boss but didn't reveal any specifics of their conversation, although admits he can see both sides of the argument.

"I’ve been in communication with Lee last week. That will stay private but basically what I’ve just said. It is very sad it’s come to this. It’s wrong but that’s my opinion," he added.

"I totally get the other side of the opinion. I get it. But for me personally, for having grown up for 20-30 years, with these lads and seeing what they've done, to see it come to this is incredibly sad."

Billy Foster was speaking to BoyleSports about Golf Betting.

Bernard Gallacher fears the DP World Tour's strategic alliance with the PGA Tour could lead to it becoming an "upmarket Korn Ferry Tour."

The three-time Ryder Cup captain made the remark to The Telegraph’s Golf Correspondent James Corrigan. He said: “When I was on the board of the European Tour we always wanted to keep our independence and be able to make our own decisions. But we tried to find ways on to the PGA Tour for our best players.

“There were World Golf Championship events that our top guys could get entry to and if they played well enough in those and the Majors, they could win enough money to qualify for the PGA Tour. But it was only the top end of our players able to do that. But with 10 certain to get their PGA Tour cards now, my fear is that we become a sort of upmarket Korn Ferry Tour.”

Gallacher's comments echo those of LIV Golf player Lee Westwood, who described the DP World Tour as a feeder for the PGA Tour. Westwood was again in the news earlier this month when he resigned from the DP World Tour along with fellow Ryder Cup legends Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter. Henrik Stenson, who was stripped of the captaincy when he signed for LIV Golf, followed suit more recently saying the DP World Tour has "left me with no other choice" but to resign.

That means they can no longer become captains of future Ryder Cup teams and because of the situation, Gallacher, who led Team Europe three times in succession between 1991 and 1995, sees similar runs in the future, starting with Luke Donald. He said: “Because we’ve lost the likes of Westwood and co, I think we’ll need to have captains doing home and away matches, maybe starting with Luke now.”

The first three European Ryder Cup captains led the team for multiple tournaments before moving on. That hasn’t happened since 1995, but Gallacher thinks Donald would be up to the task. 

He said: “I know we’ve had so many big European names who have deserved their chance, but it doesn’t make sense just ditching successful captains after one go. The circumstances may now necessitate a change and in Luke we have a decent guy who will do all the preparation required and more."

Gallacher then turned his attention to the resignations of the players, and explained they have no room for complaint. “They must have known this was going to happen when they decided to sign up with LIV," explained Gallacher. "They’ve done it for money and that is understandable, but they can’t really moan because unless there was an agreement with LIV, this was inevitable. 

"And when the DP World Tour signed that ‘strategic alliance’ with the PGA Tour and effectively jumped into bed with them, any agreement was impossible.”

Finally, Gallacher explained that the inability of LIV Golf to award Official World Golf Ranking points would harm the Majors in the long run. He said: “LIV not getting any ranking points means there will be fewer of their guys in the Majors. 

"The Majors are getting away with it now, but as the exemptions run out, LIV’s presence will dwindle. And that will diminish the Majors because you won’t have the best players competing against each other. The Majors have to stay independent and devise other avenues for LIV golfers.”

First reported by The Guardian's Ewan Murray, it is believed that Porsche, who sponsor the European Open that gets underway in early June, may pull their backing from the tournament. This comes after it was announced by the DP World Tour that there would be sanctions imposed on LIV players which means they won't be featuring in any of their future tournaments.

Reportedly, it is the sanctions around Paul Casey, who is sponsored by the car manufacturer, and Martin Kaymer, one of Germany's most successful golfers, that have raised doubts over whether Porsche will continue backing the tournament in Hamburg, something they have done since 2015.

In the report by The Guardian, a spokesperson for Porsche stated that: “We heard about the individual sanctions of the Tour against players. But as those are individual we do not know, so far, what this means exactly to each player and are in contact with the Tour and the managements.” 

Along with the statement, the spokesperson went on to add that "the Porsche European Open is a great event. We are in discussions about the future of the event with the promoter and the Tour."

It's not just Casey and Kaymer who have been given sanctions, with the DP World Tour confirming that fines and suspensions have been issued to 26 players for going against conflicting event releases and playing in LIV Golf and LIV-backed Asian Tour events.

The fines are on a case-by-case basis and range from £25,000-£100,000 for each individual breach, the DP World Tour explains, with the suspensions reaching a maximum of eight tournaments, starting with the $2million Porsche European Open. 

Because of the sanctions being imposed, many players and legends of the circuit have given up their memberships, with Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood quitting recently, as well as former European Ryder Cup captain, Henrik Stenson, who stated that: "They left me with no other choice so I have resigned."

In the first of what is expected to be a run of further resignations, Henrik Stenson has quit the DP World Tour in the wake of the sanctions imposed on players who joined LIV Golf.

The DP World Tour imposed fines and suspensions on 26 players who played in LIV Golf events, with sums of £25,000-£100,000 for each event played in.

It comes after players were hit with £100,000 fines for playing in the inaugural LIV Golf event in London, and it’s proved to be enough for European stalwart Stenson to resign from the DP World Tour.

Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Richard Bland quit last week, and now the man who was originally supposed to be European Ryder Cup captain this year has now cut his ties with the DP World Tour altogether.

“It is sad that it has come to this,” Stenson told Golf Digest. “But it is what it is and it certainly wasn’t unexpected. They left me with no other choice so I have resigned. That’s it.

“I don’t really feel like it will do any good to dig into this too deeply. I’m appreciative of what the tour has done for me over the years. But they have chosen how they want to view the future. And we have obviously done the same. Unfortunately, they don’t go together at this point.

The 47-year old Swede was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy after joining LIV Golf less than a year ago, and his resignation caps a whirlwind of change in less than a year.

Stenson says he found out via a letter about the latest sanctions – and says the Tour has really left him with no other choice.

“When Richard Bland, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia resigned last week, the tour said they would have a statement the next day,” Stenson added. “Then the next day they said the statement would actually come next week.

“There were rumours that would happen today and those rumours were right. I received a letter, as did all the other players involved, I hear. The tour has taken a stand on the LIV events we all played in and that left me with no decision to make really.”

Although Stenson says he has issues with how things have been handled by the DP World Tour, he has no intention of going public on those – and insists he does not want to cause any rifts so close to the Ryder Cup in Italy.

“I haven’t added up the numbers on how much I was fined,” he said. “It was anywhere between £50,000 and £75,000 per LIV event, which added up to a substantial amount.

“I don’t feel like me spilling the beans and airing my views on all this is actually going to be what I should do. Doing that is only going to make the situation even more infected than it already is.

“As was the case when I resigned the Ryder Cup captaincy, I have my views on a lot of things that have gone on. But out of respect for a lot of people and what they do - and even those I don’t totally respect - there is no point in me digging any deeper.

“There is less than half a year until the Ryder Cup so it is best I don’t say much other than to say I’ve resigned.”

Ryder Cup legends Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter resigned from the DP World Tour last week, and more LIV Golf players are reportedly set to follow.

According to The Telegraph’s Golf Correspondent James Corrigan, remaining DP World Tour members who play on the newer circuit face the prospect of £500,000 fines (approximately $630,000) this week for teeing it up on the newer circuit without the Tour’s permission.

The power to impose such fines has come the way of the DP World Tour following an arbitration hearing that ruled in its favour against LIV Golf players, who had hoped to continue playing on the Tour without facing sanctions.

