Paul Casey has withdrawn from LIV Golf Korea, with Travis Smyth taking his place in the field.

Casey was forced to pull out of the $30m event at Asiad Country Club in Busan due to a wrist injury.

Australian Smyth will replace the veteran Englishman in Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC team.

DeChambeau is the defending champion in Korea, with his Crushers also winning the team event in 2025 when it was held at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon.

Casey's withdrawal is the latest roster change for Korea - headlined by Tyrrell Hatton missing for Legion XIII with Max Rotluff standing in.

There was also a surprise when Danny Lee was demoted to a wild card, with Doyeob Mun taking his place on Korean GC.

Phil Mickelson also continues his absence due to a family health matter - and Scott Vincent keeps his place as stand-in for the HyFlyers.

Casey suffered from a wrist injury earlier in his career, but it's not known if his current problem is with the same area.

A social media post by the Crushers said casey was suffering from "discomfort in his wrist" so it's likely a precaution.

The 48-year-old is currently 34th in the individual standings and coming off his joint-best finish (T14) of the season last time out in Virginia.

Casey, who finished T29 in Korea last year, is still waiting for his first victory on LIV Golf, losing two playoffs in Hong Kong in 2024 and in Dallas last year.

Smyth will make his second LIV Golf start of the season after finishing T49 in Mexico as a wild card, while he also played the final round in Virginia as a sub for Danny Lee.

Smyth won the International Series Japan title earlier this year and was leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit before returning to LIV.

LIV Golf is back in the UK for the third consecutive year after its first ever event at the Centurion Club in June 2022.

The 54-hole circuit takes in JCB Golf and Country Club for the first time in what is set to be one of the circuit's standout events. The field includes the likes of US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau as well as LIV's other stars like Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka.

Paul Casey is one of those, with the veteran Englishman a winner of 15 European Tour titles through his career, where he made five Ryder Cup appearances.

Casey is happy to be back on home soil for the first time this year after not qualifying for The Open in Scotland last week, and he admits that the country is "starved" of golf compared to when he turned professional in the early 2000s.

"There's a huge appetite. As you know, golf in the UK is massive, one of the biggest golf markets in the world," Casey said ahead of the event, where grounds passes are sold out.

"Home game for me, which I'm very excited about, lots of friends and family coming up, even friends from up north coming down. I think we're going to have a lot of energy this week.

"I mean, the golf crowd in the UK are starved for golf, plain and simple. When I started playing it was six, seven professional events on various tours in the UK, and now there's a lot fewer than that. I'm expecting high energy, and they're going to have a wonderful time here at LIV UK."

'Olympics ranks right up there as one of the greatest things I've ever done'

Casey also spoke about next week's Olympics, which he is missing out on after making his Team GB debut last time out in Tokyo. Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick will represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 60-strong men's Olympic golf field.

The 47-year-old missed out on the bronze medal at Kasumigaseki Golf Club in a seven-man playoff and spoke of what the Olympics means to him as a golfer.

"I mean, let's focus on the hard bit of the playoff. To finish at the time tied third and then walk away with the Olympics with nothing is pretty sobering," he said.

"But it gave me an understanding of what it's like for Olympic athletes to sort of have something that you've worked so hard for, in our case, four years, and then sometimes your Olympic experience is quite humbling. 

"In our sport obviously very different, we play almost week in and week out. On the bright side, I've never been a part of anything like that, to represent your country at any level, and I've done it at an amateur level right through to professional. 

"The Olympics ranks right up there as one of the greatest things I've ever done, taking the results out of that. And that was a muted experience because it was Japan and it was COVID and we couldn't stay longer than our event lasted so you couldn't mingle the way you wanted to. Still, it was unbelievable. 

"Tommy [Fleetwood] was everything you could ever want for in terms of another teammate. I know we don't play as a team, but as my fellow Brit there on-site, and he and Matt [Fitzpatrick] this year, I think they're going to be absolutely fantastic for Team GB. 

"Part of me is actually very jealous because it really was something amazing, and I think Tommy and Matt have got a great chance of winning a medal, so I wish them all the best, and I'll be watching."

Casey currently ranks 13th in the LIV Golf League standings, with his Crushers GC side sitting second.

After a 26-month absence, LIV Golf player Paul Casey will return to the DP World Tour with an appearance at the Porsche Singapore Classic.

As first reported by Sporting Life's Ben Coley, Casey is appearing at the tournament, which takes place between 21 and 24 March, on a sponsor’s invite, marking his first start on the Tour since the January 2022 Dubai Desert Classic, where he finished T12.

Later that year, the Englishman joined LIV Golf, and he has only played two events away from the circuit since, each on the Asian Tour.

The tournament previously didn’t have a title sponsor, but that all changed in January with the announcement that the sports car manufacturer had signed a multi-year deal to put its name to the Laguna National Golf Resort Club event.

Casey has an association with Porsche going back to the 2020 US Open, when he became an ambassador for the brand and began carrying the logo on his bag. The 46-year-old also describes himself as a “Porsche fan” in his Instagram bio.

Casey has amassed 15 wins on the DP World Tour since 2001, with one of them coming at the 2019 Porsche European Open. The most recent of his 21 professional wins also came on the circuit at the 2021 Dubai Desert Classic.

While Casey is yet to claim his maiden LIV Golf win, he began his career on it strongly, with three top-10 finishes in his first season. Last year wasn’t as productive, though, with fourth at LIV Golf Mayakoba his best effort as he finished 35th in the individual standings. 

However, the 2024 season has started well for Casey, with two top-10 finishes from the opening four events, including a tie for second at last week’s LIV Golf Hong Kong. Casey will be hopeful that his next visit to the Far East yields similar success, which would also give him a welcome boost in the world rankings, where he currently stands 792nd having been 26th when he joined LIV Golf.

The Crushers GC player only needs to look at some of the performances of fellow LIV Golf players in recent DP World Tour events for inspiration. Five out of the first six DP World Tour events of the season were won by LIV golfers, with South Africans Dean Burmester and Louis Oosthuizen winning two each and Joaquin Niemann claiming the Australian Open title, all before the turn of the year.

Last year, Casey was handed a surprise invite to the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, but he later had to withdraw after aggravating toe and knee injuries. After pulling out, he said: “I feel awful that I get an invitation and then can’t play. I talked to [PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh] about it. He was great.” 

Considering his strong start to the season, and with his injury problems apparently behind him, Casey will be hoping for better luck as he prepares for his first DP World Tour start for over two years.

After Hideki Matsuyama claimed $4m for his win at the third of the PGA Tour’s signature events of 2024, the Genesis Invitational, it’s back to a regular event this week with the Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta.

As a result, many of the world’s best players have opted not to head south from LA, while the prize fund of $8.1m if significantly lower than the $20m available at the Riviera Country Club tournament.

Despite that, there is still an eye-catching first prize on offer, with the winner set to claim $1.458m – over half of the entire purse of $2.5m for the other big men’s tournament taking place this week, the Magical Kenya Open on the DP World Tour.

The purse is also $400,000 higher than the 2023 edition of the tournament, when Tony Finau held off the challenge of Jon Rahm to win $1.386m. This week’s runner-up will have the consolation of an $882,900 payday. There are also 500 FedEx Cup points for grabs.

Below is the full prize money payout for the 2024 Mexico Open at Vadanta Vallarta.

Mexico Open Prize Money Payout 2024

Who Are The Star Names In The Mexico Open?

Four of the world’s top 50 are competing at the tournament, including defending champion Tony Finau. Last year, the American beat Spaniard Jon Rahm to claim the trophy by three shots, and he will be confident of a similar outcome given he is the highest-ranked player in the field at World No.24.

Ten places beneath Finau in the rankings is Team Europe Ryder Cup player Nicolai Hojgaard, who is still looking for his maiden PGA Tour win. Will this be the occasion?

Emiliano Grillo, who won the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, and Ryan Fox who was one of 10 DP World Tour players to secure PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season, also play.

Rahm, who won the title in 2022, is unavailable after signing LIV Golf, and that also applies to Mexico’s two best players, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, but there is a place in the field for another Mexican, 2021 winner Alvaro Ortiz, whose three-shot win came in the tournament’s last as a PGA Tour Latinoamerica event.

Eight-time DP World Tour winner Thorbjorn Olesen, another member of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team, Robert MacIntyre, and Charley Hoffman, who finished runner up at the WM Phoenix Open, also play.