LIV Golf players including Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey, Brandon Grace and Charl Schwartzel are still members of the DP World Tour, but there is increasing doubt as to how long that will remain the case given the punishments they face for continuing on the rival circuit. Indeed, the Telegraph reports that the latter two are particularly close to following Garcia, Westwood and Poulter in handing in their resignations.

Last year, it was revealed that LIV Golf would pay the fines of the 17 players who competed in its inaugural event in London, amounting to £1.7m, and it is reported that it transferred £700,000 to the DP World Tour before last week’s deadline, but didn’t specify which seven players the payment relate to. There is also uncertainty over whether LIV Golf would be willing to continue paying fines of players who wish to retain their memberships.

Nevertheless, according to a Telegraph source, several players remain keen to stay on the DP World Tour. The source revealed: “At the meeting the players held in the LIV event at Singapore a number made it clear that they wanted to retain their Tour memberships, but it is evidently going to be costly.

“Some reports said the players could be hit with bills of £1m each, but that was never likely. But the fines will be eye-watering, nonetheless, and could keep rising the more LIV events that they play in.”

The Telegraph also reports that, while Westwood and Poulter have settled their fines for their Centurion Club appearance, Garcia is yet to pay. Meanwhile, the Tour is also considering fining the trio for subsequent appearances for LIV Golf.

Following the resignations of the three players last week, the DP World Tour released a statement thanking them for their contributions to the Tour, but it also stressed that “their resignations… along with the sanctions imposed upon them, are a consequence of their own choices.”

This week, the players are preparing to compete in the LIV Golf Oklahoma event. Whether the field will contain more former DP World Tour players by could soon become clear.

Rory McIlroy admitted it's a "shame" Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter will never captain Team Europe in the Ryder Cup following their resignation from the DP World Tour.

The trio opted to quit what was formerly the European Tour in order to avoid further sanctions for joining LIV Golf, effectively ending their long and storied associations with the biennial contest that pits the best of Europe against America.

Westwood is a veteran of 11 Ryder Cups, while Garcia is the competition's record points-scorer. Poulter, meanwhile, earned himself the nickname 'The Postman' for his ability to produce his best golf in the match play showdown and in seven appearances, never lost a singles tie. 

McIlroy, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Saudi-funded breakaway circuit, was asked to comment on the news after an opening 68 at the Wells Fargo Championship.

"I think it's a shame that you've got the highest points scorer ever in the Ryder Cup [Garcia] and two guys [Poulter and Westwood] that when they look back on their career, that's probably going to be at least a big chunk of their legacy is the roles that they have played in the Ryder Cup for Europe," the Northern Irishman said.

"For those three guys to not captain Europe one day, it's a shame. But as the DP World Tour said in their statement, at the end of the day that was their choice and they knew that these were potentially going to be the consequences of those choices and of those actions and here we are.

"Yeah, it's certainly a shame."

McIlroy's words echo those of captain Luke Donald, who inherited the hot seat when Henrik Stenson opted to join LIV after the 150th Open at St Andrews. The Englishman admitted it was "sad" the saga had reached this point but welcomed the "clarity" it gave him with the 2023 edition at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome fast approaching.

"I played with all three and they've been stalwarts of, and given a lot to, both the Ryder Cup and European Tour," Donald said. "It is a shame. They've got a lot of history when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

"Ultimately this is their choice and I wish them well. They feel like this was the best choice for them and now I've got choices to make that are best for me. I have a little more clarity now. I know they're not an option to play in, or be any part of my team."

Lee Westwood has expressed his sadness at resigning from the DP World Tour, but still feels sanctions against him and his other LIV Golf colleagues were unjustified while hitting out at Keith Pelley for "jumping into bed" with the PGA Tour.

Westwood, along with Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland all resigned from the DP World Tour after being hit with fines for playing in the first LIV Golf event in London last year.

After Pelley’s organisation won an arbitration ruling in their favour, Westwood decided to call it quits on the DP World Tour after a stellar career – to avoid repeat fines and to try and move on from the entire sorry saga.

The 50-year-old told The Telegraph’s James Corrigan that he decided to pay his fine and move on, but still feels wronged by the entire situation.

 “I’ve had amazing times, including all those Ryder Cups,” Westwood told The Telegraph.

“I wouldn’t change those years for the world and feel I made a contribution to the tour. I never would have believed it had ended like this and there has to be a bit of sadness, of course.

“At my age, sure it was maybe easier to choose to resign. But this wasn’t a straightforward decision and not one I have taken lightly at all.

“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me. I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”

Westwood hit back at critics who say the LIV players knew they were risking their futures on the tour, saying that for years they’ve been allowed to play on the PGA Tour and internationally.

And the irony of a major problem being Saudi Arabia, where the DP World Tour hosted an event, is not lost on the Worksop golfer.

“People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments,” he said. “And they continue to do that.

“The way I view it is that, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis – a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play?”

I don’t want to play under that sort of regime

Another bugbear of the Englishman is the strategic alliance between the DP World and PGA Tour, again claiming that European golf is now merely a feeder tour for the American giant.

“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance. Check my old quotes, it’s all there.

“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith (Pelley) says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour. 

"The top 10 players on the tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this 'strategic alliance'.

“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime. Like, I always played on the Asian Tour, and got releases no problem. 

"But then they said I shouldn’t play in the Indonesian Open at the end of last year. Come on. No thanks, I don’t want to play that game. Anyway, I’ve said all this before. It should be obvious why I’ve resigned.”

Coming into Singapore, it was announced that Laurie Canter would be replacing Sam Horsfield in the Majesticks GC side, with Canter joining teammates Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson after Horsfield withdrew due to injury.

In 2023, the Majesticks side have struggled in the team format, with their best result being a sixth place finish in Orlando, with their other results being a tied 10th, two 11th place finishes, as well as being dead last in Tucson.

Bringing in Canter, the Englishman managed to finish second out of the Majesticks quartet and, on Sunday at Sentosa, he produced a hole-in-one at the par 3 17th hole as he secured a T27 finish.

Speaking after the hole-in-one, Canter revealed that: "I ended up going with a 7. I just missed it a little, so I was sort of screaming at it to stay in the air. And, yeah, I mean, when I watched it back, I couldn't believe how far it pitched on the green. So, I mean, yeah, I guess it's not the best shot I hit all day, but obviously delighted with the result."

He went on to add: "We couldn't see it go in because the..., it was just the way the light was on the green at the time. So kind of saw it bounce and heard like a sort of murmur that it was going to be a half-decent shot. And then everyone up at the green went mental at it. Yeah, we just had a bit of a laugh. Yeah, once we realized it went in we went nuts. First one in a tournament."

The ace is the third in LIV Golf history, with Matt Wolff making one back in 2022, and Chase Koepka making one in Adelaide just last week. In Australia, Koepka's hole-in-one came at the 'Watering Hole', with the American showered in beer as the surrounding fans went berserk.

LIV Golf’s debut in Australia was deemed a huge success by many of its players, but it didn’t go the way Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield had planned as the Englishman had to withdraw due to injury after the second round.

There is little time to recover before the next event in the schedule, this week’s tournament at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. Unfortunately for Horsfield, it comes too soon for him to line up alongside teammates Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson.

Replacing him in the line-up is a man already familiar to Poulter and Westwood, fellow Englishman Laurie Canter. In LIV Golf's inaugural tournament at London’s Centurion Club, Canter was on the same team as Poulter, Westwood and the man he replaces this week. He retained his slot for the second tournament, in Portland, Oregon, before being replaced by newcomer Henrik Stenson.