How To Watch LIV Golf Chicago live stream 2023

Sebastián Muñoz, who was one of five men sharing the lead after round one, now has the solo lead after his eight-under-par round on Saturday. He started his second round with three birdies before holing his second shot at the par-4 fifth hole from 123 yards for eagle in a  round which included only 21 putts. He made another eagle at the par-5 10th. Cam Smith is T29, Talor Gooch T6.

To make sure you miss none of the action, below are all the streaming and broadcast details on how to use a VPN to watch a LIV Golf Chicago live stream from wherever you are – including options to watch for free – as well as today's tee times and groups.

Talor Gooch was ahead in the individual standings for a large chunk of the season until he was overhauled by Cam Smith. Smith has won two of the last three LIV Golf tournaments and now has a 21pt lead over Gooch, and a 50pt one over third-placed man Patrick Reed.

In LIV Golf the top half of the finishers get points. The winner gets 40pts; 2nd place, 30pts; 3rd 24pts; right down to 21st to 24th who get a point each. So, in theory, nine men still have a statistical chance of winning the individual prize. But some of the nine require a whole series of results to go their way. For Smith, the route to seasonal glory is much clearer.

If Smith comes first or second in Chicago then it is only him or Gooch who can win. If Smith wins, Gooch must finish top 3 to retain an interest. If Smith comes second, then Gooch needs at least a top-9 finish.

If Smith comes third, then Reed retains a mathematical chance of finishing the season as top dog, so long as he wins in Chicago. A Smith third place will also mean that Gooch can still become Individual Champion so long as he finishes in the top 14.

Elsewhere in the field there will be interest the form of Brooks Koepka, the sole player from LIV appearing next week’s Ryder Cup. Only he and Robert MacIntyre, who is playing in the Open de France, are playing this week of the 24 Ryder Cup players.

Find out how to watch LIV Golf from anywhere, including all the details you need to watch a LIV Golf Chicago live stream, just below.

Watch LIV Golf Chicago: live stream in the UK

All times BST

Friday, September 22: 6.00pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, September 23: 6.00pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, September 24: 6.00pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

The LIV Golf Plus streaming service is the place to watch the Saudi-backed venture. It's completely free – provided you're willing to hand over your name and email address. You can also download the LIV Golf Plus app for iOS, Android, Apple TV and FireTV. 

Travelling outside the UK? You will need to use a VPN to unblock LIV Golf Plus. We've tested dozens of VPNs and find ExpressVPN to be the most reliable. Details just below.

Watch from anywhere on the planet

Watch LIV Golf Chicago Live Stream from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch LIV Golf in 2023, including free options in the US, UK and Australia. But what if you're on holiday, in a foreign country? Or maybe working overseas for a while?

Then you'll need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This simple, legal piece of software lets you to set your location to the UK, US, Australia or almost anywhere else on the planet – and thus unblock your local live stream.

ExpressVPN is our favourite. It's incredibly easy to use – you just press 'Connect' and it does the rest – and hugely reliable. There's even a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a whirl and see for yourself.

Watch LIV Golf Chicago: live stream in the US

All times EDT

Friday, September 22: 1.00pm-6.15pm ( LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, September 23: 1.00pm-6.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

Sunday, September 24: 1.00pm-6.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

LIV has signed a TV deal with the CW network in the United States. Friday's play will be shown only on the CW app, but the weekend action will be shown on Saturday and Sunday 1.00pm-6.00pm ET. The CW website and CW app are free to use, but they're only available when you're in the United States. To get around this geo-blocking we recommend taking a look at our top-rated golf VPN.

If you want to watch The CW live on your TV, you may need to sign up to a streaming service. Our top choice would be Fubo TV. Packages start from $74.99 a month, which isn't cheap, but new users get a 7-day free trial and there are no long contracts.

Finally, there's the option to watch free on LIV Golf Plus, which is now available to anyone Stateside.

Watch LIV Golf Chicago: live stream in Australia

All times AEST

Saturday, September 23: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Sunday, September 24: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Monday, September 25: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Channel 9 and the 7plus streaming service have the rights to show all 14 LIV Golf events in Australia. That means Aussies can watch every shot of LIV Golf Chicago live and for free.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favourite streaming service just as they would at home via ExpressVPN.

Watch LIV Golf Chicago live stream in Canada

All times EDT

Friday, September 22: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, September 23: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, September 24: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

In Canada, the LIV Golf rights belong to TVA Group, which means Canadians can watch the action live on Game TV. 

Prefer to watch online or on-demand? Head over to the LIV Golf Plus streaming service.

LIV Golf Chicago tee times and groups: Round 3

Leaders' groups, tee times (PDT/EDT/BST/AEST) and scores:

• 10.05am/1.05pm/6.05pm/3.05am T Gooch (-7), T Pieters (-8), A Ancer (-8)
• 10.05am/1.05pm/6.05pm/3.05am S Vincent (-6), M Leishman (-7), C Ortiz (-7)
• 10.16m/1.16pm/6.16pm/3.16am D Johnson (-8), A Lahiri (-10), S Muñoz (-13)

2023 LIV Golf calendar

• 20-22 October Trump National Doral, United States
• 3-5 November Royal Greens Golf Course, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Disclaimer

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. 

How To Watch LIV Golf Bedminster live stream 2023

Cameron Smith extended his lead at the top of the leaderboard to four shots when he birdied three of his last four holes on Saturday for a four-under 67. Phil Mickelson and Dean Burmester are in second. Mickelson has yet to win on the LIV tour. His best finish this season is 15th, and he stands 44th in this season’s rankings. Bryson DeChambeau added another 73 to his opening round 73.

To make sure you miss none of the action, below are all the streaming and broadcast details on how to watch a LIV Golf Bedminster live stream from wherever you are – including options to watch for free – as well as today's tee times and groups.

Henrik Stenson returns to the scene of his debut in LIV Golf and his one and only victory on this tour so far. Having abandoned the Ryder Cup captaincy in favour of LIV Golf, his 11-under total of 202 was enough for him to win by two strokes from Dustin Johnson and Matthew Wolff.

Another with only one win on the LIV circuit is Bryson DeChambeau, who won last week at LIV Golf Greenbrier. His win was as headline-grabbing as Stenson’s had been, as DeChambeau became the seventh man in professional golf to card a 58. The LIV Tour became the sixth tour to have a round of 58 on it, after the PGA Tour, the Japanese Tour, where it has happened twice, the Korn Ferry Tour, European Challenge Tour and the Canadian Tour.

For DeChambeau, who even managed to get a bogey into his 58, it was a sign that his form continues to surge. Having finished on average in 26th over the first five events of the LIV season, he has top-10 finishes in four of the following five events.

This is the 11th event of LIV’s 14-tournament season, and the second of three events scheduled at a Trump-owned venue. This Tom Fazio design is from the penal school of golf architecture, with many forced carries. It hosted the US Women’s Open of 2017. It was due to host the PGA Championship in 2022, which would have made it the first Trump-owned course to host a men’s Major. But following the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, the PGA of America moved this tournament to Southern Hills Country Club.

Find out how to watch LIV Golf from anywhere, including all the details you need to watch a LIV Golf Bedminster live stream, just below.

Watch LIV Golf Bedminster live stream in the UK

All times BST

Friday, August 11: 6pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 12: 6pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, August 13: 6pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

The LIV Golf Plus streaming service is the place to watch the Saudi-backed venture. It's completely free – provided you're willing to hand over your name and email address. You can also download the LIV Golf Plus app for iOS, Android, Apple TV and FireTV. 

Travelling outside the UK? You will need to use a VPN to unblock LIV Golf Plus. We've tested dozens of VPNs and find ExpressVPN to be the most reliable. Details just below.

Watch from anywhere on the planet

Watch LIV Golf Bedminster Live Stream from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch LIV Golf in 2023, including free options in the US, UK and Australia. But what if you're on holiday, in a foreign country? Or maybe working overseas for a while?

Then you'll need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This simple, legal piece of software lets you to set your location to the UK, US, Australia or almost anywhere else on the planet – and thus unblock your local live stream.

ExpressVPN is our favourite. It's incredibly easy to use – you just press 'Connect' and it does the rest – and hugely reliable. There's even a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a whirl and see for yourself.

Watch LIV Golf Bedminster live stream in the US

All times EDT

Friday, August 11: 1pm-6.15pm ( LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 12: 1pm-6.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

Sunday, August 13: 1pm-6.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

LIV has signed a TV deal with the CW network in the United States. Friday's play will be shown only on the CW app, but the weekend action will be shown on Saturday and Sunday 1pm-6pm ET. The CW website and CW app are free to use, but they're only available in the United States. To get around this geo-blocking we recommend taking a look at our top-rated golf VPN.

If you want to watch The CW live on your TV, you may need to sign up to a streaming service. Our top choice would be Fubo TV. Packages start from $74.99 a month, which isn't cheap, but new users get a 7-day free trial and there are no long contracts.

Finally, there's the option to watch free on LIV Golf Plus, which is now available to anyone Stateside.

Watch LIV Golf Bedminster live stream in Australia

All times AEST

Saturday, August 11: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Sunday, August 12: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Sunday, August 13: 3am-8.15am (7plus)

Channel 9 and the 7plus streaming service have the rights to show all 14 LIV Golf events in Australia. That means Aussies can watch every shot of LIV Golf Bedminster live and for free.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favourite streaming service just as they would at home via ExpressVPN.

Watch LIV Golf Bedminster live stream in Canada

All times EDT

Friday, August 11: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 12: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, August 13: 1pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

In Canada, the LIV Golf rights belong to TVA Group, which means Canadians can watch the action live on Game TV. 

Prefer to watch online or on-demand? Head over to the LIV Golf Plus streaming service.

LIV Golf Bedminster tee times and groups: Round 3

Leaders' groups and tee times (PDT/EDT/BST/AEST)

• 10.05am/1.05pm/6.05pm/3.05am M Leishman (-2), J Kokrak (-2), B Grace (-3) 
• 10.05am/1.05pm/6.05pm/3.05am P Reed (-4), B Watson (-4), A Lahiri (-4)
• 10.16am/1.16pm/6.16pm/3.16am P Mickelson (-5), D Burmester (-5), C Smith (-9)

2023 LIV Golf calendar

• 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

Disclaimer

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. 

How To Watch LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream 2023

First round leader Matthew Wolff has been joined at the top of the leaderboard after round two by David Puig. Wolff made a three-under 67 on Saturday; Puig 65. But the lowest round of the day was by Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 61, and he has leapt 22 places to T3. The final round has been brought forward by four hours due to anticipated bad weather later.

To make sure you miss none of the action, below are all the streaming and broadcast details on how to watch a LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream from wherever you are – including options to watch for free – as well as today's tee times.

The Greenbrier Classic was held at The Old White at The Greenbrier from 2010 to 2019. Danny Lee won it 2015 and Kevin Na and Joaquin Niemann won its final two editions, by which time it had been rebranded as A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.

It could have been four future LIV-golfer winners, as Sebastian Munoz led after each of the first three rounds in 2017, with 61-67-68. However a final round 72 saw him fall to T3. Munoz’s 61 was not a record, as 59 has twice been made here. The course tends to yield low scores, and its tree-lined narrow fairways and smallish greens put a premium on accuracy rather than length.

Twenty-seven of the 48-man field have played in the Greenbrier Classic, many of them without a huge amount of success. Only Charles Howell III, Mat Jones, Pat Perez and Cameron Tringale, apart from the four already mentioned, have top-10 finishes here. Tringale is the most experienced, having played in all nine Greenbrier Classics. However, as he missed four cuts, Charles Howell III chalked up as many competitive rounds in his eight appearances as Tringale did in nine, with a T9 and a T30 Howell’s best results, and set against his own three missed cuts.

Talor Gooch, who is leading the LIV standings, is returning to a venue where he missed the cut in 2019 and came T21 in 2018.

Find out how to watch LIV Golf from anywhere, including all the details you need to watch a LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream, just below.

Watch LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream in the UK

All times BST

Friday, August 4: 6.15pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 5: 6.15pm-11.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, August 6: 2pm-7.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

The LIV Golf Plus streaming service is the place to watch the Saudi-backed venture. It's completely free – provided you're willing to hand over your name and email address. You can also download the LIV Golf Plus app for iOS, Android, Apple TV and FireTV. 

Travelling outside the UK? You will need to use a VPN to unblock LIV Golf Plus. We've tested dozens of VPNs and find ExpressVPN to be the most reliable. Details just below.

Watch from anywhere on the planet

LIV Golf Greenbrier Live Stream: watch from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch LIV Golf in 2023, including free options in the US, UK and Australia. But what if you're on holiday, in a foreign country? Or maybe working overseas for a while?

Then you'll need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This simple, legal piece of software lets you to set your location to the UK, US, Australia or almost anywhere else on the planet – and thus unblock your local live stream.

ExpressVPN is our favourite. It's incredibly easy to use – you just press 'Connect' and it does the rest – and hugely reliable. There's even a 30 day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a whirl and see for yourself.

Watch LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream in the US

All times EDT

Friday, August 4: 1.15pm-6.15pm ( LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 5: 1.15pm-6.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

Sunday, August 6: 9am-2.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

LIV has signed a TV deal with the CW network in the United States. Friday's play will be shown only on the CW app, but the weekend action will be shown on Saturday and Sunday 1pm-6pm ET. The CW website and CW app are free to use, but they're only available in the United States. To get around this geo-blocking we recommend taking a look at our top-rated golf VPN.

If you want to watch The CW live on your TV, you may need to sign up to a streaming service. Our top choice would be Fubo TV. Packages start from $74.99 a month, which isn't cheap, but new users get a 7-day free trial and there are no long contracts.

Finally, there's the option to watch free on LIV Golf Plus, which is now available to anyone Stateside.

Watch LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream in Australia

All times AEST

Saturday, August 5: 3.15am-8.15am (7plus)

Sunday, August 6: 3.15am-8.15am (7plus)

Sunday, August 7: 11.05pm-4.15am (7plus)

Channel 9 and the 7plus streaming service have the rights to show all 14 LIV Golf events in Australia. That means Aussies can watch every shot of LIV Golf Greenbrier live and for free.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favourite streaming service just as they would at home via ExpressVPN.

Watch LIV Golf Greenbrier live stream in Canada

All times EDT

Friday, August 4: 1.15pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, August 5: 1.15pm-6.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, August 6: 9am-2.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

In Canada, the LIV Golf rights belong to TVA Group, which means Canadians can watch the action live on Game TV. 

Prefer to watch online or on-demand? Head over to the LIV Golf Plus streaming service.

LIV Golf Greenbrier tee times and groups: Round 3

Leaders' tee times, scores and groupings  (PDT/EDT/BST/AEST)

• 6.05am/9:05am/2.05pm/11.05pm on 1st tee B Steele (-10), T Gooch (-11), R Bland (-11)
• 6.05am/9:05am/2.05pm/11.05pm on 2nd tee B Grace (-10), M Pereira (-10), H Varner III (-10)
• 6.16am/9.16am/2.16pm/11.16pm on 1st tee B DeChambeau (-11), M Wolff (-12), D Puig (-12)

2023 LIV Golf calendar

• 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

Disclaimer

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. 

How To Watch LIV Golf London live stream 2023

Cameron Smith extended his first round lead of one shot into three shots going into the final round after carding a 67 that he described as “a good day of grinding. I really stuck in there today. But probably a little bit of work to do on the range.”

Best round of the day was 63 by Louis Oosthuizen who had five birdies and an eagle in his first 10 holes. He is now in a three-way tie for second with Marc Leishman and Thomas Pieters.

To make sure you miss none of the action, below are all the streaming and broadcast details on how to watch a LIV Golf London live stream from wherever you are, as well as today's tee times.

Perhaps it is just as well LIV Golf has been here before, for if you go to London expecting to find the Centurion Club... well you won’t. It is in Hertfordshire. London is not even the nearest city - that is St Albans. The course, which opened in 2013, was designed for professional tournaments. The week after LIV Golf has left town, the club hosts a Ladies European Tour sanctioned event.

Sergio Garcia, who played in that inaugural LIV event, described Centurion as “not an easy golf course. You have got to drive it well. It is very tight.” Dustin Johnson concurred: “The course demands quality golf shots, especially off the tee. You’ve got to hit a lot of different clubs and you’ve got to drive it well.”

Ian Poulter was born and raised in Hertfordshire, and started his golf career as assistant pro at a Hertfordshire course. He now has a home in neighbouring Buckinghamshire and says he “might take the opportunity to stay at home for the week and sleep in my own bed.” However his best result this season was last week’s 12th place at Valderrama, so it is unlikely the trophy will be adorning his Milton Keynes mantlepiece.

He is one of five English golfers in the field, but any home country winner looks unlikely. The best-performing of them is Paul Casey, but he is 30th in this season’s standings. Between them, the five have managed one top-10 finish all year.