Following the Swede's arrival, Canter moved to Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks GC for the remainder of the season. He was then one of seven players dropped ahead of season two of the circuit, but has played three times in 2023, again on Cleeks GC, after Kaymer missed the start of the season with injury.

Canter has contributed relatively moderate results in his LIV Golf career so far, with two finishes of 11th his best in 2022 and his finish of 15th at LIV Golf Orlando his highest so far this year.

He rejoins a team that has failed to reach expectations in the four 2023 tournaments. Majesticks GC began the season in underwhelming fashion, finishing 11th at LIV Golf Mayakoba, and it got worse in the next event in Tuscon, where they finished bottom.

An improvement in Orlando saw the team reach sixth helped by Stenson’s finish of 11th in the individual event with Horsfield one place above him. Any optimism the team gained from that tournament would have been tempered in Australia, though, where Majesticks GC once again finished 11th to leave them bottom of the team standings heading into this week’s tournament.

On Thursday morning, it was confirmed that the DP World Tour had won its arbitration hearing against LIV Golf with Sport Resolutions announcing it has upheld the DP World Tour’s conflicting tournament release regulation and its ability to sanction members who breached it. 

With the announcement coming on the morning of The Masters, some attention has been taken away from Augusta National and, during the Sky Sports broadcast, former DP World Tour Board Member, Paul McGinley, explained that "it's a day tinged with sadness."

Speaking alongside Nick Dougherty and Butch Harmon, McGinley stated: "The Tour have got to protect their business, LIV is a rival tour. We've lost four tournaments, the members of the European Tour are playing four tournaments less that have gone over to the LIV/Asian Tour. We've also lost Valderrama, which was an iconic Ryder Cup venue. So, we surely have a right to protect our business and the Sport Resolutions have agreed with us that that is the case.

"You know, it's certainly a day tinged with sadness. I mean, we're talking about great players who have been stalwarts of the European Tour and they sued the European Tour, they felt they could play LIV and also come back and play both sides and the Resolutions have said no, you can't play both sides. If you do come back to the European Tour then there's obviously going to be sanctions. 

"I think this has got repercussions for all sports going forward, that the Administrative Bodies have a right to protect their business going forward. This is quite a big day for sport because many other sports going forward now will be able to use this Resolution as a platform for them in terms of how they run their sport."

Because of the sanctions, it is likely that we will never see the likes of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter featuring on the DP World Tour or, indeed, the Ryder Cup, ever again, with CEO of the European circuit, Keith Pelley, admitting its players now face a struggle to represent Team Europe in the Ryder Cup.

Despite there being scepticism that the DP World Tour will now lose some of its headline names, the CEO insists the future is bright for the DP World Tour amid suggestions the victory over LIV Golf could make the circuit weaker. 

Speaking after the announcement, Pelley claimed that: "Players haven’t played in their national opens because they’ve had contractual commitments to play on another Tour. When they’ve played in, and it’s been so very little, they’ve only played in high profile events with large, OWGR ranking points. 

"They've certainly not supported the other events on our Tour. So if the idea, if the decision had gone the other way and it would have opened the door for them to play more. I don't buy it. That door has been open since last July."

The DP World Tour has reportedly won the Sports Resolutions arbitration hearing that took place in London in February.

The week-long panel hearing related to the DP World Tour's position in suspending players and handing them £100,000 fines for going against declined release requests for playing the LIV Golf debut event at the Centurion Club.

"The DP World Tour has won the Sports Resolutions arbitration hearing against LIV players, whose £100,000 fines for playing in the inaugural LIV London event have been upheld," The Times' Tom Kershaw revealed on Twitter.

"They will be eligible for further fines and suspensions going forwards."

A verdict was reportedly delayed until April-June time, with it said to be announced on the Sports Resolutions website. As of yet, no verdict has been made public. It was initially expected to be announced on the Sports Resolutions website two-to-three weeks after the hearing was conducted at the start of February.

The Times report that a verdict will be officially announced "as early as Thursday afternoon" - just as the opening round of The Masters gets underway at Augusta National, where 18 LIV Golf players are in the field.

If the DP World Tour has indeed won, it means that it's the end of the road in the Ryder Cup for the likes of record points scorer Sergio Garcia and other legendary European names such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer.

The likes of Paul Casey, Thomas Pieters, Bernd Wiesberger, Sam Horsfield and Laurie Canter would also see their DP World Tour and Ryder Cup hopes ended.

It could also mean that LIV players looking for starts on the DP World Tour in order to earn world ranking points will likely not be able to. Patrick Reed, an honorary life member of the DP World Tour, may no longer be allowed to play on the circuit and big names such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau may only have the Asian Tour and golf's four Majors available to them in order to earn OWGR points.

Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will now know for sure that his team for September's clash in Rome will not include any LIV Golf players, with his 12-man team made up of six automatic qualifiers and six wildcard picks.

A spokesperson for the DP World Tour said: “Out of respect for the confidentiality of the process conducted by Sport Resolutions, we will make no comment on any aspect of the arbitration until the decision is formally announced.”

We wait to hear an official verdict.

Ian Poulter has said if Ryder Cup Europe chose not to have a LIV Golf player as captain then "shame on them" after answering fan questions on Instagram.

The Englishman was expected to be European captain for the 2025 match at Bethpage Black in New York but his future captaincy days seem numbered following Henrik Stenson's removal as 2023 skipper.

Poulter was asked if he thinks LIV Golf will last, with the fan saying they were "gutted" that the seven-time Ryder Cupper probably won't get a chance to captain Europe.

"LIV Golf League is here to stay it's only 30 rounds old," Poulter wrote on Instagram. "And every start up business takes time. I'm so proud to see how far it's come in such a short space of time. It's an incredible business and product and it will be incredible.

"And if the DP World Tour chose to not have any LIV golfer as captain after they have supported them and still do for over 25 years then shame on them. Sad but that's on them. Time will tell and once all the info is out things will change I'm sure."

Poulter's DP World Tour and Ryder Cup future is set to be decided soon when a verdict from the recent arbitration panel hearing is announced.

The decision is expected some time between April and June, relating to whether the DP World Tour could ban and fine players for going against declined release requests to play in the LIV Golf opener last year.

OTHER POTENTIAL FUTURE RYDER CUP CAPTAINS:

Graeme McDowell recently told Golf by Tour Miss that he would be "very disappointed" to not be a future Ryder Cup captain or vice-captain but says he has "accepted" the fact that his chances are likely gone. The Northern Irishman was a likely candidate for the 2027 match at Adare Manor.

Another guaranteed future captain who has joined LIV Golf is Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard, who is the Ryder Cup's record points scorer, has had a public fallout with Rory McIlroy, whom he said was "lacking maturity", and it seems he will never appear in the biennial match again.

Garcia told Marca in December that some Europeans have shown a lack of class.

“Because if there are three or four who if I'm there will be looking at me badly and do not want me there ... What do I bring to the team?,” he said on the Ryder Cup. “I really want to be there to be me, to be the Sergio who plays the Ryder, who loves and who puts an arm over everyone's shoulder to help.

“And if then you have people there who because you have decided to go to another Tour you are no longer their friend, you are the bad one, you are the one such or that, that has disappointed me and has taught me that really those people who thought they were friends of mine are not.