Make sure you know how to watch LIV Golf from anywhere including all the details on the LIV Golf London live stream just below.

UK TV Schedule – Watch LIV Golf London live stream

All times BST

Friday, July 7: 2.15pm-7.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, July 8: 2.15pm-7.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, July 9: 2.05pm-7.15pm (LIV Golf Plus)

The LIV Golf Plus streaming service is the place to watch the Saudi-backed venture. It's completely free – provided you're willing to hand over your name and email address. You can also download the LIV Golf Plus app for iOS, Android, Apple TV and FireTV. 

Travelling outside the UK? You will need to use a VPN to unblock LIV Golf Plus. We've tested dozens of VPNs and find ExpressVPN to be the most reliable. Details just below.

Watch from anywhere on the planet

LIV Golf London Live Stream: watch from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch LIV Golf in 2023, including free options in the US, UK and Australia. But what if you're on holiday, in a foreign country? Or maybe working overseas for a while?

Then you'll need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This simple, legal piece of software lets you to set your location to the UK, US, Australia or almost anywhere else on the planet – and thus unblock your local live stream.

ExpressVPN is our favourite. It's incredibly easy to use – you just press 'Connect' and it does the rest – and hugely reliable. There's even a 30 day money-back guarantee, so you can give it a whirl and see for yourself.

US TV Schedule – Watch LIV Golf London live stream

All times EDT

Friday, July 7: 9.15am-2.15pm ( LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, July 8: 9.15am-2.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

Sunday, July 9: 9.05am-2.15pm (LIV Golf Plus); 1pm-6pm (The CW / Fubo TV)

LIV has signed a TV deal with The CW network in the United States. Friday's play will be shown only on the CW app, but the weekend action will be shown on Saturday and Sunday 1pm-6pm ET.  The CW website and CW app are free to use, but they're only available in the United States. To get around this geo-blocking we recommend taking a look at our top-rated golf VPN.

If you want to watch The CW live on your TV, you may need to sign up to a streaming service. Our top choice would be Fubo TV. Packages start from $74.99 a month, which isn't cheap, but new users get a 7-day free trial and there are no long contracts.

Finally, there's the option to watch free on LIV Golf Plus, which is now available to anyone State-side.

Aus TV Schedule - Watch LIV Golf London live stream

All times AEST

Friday, July 7: 11.15pm-4.15am (7plus)

Saturday, July 8: 11.15pm-4.15am (7plus)

Sunday, July 9: 11.05pm-4.15am (7plus)

Channel 9 and the 7plus streaming service have the rights to show all 14 LIV Golf events in Australia. That means Aussies can watch every shot of LIV Golf London live and for free.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favourite streaming service just like they would at home via ExpressVPN.

Canada TV Schedule - Watch LIV Golf London live stream

All times EDT

Friday, July 7: 9.15am-2.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Saturday, July 8: 9.15am-2.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

Sunday, July 9: 9.05am-2.15pm (Game TV / LIV Golf Plus)

In Canada, the LIV Golf rights belong to TVA Group, which means Canadians can watch the action live on Game TV. 

Prefer to watch online or on-demand? Head over to the LIV Golf Plus streaming service.

LIV Golf London tee times and pairings: Round 3

Leading players’ tee times (PDT/EDT/BST/AEST), scores and hole on which they start:

• 6.05am/8.05am/2.05pm/11.05pm on 3rd hole Chase Koepka (-6), Dustin Johnson (-6), Kevin Na (-6)
• 6.05am/8.05am/2.05pm/11.05pm on 1st hole Henrik Stenson (-7), Patrick Reed (-8), Louis Oosthuizen (-9)
• 6.16am/8.16am/2.16pm/11.16pm on 1st hole Marc Leishman (-9), Thomas Pieters (-9), Cameron Smith (-12)

2023 LIV Golf calendar

• 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

Disclaimer

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. 

It's no secret that professional golfers are getting younger. If you look at the top-10 of the World Rankings, for example, it is littered with players under the age of 30, with both the men's and women's games featuring young stars who will likely become household names in the future.

One of those individuals, who could make a big splash in the golf world, is 13-year-old Louis Klein who, at the Kaskada Golf Challenge on the Challenge Tour, became the youngest ever player to make a cut on the circuit, at 13 years, 9 months and 24 days.

Firstly, that is some seriously impressive golf, especially when Klein was born in 2009, in the same week that Paul Casey secured his first PGA Tour title at the Shell Houston Open!

It's not the first time that we have seen the 13-year-old amateur's name in a professional event though. At the D+D Real Czech Masters in 2022, he made his debut on the DP World Tour and, although he missed the cut, it was just a few holes that let him down on the way. Along with the missed cut, he also claimed a men's professional tournament that year as he came from five shots back to secure a two-shot win at the Els Club.

Speaking at Kaskada Golf Resort, Klein, who fired two level-par rounds to make the cut by one shot, stated: "It feels good. It's amazing that I did it. I played good, but sometimes I made some mistakes but that's golf. So far I've played four events, but I would like to be here, a lot. It's a nice Tour, I love it, being able to play with pros, to see how they play and compare them with my game."

Taking up the game of golf at five-years of age, whilst on vacation, Klein has quickly established himself within the game and, at just 13-years-old, is already turning a lot of heads with his game. However, despite the possible hype, he seems to have remained grounded, with Klein claiming that his focus is on this weekend, with no plans going forward into the future.

Along with Klein, we have already seen 14-year-old, Louise Uma Landgraf, secure the Terre Blanche Ladies Open on the LET Access Series this year and, famously back in 2013, Guan Tianlang made the cut at the Masters at just 14-years of age. Since then, Tianlang has played college golf for the University of Arizona and occasionally featured on the PGA Tour Series China and China Tour before it disbanded in 2020.

Andy Ogletree is once again preparing to play in a LIV Golf tournament despite initially being dropped after just one event in 2022.

The 2019 US Amateur champion had been one of the initial intake for LIV Golf’s inaugural tournament at London’s Centurion Club. However, after finishing in last position of the individual standings in that tournament, he was left out of the remaining events that year and later admitted he “kind of got the boot.”

That has all changed in 2023. Not only is the 25-year-old leading the Asian Tour’s International Series Order of Merit – a position that, if he still holds it at the end of the season, will see him make a permanent return to LIV Golf - but he has filled in on a temporary basis twice this year.

Ogletree replaced Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri for the LIV Golf Orlando event, where he finished tied for 41st. Then, in the LIV Golf Tulsa earlier in the month, he played the final round for Majesticks GC following Lee Westwood’s withdrawal, impressing with a round of eight-under.

That performance has been rewarded with another appearance in this week’s tournament, where he will once again play for Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC after the withdrawal of Paul Casey.

Casey had been in invited to play in the second Major of the year, the PGA Championship, at Oak Hill Country Club. However, he was forced to withdraw after aggravating toe and knee injuries. Casey later admitted he felt “awful” about having to pull out having been given a surprise invitation.

DeChambeau gave an update on Casey’s recovery in the build-up to this week’s LIV Golf DC event, saying: “He's in a place where he's recovering, and he'll be good in a couple weeks he told me, so no issues with that.”

In the meantime, it offers another chance for Ogletree to impress. DeChambeau explained he had every confidence in him to do so. He said: “It's kind of hard not to pick him. I'm looking forward to some more good scores out of him. He's a great kid, great player. I love having him on the team, and he'll be a tremendous asset."

LIV Golf DC begins at Trump National Golf Club on Friday and is the seventh tournament in the schedule. Crushers GC are currently fourth in the team standings.

On Tuesday night, Paul Casey withdrew from the PGA Championship after it was revealed that new golf shoes had aggravated an existing toe and knee injury. The Englishman had been trying out the shoes prior to the event but, after receiving treatment on his knee and toe all day Tuesday, he was forced to withdraw and may be unlikely to feature in LIV Golf's Washington tournament on May 26th - 28th.

Following the withdrawal, the LIV golfer stated, via text to the Golf Channel, that: "I feel awful that I get an invitation and then can’t play. I talked to (PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh) about it. He was great.” He has since been replaced by PGA Tour rookie Sam Stevens.

Coming into the PGA Championship, Casey had been given a special exemption into the field after not meeting any of the official qualifying criteria. The reason was due to his performance in 2021, where he finished in a tie for fourth, and his status as a European Ryder Cup player. 

Casey, who in fact missed last year's PGA Championship due to injury, had his problems over 2022 with the 45-year-old missing a large part of the year due to back problems. 

During the season, he missed The Masters, PGA Championship and US Open, before joining LIV ahead of his first Major appearance of the season at The 150th Open. The withdrawal also means that two LIV players have now removed their names from the field, with Martin Kaymer deciding not to play last week whilst he was competing in the LIV Golf Tulsa event.

Paul Casey has withdrawn from the 2023 PGA Championship for the second consecutive year due to injury.

The Englishman follows fellow LIV Golfer Martin Kaymer in pulling out of the championship that gets underway on Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. It leaves 16 LIV players left in the field.

Another big name to withdraw this week was 1991 PGA Champion John Daly, who couldn't tee it up due his recent knee surgery.

No reasoning other than 'injury' was given for Casey's withdrawal, although he missed a large part of last year due to back problems. He missed The Masters, PGA Championship and US Open last year with injury before joining LIV ahead of his first Major appearance of the season at the 150th Open.

He plays for Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC in the LIV Golf League, where his best finishes have been 3rd in Bangkok last year and 4th in Mayakoba in the 2023 season opener.

Casey was given a special exemption into the field this year after not meeting any of the official qualifying criteria. It is thought he was invited after missing last year's championship, which he had qualified for via multiple routes including a T4th at the 2021 PGA Championship.

"Some LIV players were invited this year, some Japanese Tour, Australian Tour. Yeah, we look at all tours, all rankings, and all players' abilities," Chief Championships Officer of the PGA of America, Kerry Haigh, said earlier on Tuesday.

"Paul Casey, great player. He's certainly had some injuries. Played on the Ryder Cup last played, and has played well in PGA Championships. Again, we review all those criteria for a number of players, and he was one of a number that were selected."

World No.130 Sam Stevens, who was runner-up at the Valero Texas Open in April, has taken Casey's spot in the field.

The PGA Championship is almost upon us, with the second men's Major of the year seeing the world's elite head to Oak Hill for a chance at the Wanamaker Trophy.

With the full field confirmed, there has been a lot of gossip around those featuring, with Paul Casey receiving a special invite after the PGA of America honoured its exemption to him last year after he was out injured. In 2021, Casey finished T4th at the event so qualified for the tournament at Southern Hills, but couldn't play due to a back problem.

Originally, there were 18 players from the LIV Golf League on the field list, with one of those being 2010 PGA Championship winner, Martin Kaymer. However, the German has been battling injury throughout 2023 and, despite playing in Tulsa this week, he won't be present at Oak Hill.

Although Kaymer has also played in the last three tournaments on the LIV circuit, he revealed at LIV Golf Tulsa that: "I'm playing good. It's just a matter of would I like to go there with the mindset of whether I can actually win a golf tournament. I don't have that yet. I have not been practicing at all the last six months."

It now means 17 players from LIV Golf will be featuring but, according to Phil Mickelson, he feels that number should be back to 18, as the six-time Major winner, who famously won the event back in 2021, called for Hy Flyers teammate, Cameron Tringale, to be in the field, stating that “I hope he gets in next week. He deserves it.”

For now though, it's time to focus on the field, which will also be without former PGA Championship winner, Jason Dufner. The American, who actually won his lone Major at Oak Hill in 2013, hasn't disclosed the reason as to why he has withdrawn, with Dufner missing the cut in 11 of his 19 starts on the PGA Tour.

He will join the likes of Tiger Woods, Will Zalatoris, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood in not making the week in New York, with the tournament getting underway on Thursday 18th May.

First reported by Golfweek, AT&T, who sponsor both the Pebble Beach Classic and Byron Nelson Championship, have reportedly asked out of its sponsorship of the Byron Nelson after this year.

However, in another twist, it was reportedly stated by multiple sources that Raytheon Technologies, who are an aerospace and defense company, was set to take over the Byron Nelson but PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, stopped the deal after it was revealed that Raytheon had sold missiles to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund backs the LIV Golf League, who are currently involved in a courtroom battle with the PGA Tour.

One tournament director, who spoke about the potential deal, stated that: “The optics were not good. I give Jay credit for stepping in and making the right call," with the decline due to the fact that, in August, the US State Department approved the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. 

Golfweek reported that Raytheon’s involvement and a potential $3 billion deal led the Tour and Monahan to think twice about such an arrangement. Neither Raytheon Technologies nor AT&T have commented on the matter. 

So, what is next for AT&T, who became the head sponsor of the Byron Nelson in 2015? Well, after a near 10-year run, they are set to stand down but it is not thought that they will move away from the PGA Tour completely, with the company reportedly staying as the sponsor for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

In 2023-24, it has been claimed that the Pebble Beach Pro-Am will become a designated tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, with an event purse increase to $20 million which significantly will come from the tournament sponsor.

Although a full PGA Tour schedule has not been announced for 2023-24, we do know that Myrtle Beach will stage a new PGA Tour tournament to be held as an alternate to a designated event. A date has yet to be announced, but the Tour has stated that it will be a “full-field additional event played the same week as a designated event” on the 2024 calendar, with it being held at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

One big talking point though has been the introduction of limited field, no-cut events, with the news causing a significant amount of backlash. Despite this, Monahan is prepared to push on with the idea of no-cut events despite criticism from some players. Per Bob Harig at Sports Illustrated, Monahan said during the latest designated event, the Wells Fargo Championship: "Our preference would be no-cut events."

It's not just the PGA Tour which has had sponsorship news as, on the DP World Tour, Porsche could drop their name from the European Open, a tournament they've supported since 2015. This comes after the DP World Tour announced a number of sanctions for those who played on the LIV circuit, with Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer amongst the 26 who received fines and suspensions. 

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."

The PGA Championship field has been confirmed for the second men's Major of 2023 and there are 18 LIV players set to feature, including Paul Casey.

The Englishman didn't manage to qualify through the various different routes but has been entered into the field at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.

Casey would have automatically qualified had he been in the world's top 100, as golfers from the most recent Ryder Cup who are in the top 100 make it in, although he missed out on that after slipping to 131st.

Under the entry requirements, the PGA of America says that it "reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above."

It appears that the PGA of America is honoring its exemption to him last year after he was out injured. He finished T4th in the 2021 PGA Championship so was qualified for the event at Southern Hills but couldn't play due to a back problem.

Of the 12 members of the 2021 European Ryder Cup team, Casey is the only one outside the top 100 to have received an invite, with fellow LIV players Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Bernd Wiesberger all missing out.

The 45-year-old joined LIV in July last year and currently plays for Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC team along with Anirban Lahiri and Charles Howell III.

His best ever Major finish came in the PGA Championship in 2020, where he was T2nd at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California.

Casey wasn't the only player to receive a special invite, with 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson also getting one. The World No.150 has lost form over the past couple of years after reaching a career-high of 4th in the world in July 2020.

PGA of America chief Seth Waugh confirmed in February that LIV players would be allowed to compete in the championship. He said: “Our decisions are always based on what’s in the best interest of the PGA of America and conducting the best championship possible.

“Sadly the current division in the professional game is not good for the sport or the future of the game. We hope there might be some resolution soon. In the meantime, as always, our focus will be on our mission to grow the game and improve the lives of our members, who work so hard to impact millions of lives every day.”

An identical number of 18 LIV players teed it up in The Masters last month, with Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson finishing T2nd, while Patrick Reed was a shot further back in a tie for fourth.

There are three PGA Championship winners who play for LIV Golf - 2005 and 2021 winner Mickelson, 2018 and 2019 champion Koepka, and Martin Kaymer, who triumphed at Whistling Straits in 2010.

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.

After an electric LIV Golf event in Adelaide, the Tour plays in back-to-back weeks for the first time in 2023, as they head to Singapore for the 2023 LIV Golf Singapore event.

Talor Gooch comes into the week looking for back-to-back wins, but will course experience prove vital, as LIV Golf's European contingent has a wealth of experience at this week's venue, Sentosa Golf Club?

Let's look at what each golfer will need to do well this week to win the LIV Golf Singapore event.

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LIV Golf Singapore Format

The format will remain the same as it does in all the other events on the LIV Golf League, as each of the 48 players tees it up for 54 holes of strokeplay, which contributes to both an Individual and Team leaderboard. 

Even if you are a player out of the running on Sunday, you will still want to shoot the lowest round of the day, so that your team can push forward in the team leaderboard, and potentially win the team event for the week.

Who Has Won on the LIV Golf League This Season?

There have been four events so far this season on the LIV Tour. Charles Howell III won the first event in Mayakoba, and his team Crushers GC also got the win there, with Paul Casey finishing 4th to back up his teammate.