“Jon [Rahm] is not one of them, but there are others who have shown very little class."

LIV Golf Tuscon 2023 Live Stream

LIV Golf is back for a second season in 2023 with the Saudi-backed venture looking to gain momentum heading into the 2nd event in Arizona.

The second event takes place in the United States, specifically on the Gallery Golf Club in Tuscon. The South Course here was used for the WGC Match Play in 2007 and 2008 but has not been used by an event at this level since.

Two players have won a professional golf tournament at The Gallery Golf Club and they are Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson. Stenson is in the field this week, and along with the likes of Paul Casey, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, and, Charles Howell III will have an experience advantage, having seen this course in 2007 and 2008 at the WGC Match Play.

Last time out Charles Howell III won at Mayakoba along with his Crushers team featuring Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey and Anirban Lahiri.

For those of you unaware, LIV Golf features 54-hole competitions, which includes 48 players competing in 12 teams of four with shotgun starts. So then, how do you watch it? The schedule and streaming details are below. 

• 17-19 March: Gallery Golf Club, Tucson, United States
• 31 March-2 April Orange County National, Orlando, United States
• 21-23 April Grange Golf Club, Adelaide, Australia
• 28-30 April Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore
• 12-14 May Cedar Ridge Country Club, Tulsa, United States
• 26-28 May Trump National Golf Club, Washington DC, United States
• 30 June-2 July Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande, Andalucia, Spain
• 7-9 July Centurion Club, St Albans, UK
• 4-6 August Old White Golf Course, Greenbrier, United States
• 11-13 August Trump National Bedminster, United States
• 22-24 September Rich Harvest Farms, Chicago, United States
• 20-22 October Trump National Doral, United States
• 3-5 November Royal Greens Golf Course, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

How to watch LIV Golf

LIV has signed a TV deal with The CW network in the United States. The first round of action will be available on The CW App and you will need to subscribe to watch, and to download the app of course. The second and third rounds will be available on The CW, as well as the app.

The CW network is only available in the United States but to get around this geo-blocking we recommend taking a look at a VPN below because it allows you to watch, regardless of where you are in the world. 

For viewers outside of the US, LIV can be streamed for free on the newly-launched LIV Golf Plus app and LIVGolfPlus.com website.

LIV Golf Tuscon 2023 Live Stream: How to watch from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch golf in 2023, including in the US, UK and almost anywhere else in the world. As we mentioned above, the CW Network will broadcast the LIV event but, for anyone away from their home country, you can still watch the action by using VPNs.

VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking and let you watch the same legal, high-quality golf live stream you would at home.

ExpressVPN is one of the best out there. It's easy to use, boasts strong security features, is very easy to setup and is compatible with most major streaming devices, including the  Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation.

Best of all, ExpressVPN comes with a 30 day money-back guarantee. This is the #1 rated VPN in the world right now. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get 3 months absolutely free.

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example

1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service) 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. 

Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing. 

LIV Golf is gearing up for the second event of its 2023 season, and they will do so buoyed by some of the criticism being targeted at the PGA Tour at the moment. Whether this will translate to any increase in interest in the LIV Golf League itself remains to be seen, but there is certainly a growing sense of unrest surrounding the PGA Tour at the moment, which can only work in LIV's favor for now.

This week, LIV heads to Tucson, Arizona, and more specifically The Gallery Golf Club in Marana. The South Course here was used for the WGC Match Play in 2007 and 2008 but has not been used by an event at this level since. Will the veterans in this field benefit from their previous knowledge of the course, or will current form be most important? Let's find out below.

Before we get into our picks for the LIV Golf Tucson event, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for LIV Golf Tucson. With the offers below, you can turn $11 into $765 guaranteed, or you can use one of the HUGE first bet offers, to wager with more confidence on your LIV Golf selections this week.

LIV Golf Format

If you are still yet to watch a LIV event but are planning on tuning in this week, this is what you can expect.

48 players will tee it up in 54 holes of strokeplay, with an individual and a team leaderboard running simultaneously. Each individual player in this event is part of a four-man team, and their play directly impacts their team leaderboard as well. The idea is to have multiple players from your team contending on the week, and most importantly you want the winning player on your team.

Who Won the First LIV Event of the Season?

Charles Howell III won the first event of the season in Mexico and his team Crushers GC also won the Team Event, as both Howell III and Paul Casey (4th) finished high up the leaderboard.

LIV Golf Tucson Course Preview

• Par 71
• 7,469 Yards

The South Course at The Gallery Golf Club, Marana, was used in 2007 and 2008 for the WGC Match Play event, first won by Henrik Stenson, and then the following year by Tiger Woods.

It is hard to put much stock into those results for two reasons. One, both of those players have historically been two of the best in the game, and two, playing match-play events, versus stroke play is very different.

There is talk that the South Course at The Gallery Golf Club is similar to Pinehurst No.2, given its mounded greens and large fairways. With that in mind, and the fact it has hosted two WGCs in the past, chances are, former major winners or contenders are going to be favored at this sort of layout.

John Fought designed this course, and he was also responsible for the Pumpkin Ridge course that LIV played in Portland last year. Branden Grace won that week.

Fought was also responsible for The Country Club of Jackson, which is used each year for the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour. Course winners there include Sergio Garcia and Sebastian Munoz.

LIV Golf Tuscon Key Stats

• Greens in Regulation - You are going to need to hit greens with regularity here, in order to stand a chance of making the birdies you need to contend. 
• SG Approach - Just hitting greens though won't be enough. With many greens elevated and large in stature, there will be a premium on hitting the right part of the greens as well.
• Driving Accuracy - Whilst the fairways are some of the most generous in the state, it will be particularly penal if you find the desert, as hazards like Cacti can get in your way. Finding fairways, no matter how big they are, is important.

Former Course Winners in the Field at LIV Golf Tucson

Two players have won a professional golf tournament at The Gallery Golf Club, Marana, and they are Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson.

The latter is in the field this week, and along with the likes of Paul Casey, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, and, Charles Howell III will have an experience advantage, having seen this course in 2007 and 2008 at the WGC Match Play.

Can the former the first player to win a WGC at this golf course also be the first to win an event here on the LIV Tour? If you think so, Henrik Stenson is available to bet at +4000 on Bet365.

LIV Golf Tucson Picks and Predictions: Outright Winner

Paul Casey +1400 (Bet $100 to collect $1,500) The best odds for this Paul Casey pick are at Bet365

Paul Casey had a disappointing 2022, suffering from injuries, and then a loss of form as he adjusted to a new golf league.

In 2023 though he has already started to get things back on track, having finished 5th at the Saudi International event two starts ago, before finishing 4th at the LIV Golf opener, in Mayakoba.

Casey is one of 7 players who played this course in both 2007 and 2008 for the WGC Match Play. Casey made his way to the fourth round in 2007, before being beaten by Geoff Ogilvy, but that meant he beat three players, including Mike Weir and Colin Montgomerie. 

In 2008, Casey fared ok again winning two matches before losing out to K.J. Choi. Choi went on to lose to the eventual winner, Tiger Woods.

Given his strong current form and his prior knowledge of The Gallery Golf Club, I see no reason why Paul Casey cannot pick up a first win on LIV, and the second for his Crushers GC team on the season.

As an added bonus, Casey went to Arizona State University, so has a strong affinity with this area.