Danny Lee beat Carlos Ortiz, Louis Oosthuizen, and Brendan Steele in a playoff to win at LIV Golf Tuscon. Thanks to Carlos Ortiz's T2 finish, and his captain, Sergio Garcia's top 10, Team Fireballs won in Arizona.

It was Brooks Koepka who won his home event at LIV Golf Orlando, but it was the Spanish-speaking team, Torque GC that took down the team event last time out.

Last week in Adelaide it was Talor Gooch who spoiled the hometown party, with Cam Smith finished T3. The 4Aces picked up their first team win of the season last week.

LIV Golf Singapore Course Preview

• Par 71
• 7,406 Yards

LIV Golf will play at another familiar course this week as the Serapong Course at Sentosa GC hosts this LIV Golf Singapore event. 

This is a course that has been used since 2005 for the Singapore Open, an event that several of the DP World Tour veterans have played on over the years.

Strong driving will be required on this long layout and whilst shorter hitters have won here, the bigger hitters will hold an advantage given the course's length.

The winning score has ranged from -8 to -18 here throughout Sentosa GC's time of hosting the Singapore Open.

LIV Golf Singapore Key Stats

• Driving Distance - Clearly an obvious one but at a course that stretches over 7,400 yards, distance off the tee is advantageous, particularly if you can keep it in the fairway.
• Greens in Regulation - Poinding greens will be vital to set up enough birdie putts to win here, so keep that in mind, when making your selections this week.

LIV Golf Singapore Picks and Predictions: Outright Winner

Peter Uihlein +2000 (Bet $100 to collect $2,100) The best odds for this Peter Uihlein pick are at Bet365

Peter Uihlein continues to play well each and every week on the LIV Tour, finishing inside the top 10 every week since the turn of the year. He was 2nd behind Charles Howell III in Mayakoba, and I suspect he can contend again this week.

Uihlein has not played at this course, but he is a player that is well adept at playing all across the globe, based on his time on the Challenge and DP World Tour. 

The American is one of the longest hitters on Tour and has ranked that way throughout this 2023 season and that can aid his chances of winning this week.

Uihlein has posted rounds of 68 or better in 10 of his 12 rounds on LIV this season and he is one player that has completely embraced life on his new Tour. 

Part of a winning team last week, now is the time for Uihlein to boast individual honors for the first time on LIV and will stretch his lead in the individual standings in doing so.

Sergio Garcia +2500 (Bet $100 to collect $2600) The best odds for this Sergio Garcia pick are at Bet365

Sergio Garcia has found some form of late and he is one of those European players we mentioned earlier that has an affinity with this golf course, which could well lead to his first win on the LIV Tour.

In three visits to this course from 2017-2019, Garcia finished 11th, 1st, and 7th and that win gives me plenty of hope that he can replicate that success this week.

Yes it was four years ago and that is a long time in golf, but Garcia played well last week in Adelaide and now returns to a course he knows as well as anyone in this field.

Fellow course winner, Ian Poulter is also in this field, but Garcia is playing better golf at this stage of the season and that is why he is favored over the Englishman.

6th at LIV Golf Tuscon after sitting 2nd going into the final day and then a T11 finish last week, thanks to three straight 68s, Garcia is playing plenty well enough to contend at this course again.

One of the big talking points of the LIV Golf Adelaide event has been the 'Watering Hole', with the par 3 12th seeing thousands of well-oiled fans surrounding the layout crazy, in a scene almost reminiscent of the 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Many players have come close to making a hole-in-one, and now, on the final day of the tournament, Chase Koepka has managed the feat, with the American holing his tee shot to much fan-fare and wild scenes.

Beginning his final day on the par 4 fifth, Koepka found three birdies in seven holes to start the third round, with the American then making his way to the par 3 12th, a hole which had yielded a number of birdies throughout the first two days.

Measuring 165-yards, and with thousands of fans surrounding the green, Koepka stepped up and launched the ball to the right of the flag. Landing softly on the green, it spun to the left, with the ball resting in the bottom of the cup to send the surrounding fans into absolute raptures.

Paired with Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, Koepka was obviously pumped by the moment, with the 29-year-old slamming his club into the ground before chest bumping his caddie and playing partners and getting a beer shower in the process.

The ace was the second in LIV Golf history, Matt Wolff achieved that accolade last year, with Koepka's playing partner, Poulter, commenting on the video that was posted to social with the caption: "I'm still wet... and stink of booze... @chasekoepka that was insane..."

Following the hole-in-one, Koepka actually birdied the next hole, with a further two birdies and two bogeys coming in meaning he finished at six-under for his round and in a share of 24th place. Along with Poulter, Koepka himself tweeted about the moment, with the American writing: "(A) Day I’ll never forget thanks Adelaide for making this one special!"

Entries closed for US Open qualifying last week, and several LIV Golf players have decided to skip it despite their chances of appearing in the Major hanging by a thread.

Among those opting not to take part in qualifying are Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood. Each player is outside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and, without a special invitation, the only other ways for them to make the tournament is to either reach the top 60 by May 22 or the week before the tournament, or win the PGA Championship. 

None of them are currently in the field for the second Major of the year, and it’s unlikely they’ll make it considering their limited options to accumulate OWGR points.

It's not looking quite so bad for Patrick Reed and Talor Gooch, who are two other LIV Golf players who have not applied for qualifying but have calculated they’ve done enough to reach the tournament. 

Reed is currently World No.44 and Gooch is World No.57. In particular, Reed will be confident of holding onto his place in the world's top 60 in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Gooch is likely to have a PGA Championship appearance as a potential ace up his sleeve in an effort to maintain the necessary ranking. 

Elsewhere, some LIV Golf players aren't taking as many chances, with Sergio Garcia, Matthew Wolff, Marc Leishman and Harold Varner III all having signed up for qualification for a chance to tee it up at Los Angeles Country Club in June.

It's not so precarious for all LIV Golfers. For example, Mito Pereira and Abraham Ancer will be confident of reaching the tournament as they are eligible for the PGA Championship, where they can either win it and qualify or accumulate the necessary OWGR points to get there. The likes of Thomas Pieters and Harold Varner III should also be eligible for the Oak Hill Country Club tournament.

For others, the outlook is even rosier, with players including Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann guaranteed their US Open places thanks to various other qualifying criteria.

This week, LIV Golf players are competing in the circuit's first ever tournament in Australia, at Adelaide's Grange Golf Club.

The LIV Tour goes Down Under for the first time, as 48 players head to Adelaide for this week's LIV Golf Adelaide event. They will play at The Grange Golf Club, and the all-Australian Ripper GC team, captained by Cameron Smith, will look to win in their home country.

Will strong efforts from Brooks Koepka (T2), Phil Mickelson (T2), and Patrick Reed (T4) have any bearing on this week's event, or will the trip to Australia take away any momentum from those impressing in the first major of the year?

Let's establish what is required to win this LIV Golf Adelaide event, before bringing you our favorite picks for the first LIV Golf event to take place in Australia.

Before we get into our picks for the LIV Golf Adelaide event, make sure to take a moment to check out these outstanding new customer offers. With these sportsbook promotions, you can secure guaranteed returns and a $150 Moneyline boost, 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 Adelaide Format

The format will remain the same as it does in all the other events on the LIV Golf League, as each of the 48 players tees it up for 54 holes of strokeplay, which contributes to both an Individual and Team leaderboard. 

Even if you are a player out of the running on Sunday, you will still want to shoot the lowest round of the day, so that your team can push forward in the team leaderboard, and potentially win the team event for the week.

Who Has Won on the LIV Golf League This Season?

There have been three events so far this season on the LIV Tour. Charles Howell III kicked things off in Mayakoba, and his team Crushers GC also got the win there, with Paul Casey finishing 4th to back up his teammate, Howell.

Danny Lee then beat Carlos Ortiz, Louis Oosthuizen, and Brendan Steele in a playoff to win on his new tour for the first time, at LIV Golf Tuscon. Thanks to Carlos Ortiz's T2 finish, and his captain, Sergio Garcia's top 10, Team Fireballs won in Arizona.

It was Brooks Koepka who won his home event at LIV Golf Orlando, but it was the Spanish-speaking team, Torque GC that took down the team event last time out.

LIV Golf Adelaide Course Preview

• Par 72
• 6,946 Yards

LIV Golf CEO won here at The Grange Golf Club way back in 1976, but now this event will feature a composite course, featuring holes from both the East and West Course and this narrow tree-lined layout will provide an intriguing test this week.