Peter Uihlein +2800 (Bet $100 to collect $2900) The best odds for this Peter Uihlein pick are at Bet365

Peter Uihlein has finished 2nd in three of his past four starts on LIV and it is now time for him to get his first win.

That sort of consistency is what got him traded to the 4 Aces team in the first place, and he spoke of his desire to impress his new teammates right away.

It was almost the perfect start for Uihlein who went into the final round in Mexico in the lead, but after a couple of tough holes and a charge from Charles Howell III, the American had to settle for 2nd place in the end.

Loving life on the LIV Tour, Uihlein has certainly found some of his best form in years, and now he will be looking to turn that into a trophy this week.

There is no reason to think Uihlein's form will stop any time soon, so let's give him a chance here again, at a big price.

Once boasting the strongest and most competitive field in all of golf, with so many big names missing this year, including the defending champion, has the Players Championship lost the right to be branded as the fifth Major?

It’s still the PGA Tour’s flagship event staged over an iconic TPC Sawgrass with one of the most famous finishing stretches in all of golf, but there’s no doubting the field is lacking from previous years.

Most notably, of course, is the fact that for the first time since 2014 the reigning Players champion won’t be defending his title, with Cameron Smith part of the LIV Golf party banned from playing PGA Tour events.

The entire top three from last year’s leaderboard are missing, with Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey also part of the banned LIV Golf group, and five of the overall top 12 won’t be teeing it up in Jacksonville this week.

Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer are all previous champions who will be absent, while you could argue any tournament without the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka is weaker for their omission.

What makes the Players Championship a special event?

In truth, I’ve never really liked the fifth Major tagline anyway, so would not be too sad to see it go – after all the Majors are the Majors, right? There’s four of them in the men's game and that’s just fine, we really don’t need to be adding a fifth one, even unofficially.

And maybe now with the new designated events assembling the PGA Tour’s best players more regularly, not to mention the big-name LIV absentees, dropping the boast of it having the strongest field in golf doesn’t necessarily detract from the overall spectacle.

Justin Thomas echoed the sentiments of many of the players this week, when discussing what the tournament means to them and the lack of LIV players this year.

“I do not think that this tournament will lose that separation,” said the 2021 champion. “It's a special week. It's our championship. It's our tournament. It's a place I look forward to coming every year.”

And one way in which Thomas can explain the magnitude of the event is in the nerves he felt when tackling that incredible finishing stretch, which in itself is an almighty challenge even when the tournament isn’t on the line.

“To me, the nerves that I had playing the last couple holes here versus the last couple holes at another tournament that I've won is different,” he added. “You have more nerves and it means more at this because it's a bigger tournament.”

Iconic Sawgrass the secret sauce that makes the Players 

And so removing the taglines, if looking at what really makes a tournament what it is, you’re looking at how seriously players take it, the standing of it within the game, it’s history and most likely the course it’s played on.

Would Augusta National be quite such an iconic course if it held the Masters on rotation or even once every five years or so? Probably not, as the allure of it is that we know all about the venue, and the history of the tournament is entwined with that of the course.

We’ve seen Green Jackets won and lost around that closing stretch, hopes dashed in the water at 12, fortunes made by chip-ins at 16 and highlight reel recoveries out of the pine straw that beggar belief.

And it’s a similar story with TPC Sawgrass, notably with the island green on 17 that has even the strongest knees in professional golf knocking at the thought of having to step up on that tee box and find what must look like an ever-decreasing land mass in what seems like an ocean.

Then we’ve got the 18th with yet more vast gallons of water down the left but bailing out often leads to tree trouble down the right – it’s one of the strongest mental tests in golf, and we’ve seen it make and break golfers down the years.

Isn’t that what makes a tournament? The drama, the excitement, the history and tradition of years of success and failure over an iconic 18 holes – that’s what makes a tournament, and this tournament, so special.

And as Thomas put it, it’s their event, it’s the PGA Tour’s flagship and after coming under such a huge attack from LIV Golf and circling the wagons recently, perhaps this year more than any other it carries that extra significance – regardless of who is or isn’t playing.

Did it diminish the Open when Rory McIlroy hurt his ankle and became the first champion in 61 years not to defend his title? Was the Masters second-rate because Dustin Johnson fell down the stairs in 2017?

The fact is a tournament of this stature stands by itself, it should be bigger than its field, and even though in an ideal world we’d like to see all the big names playing, the Players will provide plenty of excitement, has plenty of big names and will no doubt include a thrilling finish.

Whether you want to call it a fifth Major or not.

The decision from February's Arbitration Panel Hearing at Sports Resolutions in London is expected to "drag on longer than expected" according to the Daily Mail's Chief sports feature writer Riath Al-Samarrai.

Samarrai and Sportsmail report that the "latest working estimate" is that the decision will be somewhere in the region of two-to-four months, meaning it could come as late as June.

It was initially expected to be announced on the Sports Resolutions website two-to-three weeks after the one-week panel hearing was conducted at the start of February.

The hearing was related to the DP World Tour's ability to ban and fine players for going against their denied releases for playing in the LIV opener last year. A number of players had their release requests denied for the Saudi-backed debut at Centurion Club last June but played anyway.

The delayed decision means that Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will have to wait longer to know for sure whether the LIV rebels will be allowed to play their way onto his European team, which will be made up of six automatic qualifiers and six wildcard picks.

As it stands, the LIV Golf players are well outside of the qualification spots but a LIV win from the hearing would mean that they can continue plying their trade on the DP World Tour right up until the Ryder Cup. If the decision goes in favour of the DP World Tour, it would likely spell the end of the road on the DP World Tour and in the Ryder Cup for players including Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey.

It seems unlikely that any would receive wildcard picks from Donald following comments made by Rory McIlroy last year. The Northern Irishman stated: “I have said it once, I've said it a hundred times, I don't think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team. I think we were in need of a rebuild, anyway. We did well with the same guys for a very long time but again as I just said, everything comes to an end at some point."

World No.1 Jon Rahm has a slightly different outlook than McIlroy, as does Matt Fitzpatrick, who wants the team to be made up of the best players possible, LIV or not.

While Rahm would like his compatriot and partner from Whistling Straits last time out, Sergio Garcia, on the side, he admitted on the No Laying Up podcast that he thinks the decision has already been made to exclude the LIV players.

"I think the Ryder Cup posted a video of [Francesco] Molinari on his birthday, right? Like they were doing that," Rahm told No Laying Up. "The day before I knew it was Sergio’s birthday and they didn't do it, so I think the decision has been made for me."

The 2023 LIV Golf League got underway in Mexico last week, the first of the 14-event $405m season.

Ian Poulter will attempt to qualify for the 151st Open Championship at next month's World City Championship in Hong Kong, taking place on the Asian Tour.

The event will offer up four places in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in July, with the LIV player hoping to book his spot in the oldest Major for the 21st time.

Poulter will be joined by fellow Majesticks teammate Henrik Stenson, although the Swede is in the Open already thanks to his stunning triumph at Royal Troon in 2016. Other LIV Golf players may also opt to tee it up in the event, taking place at Hong Kong Golf Club from 23-26 March.

Poulter told the Telegraph at the LIV Golf League opener in Mexico last week that he is regarding Hong Kong as "my qualifier for The Open", with LIV players' futures on the DP World Tour yet to be decided following the Arbitration Panel Hearing at Sports Resolutions earlier in the month.

“Without knowing the outcome of the hearing, I am regarding Hong Kong as my qualifier for The Open," Poulter told The Telegraph. "I don't want to miss Hoylake, but that might prove my only chance. If I do not make it, people will probably say, ‘well, that’s the end of him’. It wouldn't be. I’ll keep battling. I’m back to my fighting weight after all.”

Poulter, who won the 2010 Hong Kong Open, said: “Hong Kong is one of my favourite places and I am looking forward to coming back to Asia’s World City for the inaugural WCC.”

The Englishman currently ranks 149th in the world. His best Major finish came in the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where he was runner-up to Padraig Harrington.

Henrik Stenson has defended his move to LIV Golf and insisted that the circuit is held to different standards than other organisations.

Questions have been raised about the morality of playing for the Saudi-funded organisaion considering the kingdom’s appalling human rights record. 

However, speaking to the Saudi-funded venture to i’s Kevin Garside, the 2016 Open champion insisted that, in many cases, there is hypocrisy at play, pointing to the recent football World Cup Qatar as an example.

He said: “Where do you draw the line? You have people shouting recently about Qatar, about workforce abuses, plus conditions, accidents that led to death. You can’t scream and shout about that then go to Dubai, lie on a beach and think everything’s lovely. It is the same workforce that built the hotels in Dubai. I lived there for 10 years. People get so targeted on one area they can’t see the bigger picture.”

Stenson also addressed the issue of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, and pointed out that it is not alone in employing it - including the country where much of the PGA Tour takes place. He said: “I am open to sensible discussions on these things. We all have different views right? We are talking about executions. We have that in the US. Do we stop playing there?

“China executes more people than the rest of the world combined. Not once have I been questioned about that when I have played there. Yes we acknowledge the overall picture is not perfect [in Saudi] but we believe we have an opportunity to bridge some gaps and influence in different ways.”

Stenson wasn’t finished there and also drew attention to the fact that Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV Golf has business interests in plenty of other areas. He said: “The investors and owners of this business are doing business all over the world, yet we are the ones being held to account in a way others are not. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Stenson, who is competing in LIV Golf Mayakoba at El Camaleon Golf Club, then talked about the way LIV has shaken up the top of the game. He said: “In major league baseball there is agreement between players and organisation that so much of revenue goes into prize funds.

“There have been discussions about how that subject has been handled over the years in golf and the PGA Tour in particular. I think it could have been a more balanced set-up. And there is no question the PGA Tour has been picking up all the talent from all over the world and keeping it. Other parts of world has seen and felt that.”

Finally, Stenson turned his attention to the perception that because LIV Golf tournaments are played over 54 holes rather than 72, it is an easier proposition than  the established tours. 

He said: “It’s like saying tennis outside the majors is not proper tennis just because they play three-set matches. Other sports are evolving too. I’m Swedish. Cross country skiing is in our veins. It went from the 50k grind to the stadium events, quicker finish. There is enough in the golf for both. Besides they still rank tournaments with 54 holes elsewhere. I thought the system ranked irrespective of what tour you are on. We are still beating world-class players.”

The Swede's remarks on the perceived hypocrisy of LIV Golf's critics bear similarities with its CEO Greg Norman, who, last September, accused the PGA Tour of hypocrisy over its sponsors in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored.

Veteran caddie Billy Foster says he’d like to see the European Ryder Cup stalwarts who joined LIV Golf still involved in the event this year, even if just as part of Luke Donald’s backroom staff.

Henrik Stenson was meant to be European captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone GC in Rome in September, before he had to give up the role after joining LIV Golf.

The likes of Lee Westwood, record Ryder Cup points scorer Sergio Garcia and even ‘The Postman’ himself Ian Poulter all joined LIV in a move that seemingly ended their hopes of playing any further part in the tournament.

The legal case on whether the DP World Tour can ban LIV players from competing in their events and from making the Ryder Cup is ongoing, but the veterans were likely being lined up as future captains over the next few years.

Now on the bag of US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Foster told Garrett Johnston on his Beyond The Clubhouse podcast that he feels the Ryder Cup stalwarts playing for LIV should have some involvement in the competition.

“Personally I’d like to see the likes of Westwood, Stenson, Poulter, Garcia still be involved in Ryder Cups,” Foster said on Beyond The Clubhouse.

“Alright, it’s at a stage where they might not be playing anymore, but they’ve certainly given so much over the last 20 years, inside the locker room and on the golf course just to not include them for their experience, even if it’s in the backroom staff or whatever, I’d still love to see those guys involved.

“Maybe I don’t know enough about it, and maybe there is a lot of bitter and twistedness and guys not liking them going to that side and coming back in.

“But they’re very inspirational European players and to not include them, for me, I wouldn’t be doing it, I would include them.”

Foster is also among the group of people in the game that feel LIV Golf players should be allowed to play in DP World Tour events, to make sure the best players in the world are involved.

“Personally I just like to see the best players – the PGA Tour is a different animal I know that, but in Europe, for me, would you like to see some very average players, I’m not naming names, or would you like to say, well, actually what if Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter want to play in Wentworth or wherever it is. I’m sure the public would love to see them.

“Some guys on both sides of the pond think those guys that have left, why should they make fortunes on LIV and then come and cherry pick where they play. But what the answer is, I don’t know.”

Thomas Pieters has revealed that he decided he wanted to join LIV Golf last summer, but only got the chance at the last minute due to an injury to Hudson Swafford.

The Belgian had risen to number 34 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to propel himself back into the Ryder Cup reckoning, but made the move to LIV Golf just a week before the new season begins in Mexico.

Pieters told The Telegraph that he had made the decision to join LIV Golf last summer, but only got a late opportunity when American Swafford suffered a hip injury that would see him miss most of the season.

“I had a call on Thursday not even a week ago, asking if I wanted Hudson’s spot,” Pieters told The Telegraph’s golf correspondent James Corrigan.

“To be truthful, in my heart, I decided last summer that I wanted to join LIV. But it was not until a few days ago I got the opportunity.

“You don’t wish ill on anyone and I hope Hudson gets recovered soon, but as a professional you have to grasp chances when they arise.

“Of course, I have done this with my family and our daughters (Florence and June, aged two and three months) at the forefront of our thinking. It has been a whirlwind since then, really, sorting everything out and getting everything ready over the weekend. I had to tell everybody, for one thing.”

Pieters made a sparkling Ryder Cup debut in 2016 with a rookie-record four points out of five in a losing European effort at Valhalla, but has not been back in the team since.

With the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and, worst of all, supposed European captain Henrik Stenson all joining LIV, the hosts will have plenty of new faces for Rome in September.

Pieters, then, was making a move up the rankings and well-fancied to get in given how well he played on American soil in 2016, and he admits that it was a big blow having to tell Luke Donald that he was joining LIV.

“I swapped texts with Luke, but he is in a tough position isn’t he,” Thomas added. “It was a difficult decision for me, for sure. The Ryder Cup has always been an ambition and it was a dream to play in 2016. I’ve been trying to get back ever since.

“I enjoyed the Hero Cup last month and naturally would love to be in Rome. But I accept the consequences of this choice, whatever they turn out to be.”

With the legal case still ongoing on whether the DP World Tour can ban LIV Golf rebels, it seems highly unlikely that anyone in Greg Norman’s outfit will play in the Ryder Cup – but Pieters will not give up hope.

“I haven’t given up on playing in it again, including this year even,” Pieters said. “We will have to see. I could still qualify. I’m in all the majors this year.