In terms of professional golf The Grange Golf Club has most recently been used for the 2016 and 2019 Women's Australian Open. The winners of those two events got to -16 and -17 respectively, so adjusting for the three-round format this week, the winning score would well be between -12 and -14.

Accuracy off the tee could well be a factor, and you will want to avoid the many bunkers strategically placed to catch out the pros this week.

LIV Golf Adelaide Key Stats

• Greens in Regulation - Hitting enough greens to set up the number of birdies needed to win here is essential. There are plenty of bunkers dotted around this course, which may well punish those that fail to hit the greens in regulation this week.
• Driving Accuracy - This narrow tree-lined course could demand accuracy off the tee, so those looking to make the required number of birdies to win here will need to find the fairway first.

LIV Golf Adelaide Picks and Predictions: Outright Winner

Patrick Reed +1600 (Bet $100 to collect $1,700) The best odds for this Patrick Reed pick are at Bet365

Patrick Reed comes into the week off the back of a 4th place finish at Augusta, and that backs up his 3rd place finish at LIV Golf Orlando a week before.

Reed doesn't have the fondest of memories in Australia, with a tough week at the 2019 Presidents Cup still probably fresh enough in the memory, but he's the type to turn that into a chip on his shoulder, which allows him to perform at his best.

The American's short game is amongst the best on the LIV Tour and he showed once again last time out at Augusta how he can overcome his lack of distance, with unique creativity. 

One of the in-form players in the league, it is about time Reed got his first win on the LIV Tour, and I am backing him doing it for his 4 Aces team this week, as he's just preferred over teammate, Peter Uihlein.

Abraham Ancer +2200 (Bet $100 to collect $2300) The best odds for this Abraham Ancer pick are at Bet365

Abraham Ancer is yet to show much since joining the LIV Tour, but before his move, he was trending towards being one of the better players on the PGA Tour, and I firmly believe he will find his form over three days again soon.

I say find his form over three days, because this season he has flashed solid rounds on multiple occasions throughout the season, threatening to play better each week.

At the Mayakoba he was solid if unspectacular in his home country, hitting 71 or better in each round to finish 15th. On his following start in Tuscon, he opened with a 66 to sit 2nd after round one, but couldn't follow that up.

Ancer shot the same score in round two in the LIV Golf Orlando event three weeks ago, to sit 10th going into the final day, where he was looking to put up 10 points on the board for the first time. Once again he failed, but what has he done since to provide confidence?

Realistically, not a lot, but he did make the cut at Augusta two weeks ago, finishing 39th. The Mexican was better thru two rounds once again, sitting in 28th place but a poor final round 76 saw him tumble down the leaderboard.

The main reason I like him this week is his history in Australia, which includes a win at the historic, Australian Open. I am certain Ancer's LIV Tour form will have to improve eventually and maybe a visit to this part of the world is where he turns it around.

LIV Golf Adelaide Odds: Who are the Favorites in Australia This Week?

Here are the latest odds for this week's LIV Golf Adelaide event. You can compare the best odds from your favorite sportsbook, by using the LIV Golf Adelaide Grid.

• Cameron Smith +1000
• Brooks Koepka +1100
• Joaquin Niemann +1200
• Dustin Johnson +1600
• Patrick Reed +1600
• Charles Howell III +1800
• Mito Pereira +1800
• Carlos Ortiz +2000
• Matthew Wolff +2000

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.

It's the first Major of the year and as always with such a small Masters field there are a number of star names that have missed out on the iconic drive down Magnolia Lane.

Arguably the biggest of the perks that come with winning The Masters is that past champions get invited back each and every year, and unless you're a past Masters champion, a Major champion in the last five years or a world's top-50 player, it can be tricky to make the sub-100 player field.

This rules out most of the LIV Golf players who haven't won Majors in the past five years or a Masters title, as the Saudi-backed circuit still doesn't offer world ranking points and most of its players are dropping down the list.

Despite a total of 18 LIV players in the Masters field, big names such as Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Marc Leishman and Ian Poulter are among the LIV players missing out, mainly due to significant world ranking drops.

But aside from the LIV players, which big names from the PGA and DP World Tours aren't in this week's Masters? We take a look...

Rickie Fowler

Despite showing some great signs over the past 12 months, Rickie hasn't quite done enough to make it this year with his world ranking at 55th - just outside the cut-off point. This means he'll miss teeing it up at Augusta National for the third-consecutive year.

LUCAS HERBERT

The two-time DP World Tour winner and one-time PGA Tour winner has agonisingly missed out, with his world ranking currently at 52nd. Herbert lost to Rory McIlroy in the last-16 of the WGC-Match Play recently, with that result costing him a chance at making his second Masters appearance.

Webb Simpson

The former World No.4 misses his first Masters tournament since 2011 after slipping outside of the world's top 140. Simpson had his first top-10 since November 2021 at the recent Valspar Championship, but that was his final pre-Masters appearance.

Matt Kuchar

A run of T9-3 for Kuch leaves him at 51st in the world rankings and he is just missing his second successive Masters. The nine-time PGA Tour winner has played at Augusta 15 times, most notably in 1998 when his T21st finish earned him the Silver Cup as low amateur.

Joel Dahmen

The Netflix Full Swing star is one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour but he has never played in The Masters, and that won't be changing this year sadly. Dahmen, who was T10th at the US Open last year, currently ranks 99th in the world.

Thorbjorn Olesen

Despite two DP World Tour victories in the last year, at the 2022 British Masters and 2023 Thailand Classic, Olesen has not quite made the field this time around. The Dane, who famously took down Jordan Spieth 5&4 at the 2018 Ryder Cup, has played in the Masters three times and was a very impressive T6th in his debut in 2013.

Victor Perez

Another European who has just missed out is Victor Perez, with the Frenchman currently 62nd in the world - up from 107th at the turn of the year. Perez won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, a DP World Tour Rolex Series event, and he currently ranks 2nd in the Race to Dubai. The Masters is a tough field to make!

It is time for the third LIV Golf event of the season, as LIV Golf Orlando takes places in Orange County National in Orlando.

There will be many a keen eye on this week's event, as it is surely the one that holds the highest amount of intrigue so far, as it plays out just one week before the 2023 US Masters.

Can Masters favorites like Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson find form at the right time? Will any of the 18 LIV Golfer in the field next week make an impact on the final leaderboard? Form this week in Orlando may well dictate that, as the best players look for both form and confidence ahead of the biggest event of the year.

Let's find out whether next week's major has any impact on our 2023 LIV Golf Orlando selections, or whether we will be looking to other players for this week's winner.

Before we get into our picks for the LIV Golf Orlando event, make sure to take a moment to check out these outstanding new customer offers. With these sportsbook promotions, you can secure guaranteed returns and a $150 Moneyline boost, 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 Orlando Format

The format will remain the same as it does in all the other events on the LIV Golf League, as each of the 48 players tees it up for 54 holes of strokeplay, which contributes to both an Individual and Team leaderboard. 

Even if you are a player out of the running on Sunday, you will still want to shoot the lowest round of the day, so that your team can push forward in the team leaderboard, and potentially win the team event for the week.

Who Has Won on the LIV Golf League This Season?

Charles Howell III won the first event of the season at LIV Golf Mayakoba, and his team Crushers GC also won the Team Event. Howell III winning the event, and Paul Casey (4th) finishing high up on the leaderboard as well, secured this win.

Danny Lee won the second event of the LIV Golf League season, as the New Zealander beat Carlos Ortiz, Louis Oosthuizen, and Brendan Steele in a playoff, to capture his first LIV title, on just his second start.

Team Fireballs, captained by Sergio Garcia won the team event. This win was built on on Carlos Ortiz's T2 finish and Garcia's 9th-place effort.

LIV Golf Orlando Course Preview

• Par 71
• 7,297 Yards

Crooked Cat is a course that features elevation changes throughout, and the contoured fairways and larger-than-average greens help give it a links course feel.

The wind can get up in Orlando, so whilst we may not see typical conditions you might expect in an Open Championship in England or Scotland, the same sort of creativity may be needed with approach shots, and around the greens in particular.

The Champions Bermuda greens will be a familiar putting surface for most here in Orlando, and those that have putted particularly well on that type of surface over the years on the PGA Tour may well prosper.

This course has most recently been used on the Korn Ferry Tour, back in 2020, but before that, it hosted PGA Tour Q School in 2007.