“Well, I hope the US Open. Maybe, I can play so well until that it’ll make it very difficult not to pick me. I don't know. Maybe that will not be possible.”

Pieters is keen to emphasise that the lighter playing schedule is better for him both professionally as a golfer but also as a father of young children.

With his home still back in Antwerp in Belgium, Pieters says that even with a more global LIV schedule, playing fewer tournaments is much better for him both on and off the course.

“I have never wanted to play full-time on the PGA Tour, because I don't think you can do that and live where I want,” said Pieters.

“With LIV it is eight weeks in America, sure, but with 14 in total that is preferable for me and my game. Of course, with the two daughters it is all attractive.

“I’ve struggled playing 26 events a year, to be honest. The best season Adam (his caddie Adam Marrow) and I have had was last year when I  played only 19 and before when it was only 22 or something. As a father it suits me to have a lighter schedule, but also as a golfer.”

Pieters has been brought in to join Bubba Watson's RangeGoats side in the LIV Golf League, playing alongside Harold Varner III and Talor Gooch.

Phil Mickelson is set to unveil a new-look LIV Golf team on Friday, with Bernd Wiesberger and Matthew Wolff leaving his Hy Flyers quartet.

The Hy Flyers finished the inaugural season with a line-up of Mickelson, Wiesberger, Wolff and Cameron Tringale, but both Wiesberger and Wolff are no longer part of the team.

Wiesberger has joined Martin Kaymer's Cleeks GC, replacing Laurie Canter, while Matthew Wolff has joined Brooks Koepka's Smash GC, replacing Peter Uihlein.

A total of eight teams have been confirmed for the LIV Golf League that starts next week, with Mickelson's Hy Flyers set to be unveiled on Friday along with Kevin Na's Iron Heads, Bubba Watson's Range GOATs and Louis Oosthuizen's Stinger.

Oosthuizen is reportedly adding a new member to the side in the form of two-time DP World Tour winner and PGA Tour rookie Dean Burmester. The South African is said to be joining his countryman's side according to The Times.

If the report is true, Burmester would be at least the third new signing for LIV in 2023 after South Americans Mito Pereira and Sebastian Munoz were unveiled as part of Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC team.

Journalist Matias Miguel Torge has also reported that Danny Lee could be joining LIV.

It's unclear as to whether Mickelson will unveil brand new signings to his team or whether other LIV players from last year will join up. As things stand, the likes of Talor Gooch, Laurie Canter, Scott Vincent, Wade Ormsby and Adrian Otaegui have been replaced on their teams so could fill the vacant spots. We'll find out the full LIV roster on Friday.

LIV Golf Teams announced so far...

Torque

• Joaquin Niemann (c)
• Sebastian Munoz
• Mito Pereira
• David Puig

4 Aces

• Dustin Johnson (c)
• Patrick Reed
• Pat Perez
• Peter Uihlein

Smash

• Brooks Koepka
• Chase Koepka
• Jason Kokrak
• Matthew Wolff

Majesticks

• Ian Poulter (co-captain)
• Henrik Stenson (co-captain)
• Lee Westwood (co-captain)
• Sam Horsfield

Crushers

• Bryson DeChambeau (c)
• Paul Casey
• Charles Howell III
• Anirban Lahiri

Cleeks

• Martin Kaymer (c)
• Bernd Wiesberger
• Graeme McDowell
• Richard Bland

Fireballs

• Sergio Garcia (c)
• Abraham Ancer
• Carlos Ortiz
• Eugenio Chacarra

Ripper

• Cameron Smith (c)
• Marc Leishman
• Matt Jones
• Jed Morgan

Colombia's Sebastian Munoz and Chile's Mito Pereira have been confirmed as new signings ahead of the LIV Golf League starting later this month.

Munoz and Pereira had both previously been reported as potential LIV Golf signings and the news has now been officially announced, with the duo joining Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC along with Spaniard David Puig.

It means that LIV is now home to the three best South American male golfers in the world, Niemann, Pereira and Munoz, as well as the two best Mexican male golfers in the world too, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.

Puig, who played on Sergio Garcia's Fireballs team last year, has reportedly only been guaranteed the first seven events of the 14-event league according to Madrid-based journalist Hugo Costa.

Munoz currently ranks 96th in the world and has one PGA Tour title to his name after winning the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship. Pereira currently ranks 46th in the world and wasn't able to win in his rookie season on the PGA Tour last year, where he agonisingly missed out on victory at the PGA Championship with a double bogey on the 72nd hole.

Pereira features in the new Full Swing Netflix docuseries, where his PGA Championship close-call features prominently in Episode 7: Golf is Hard.

A total of four LIV Golf teams were confirmed on Wednesday, with a further four to be released on Thursday and four more on Friday. Shake-ups have been confirmed to both the champions 4 Aces and Brooks Koepka's Smash GC as well as Niemann's new-look Torque team.

Talor Gooch has been replaced by Peter Uihlein for Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces, leaving Brooks Koepka's Team Smash. Former World No.1 amateur Uihlein finished third in the individual race last year, behind Branden Grace in second and his new captain Dustin Johnson in first.

Matthew Wolff has left Phil Mickelson's Hy Flyers and joined Brooks and Chase Koepka as well as Jason Kokrak in the Smash quartet.

Majesticks GC, co-captained by Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood, has remained the same for 2023, with Sam Horsfield making up the fourth spot on the side.

The LIV Golf League gets underway in Mexico at the Mayakoba resort from February 24.

LIV Golf League teams announced so far...

Torque GC

• Joaquin Niemann (c)
• Sebastian Munoz
• Mito Pereira
• David Puig

4 Aces GC

• Dustin Johnson (c)
• Patrick Reed
• Pat Perez
• Peter Uihlein

Smash GC

• Brooks Koepka
• Chase Koepka
• Jason Kokrak
• Matthew Wolff

Majesticks GC

• Ian Poulter (co-captain)
• Henrik Stenson (co-captain)
• Lee Westwood (co-captain)
• Sam Horsfield

Justin Rose is back in the winner's circle for the first time in four years and looks set to mount a charge to make his sixth appearance for Team Europe.

The Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner could bring some much-needed experience to Luke Donald's side that looks set to be without the likes of Ryder Cup legends including Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Rose has admitted that the LIV players "will be missed" on both sides this year at Rome's Marco Simone Golf and Country Club but the biennial match won't be "devalued" without them.

"There is so much strength in depth I don't think it will be devalued," he said of the possibility that LIV Golf players will miss out.

"People like watching Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter. They bring a lot of passion. They will be missed for sure but it is what it is.

"You have the powers that be, the traditional people who kind of still have control of golf, and you have an upstart league which is trying to bring in a fresh idea and rival product. It's all good either way, it's just can both fit together in this scenario."

Rose, who has remained with golf's traditional circuits to ensure he can still earn world ranking points and compete in Majors, also spoke of his friends Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson not being involved.

"Poults and Stenson have been partners of mine in many Ryder Cup matches and we've won an awful lot of points together so from that point of view, I'll miss them out there," he said.

"I have seen them socially. I still text and call guys. Everyone can make their own decision, I do not think badly of them for doing that and they are still my mates.

"There are going to be consequences to that decision and obviously the rulings will determine whether that is good or bad for them. One good thing from a Ryder Cup point of view is this decision will be done early enough and whatever the outcome, there's time for relationships to heal. Clarity is what most of us want."

Rose's Pebble Beach win has moved him up to 35th in the world and up to ninth in the European 'World Points' list as he look set to mount a charge for his sixth Ryder Cup appearance later this year. It would be his first since 2018 at Le Golf National after he missed out on the delayed 2021 match at Whistling Straits.

"Missing out there was a little bit of a sucker punch," he told the BBC. "You come off a period of time when you are number one in the world and not far removed from it but you can't get into the Ryder Cup team.

"That was definitely a moment where you're like 'well I know I'm not playing great but my peers know I'm not playing great', that was kind of a wake-up call. Those feelings aren't great but they are huge motivators as well."

The Englishman is set to make his next start at the upcoming Genesis Invitational at Riviera next week in Los Angeles.

Dustin Johnson will be unable to go for a third victory in the Saudi International after making a late withdrawal due to a back injury.

Johnson, who won the Saudi International in 2019 and 2021, has struggled with back problems before, most notably when having to pull out of the 2017 Masters. 

Johnson is now said to have tweaked his back again ahead of the Asian Tour event at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, which is sponsored by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) – the same organization that bankrolls LIV Golf. 

All 48 players who competed in LIV Golf's season-closing Team Championship in 2022 entered the Saudi International, which will now be down to 47 with Johnson's withdrawal.

Although the two-time champion is missing, there are still plenty of big names involved in the fifth edition of the event being held near Jeddah thanks to the LIV Golf group.

Defending champion Harold Varner III is joined by Open champion Cameron Smith and the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, and Paul Casey. 

As well as the event's $5 million prize purse, an added incentive for LIV Golf players is the availability of Official World Golf Ranking points in the tournament. 

The winner was projected to receive 26 ranking points before Johnson pulled out - but even without him it's still a potentially valuable haul given LIV Golf’s ineligibility to offer its players points.

Last year's title was decided in dramatic fashion as Varner III holed an incredible eagle putt of 92ft to clinch the trophy.

Saudi International 2023 Live Stream

The Saudi International returns for its fifth outing at Jeddah's Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, and, as in the previous four years, some of the world’s best players are in the field. The tournament is sponsored by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund – the same organization that bankrolls LIV Golf. 

Overall, the field features all 48 players who competed in LIV Golf's season-closing Team Championship in 2022, while there are appearances from other players who competed in its tournaments through the inaugural season. This means high profile players include Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, and Paul Casey. 

Additionally Cameron Young and Lucas Herbert were granted waivers by the PGA Tour to compete in the event at the Kingdom’s Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. So to miss none of the tournament, be sure to check out all of the 'how to watch' details below.

Saudi International Live Stream: How to watch from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch golf in 2023 including in the US, UK and almost anywhere else in the world. Below we have a full list of options but anyone away from their home country can still watch the action by using VPNs.

VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking and and let you watch the same legal, high-quality golf live stream you would at home. That means if you live outside the UK but want to watch the event, one way of doing so is getting a VPN, and using the FreeSports Player online.

ExpressVPN is one of the best out there. It's easy to use, boasts strong security features, is very easy to setup and is compatible with most major streaming devices, including the  Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation.

Best of all, ExpressVPN comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. This is the #1 rated VPN in the world right now. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get 3 months absolutely free.

US TV Schedule - 2023 Saudi International

All times EST

Thursday, February 2: 3am-5am, 6.30am-9.30am (Golf Channel)

Friday, February 3: 3am-5am, 6.30am-9.30am (Golf Channel)

Saturday, February 4: 4.30am-9am (Golf Channel)

Sunday, February 5: 4.30am-9am (Golf Channel)

NBC's Golf Channel will televise all the action during the week. Bearing this in mind you can access the Golf Channel through streaming options such as AT&T TV Now and fuboTV.

AT&T TV Now starts at around $55 a month but does have a 7-day free trial. While fuboTV also offers the Golf Channel and 100+ other channels and also has a 7-day free trial.

Australia TV Schedule - 2023 Saudi International

Thursday, February 2: 7pm-9pm, 10.30pm-1.30am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Friday, February 3: 7pm-9pm, 10.30pm-1.30am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Saturday, February 4: 7.30pm-12am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Sunday, February 5: 7.30pm-1am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

The PGA Tour coverage in Australia obviously means getting something great to watch early in the morning. As ever in Australia the most comprehensive golf coverage is offered by Kayo Sports where you can watch Fox Sports that broadcasts the PGA Tour coverage. Not only can you watch the Saudi Arabia action here, it has all the PGA Tour, European Tour events and the Majors. It also has events on the LPGA as well.

It of course also offers access to over 50 sports live and on-demand, with some its big name channels including Fox Sports, ESPN, and beIN Sports.

It's also fantastic value at either $25 for Kayo Basic or $35 for Kayo Premium. Basic lets you stream sport on two devices at once, while Premium allows you to watch on up to three screens simultaneously, so it represents great value if your household has different sporting tastes or you're splitting the cost of the subscription. There's even a free 14-day trial.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favorite streaming service just like they would at home can use a VPN to watch their PGA Tour live stream of choice.

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example

1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service) 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. 

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Ian Poulter was one of a number of experienced European players to join the breakaway, Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit for its opening season in 2022. Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell, all former European Ryder Cup stars, made the move across from the DP World Tour and PGA Tours.

In February, the Telegraph reported that Poulter was offered somewhere between $20 million and $30 million to sign up with LIV Golf.

That sign on fee was by no means the highest on offer for the LIV Golf recruits.

It appears that Phil Mickelson received the highest LIV signing fee – a reported $200 million, with the likes of Dustin Johnson receiving a sign-on fee north of $100 million, while Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Joaquin Niemann received an estimated $100 million.

When Dustin Johnson was asked at last year’s Saudi International whether he had received an offer similar to Poulter’s reported $30 million, DJ replied with a chuckle, “No, not similar,” … “It’s just not similar.”

In an interview with Fox News, LIV Golf Chief Executive Greg Norman suggested Tiger Woods was offered about $700 to $800 million to join the breakaway circuit. An offer he turned down.

According to a report by Forbes, the investment by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund boosted the earnings of the 10 highest-paid LIV golfers by an estimated $370 million.

How Much Did Ian Poulter Win on The 2022 LIV Circuit?

Poulter didn’t enjoy a particularly good individual first season on the LIV Golf tour, he failed to record a top-10. But his team, Majesticks GC (including Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Sam Horsfield and Laurie Canter) chalked up a couple of third placed finishes, plus a second to boost Poulter’s earnings. In total he won $3,03,333 through the season.

Ian Poulter is known for his Ryder Cup heroics. He has played in the great biennial event on seven occasions and has been a talisman for the European side, twice scoring four points in a Ryder Cup – in 2008 and 2012. He has eight top-10 finishes in Major championships and has won 12 times on the European or DP World Tour, including two WGC events.

The total prize fund in terms of purses and bonuses on the 2022 LIV Golf season was $255 million in 2022 and that is rising to $405 million in 2023 with the schedule expanded to 14 events.

The 2023 LIV season will see 14 regular LIV Golf events taking place. Each tournament will feature 48 players in 12 teams of four who will tee it up to play 54-holes in both individual and team competition.

The prize fund for each regular season event will be $25 million with $20 million to be shared between the individuals - $4 million for 1st place down to $120K for the 48th placed finisher (there’s no cut). $5 million will go to the team competition with prizes of $3million, $1.5 million and $500K going to the first three teams.