LIV Golf Orlando Key Stats

• Greens in Regulation - Hitting greens regularly this week in Orlando will be key, especially as there are several different ways to approach this test. As long as you have a clean lie with your second shot, or third, on some par 5's, hitting greens regularly should be achievable here.
• Putting Average - Making putts is always the order of the day, but a good week with the flat stick looks particularly important here.
• Links Form - This isn't a quantifiable stat, but form on links courses should stand up well here, based on the description of this week's Crooked Cat Course, at Orange County National

Has the Crooked Cat Course at Orange County National Been Used on the PGA Tour?

The Crooked Cat Course at Orange County National has not been used in a PGA Tour event, but it did host PGA Tour Q-School in 2007, where both Dustin Johnson and Brendan Steele competed.

Johnson secured his Tour Card with a T14 finish here that year.

That event was too long ago to be a factor, but one player who has played here more recently is Mito Pereira, who played the 2020 Orange County National Championship here in 2020. That event was on the Korn Ferry Tour, and the Chilean finished T38.

LIV Golfers Who Need to Find Form Ahead of Next Week's US Masters

The following players will be heading to Augusta National for the 2023 US Masters next week and will be desperate to put in a good performance this week in Orlando, so they are sharp for the first major of the season.

• Abraham Ancer
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Sergio Garcia
• Talor Gooch
• Dustin Johnson
• Brooks Koepka
• Jason Kokrak
• Phil Mickelson
• Kevin Na
• Joaquin Niemann
• Louis Oosthuizen
• Mito Peirera
• Thomas Pieters
• Patrick Reed
• Charl Schwartzel
• Cameron Smith
• Harold Varner
• Bubba Watson

LIV Golf Orlando Picks and Predictions: Outright Winner

Louis Oosthuizen +2800 (Bet $100 to collect $2,900) The best odds for this Louis Oosthuizen pick are at Bet365

One player who will be keen to prove his form ahead of next week's US Masters is Louis Oosthuizen. 

Oosthuizen is a one-time major winner, at the 2010 Open Championship, and he's finished runner-up in every major since.

In 2012, the South African was tied with Bubba Watson by the end of regulation play, and the two played two sudden-death holes, before Watson pulled off a miracle shot from the famous pine straw, to get the win.

Oosthuizen has never been as good at Augusta again, but he is incredibly consistent at the US Masters, making the cut in 8 of his 10 starts there since his runner-up finish. Seven of those eight starts saw him finish T29 or better, with a best finish of T12 in 2018.

So why can he win this week? Well firstly, he is coming off a playoff last time out at LIV Golf Tuscon. That effort showed his game is in good enough form to contend on a suitable course, and the Crooked Cat Course could be exactly that! He loves Links Golf, which could be a factor at Orange County National, and given his effort last time out, and his desire to play well in what could be his last Masters, Oosthuizen should be as driven as ever to succeed this week.

Peter Uihlein +3000 (Bet $100 to collect $3100) The best odds for this Peter Uihlein pick are at Bet365

Peter Uihlein has finished 2nd in three of his past five starts on LIV, and he also finished 10th last time out in Tuscon.

Uihlein was faring better at the start of the week in Arizona, ranking 5th after round one, and despite slipping away after a tough Saturday, the in-form American found his way back inside the top 10, after a final round 68.

Uihlein's team, the 4 Aces are leading the way in the Team Standings, having finished runner-up in both events and now the Orlando resident will be looking to win for the first time on the LIV Tour and reward his team its first win of the season.

Until he shows signs of struggling, Uihlein should be someone kept on your LIV Golf betting radar, as he continues to show form week in and week out.

The Masters, the opening Major of the year, is on the horizon and as always there are plenty of big names set to miss out on the iconic drive down Magnolia Lane.

Out of the four men's Majors, The Masters field is by far the smallest with less than 100 competitors so it is the toughest one to book your spot. One of the best perks of winning The Masters is that past champions get invited back each and every year but golfers outside of the world's top 50 must meet certain criteria otherwise an invite won't be turning up at their door.

This year's Masters is also the first in this new post-LIV Golf world, where some star LIV names are missing out due to their world rankings sliding. A number of LIV players have qualified for The Masters already due to past Green Jacket wins, Major triumphs and high world rankings, but most of those who haven't won Majors recently, or a Masters before, are on the sidelines.

So, which big names are currently not looking like getting a start at Augusta National this year?

PAUL CASEY

Casey is set to miss The Masters for the second year in a row after 15 appearances at Augusta National. The Englishman's decision to join LIV ultimately meant he sacrificed his Masters spot, as he was in the world's top 30 when he joined in July.

The Englishman now finds himself outside of the world's top 100 and likely out of all four of the year's Majors.

RICKIE FOWLER

Fowler has shown a real upturn in form over the past six months and will come very close to making his first Masters start since 2020 after missing out on the last two editions.

He currently ranks 59th in the world and needs to be inside the top 50 in the week prior to the event. He has a good chance of booking his spot!

WEBB SIMPSON

The 2012 US Open champion was World No.4 less than three years ago but he is now outside of the world's top 130. He was 164th in the world prior to his T7th at the Valspar Championship, which lifted him up around 30 spots in what was his first top ten since November 2021.

Simpson has played in the past 11 Masters tournaments but looks set to miss this year's instalment.

IAN POULTER

Poulter, now a LIV Golf player, is facing the prospect of playing in no Majors this year for the first time since 1999.

The Englishman is down at 151st in the world and will not be at Augusta for the second year running. His best Masters finish was a T6 in 2015.

MARC LEISHMAN

Leishman, who plays for Cameron Smith's 'Ripper GC' in the LIV Golf League, recently fell out of the world's top 100 and will miss The Masters for the first time since 2015.

The Aussie currently isn't in any of the year's Majors after joining the Saudi-backed circuit along with Smith last August. He was T4th at Augusta in 2013.

LEE WESTWOOD

The former World No.1, twice a runner-up at Augusta National, is not in the field for this year's event after his T14th finish just missed him out on the top 12 and ties last year.

Westy co-owns the Majesticks GC franchise in the LIV Golf League and now faces the prospect of a Major-less year with his world ranking down at 276.

LUCAS HERBERT

The Aussie, winner of the 2021 Bermuda Championship, 2021 Irish Open and 2020 Dubai Desert Classic, is currently not in the field.

He's ranked at 56th in the world so is very close to making a return to The Masters, where he missed the cut last year in his debut. A good couple of weeks should get him back to Augusta.

MATT KUCHAR

Kuch is down at 71st in the world rankings and looks set to miss his second successive Masters.

The nine-time PGA Tour winner has played in The Masters 15 times, most notably in 1998 when his T21st finish earned him the Silver Cup as low amateur.

THORBJORN OLESEN

Despite two DP World Tour victories in the year leading up to The Masters, at the 2022 British Masters and 2023 Thailand Classic, Olesen has not quite made the field this time around.

The Dane, who famously took down Jordan Spieth 5&4 at the 2018 Ryder Cup, is currently 95th in the world. He has played in the Masters three times and was a very impressive T6th in his debut in 2013.

JOEL DAHMEN

The Netflix Full Swing star has never played in The Masters and that doesn't look like changing this year as things stand.

Dahmen, who was T10th at the US Open last year, currently ranks 100th in the world and will need a very good result at the Texas Open next week to secure his Augusta spot.

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. 

After watching Scottie Scheffler dominate another loaded field at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, we’ll see the PGA Tour shift from the northern shores of Jacksonville to the Gulf Coast for the 2023 Valspar Championship. Players will spend four rounds competing at the Innisbrook Golf Resort Copperhead Course, which is a par 71 that runs roughly 7,300 yards in length. Like most of the golf courses we see during the Florida leg, it’s abundant with water hazards, sand bunkers, and doglegged fairways that are narrow and flanked by tall rough and sand. Accuracy with driver and irons will remain at a premium toward staying atop the leaderboard at Copperhead, per usual. Still, it doesn’t have nearly as many undulations in its fairways and greens, creating a slightly easier surface for players to stay at or below par.

We haven’t seen a new winner at Valspar, excluding Paul Casey and Sam Burns, since 2017, when Adam Hadwin went -14-under-par to win by one stroke over Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay and many other notable players will be absent from the field, including Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Max Homa, which creates ample opportunities for other players heating up as of late to make a push at securing an outright win. Burns has won back-to-back events at Valspar in 2021 and 2022, but he’s looked out of sorts lately, going T35 at TPC Sawgrass and missing the cut in two previous events, making him far from a lock to bet on at a course he’s historically dominated. 

Don’t fret about the field. It’s still loaded with talent that includes outright betting favorite Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and Keegan Bradley, alongside many other players who have been close to hoisting the winning hardware and collecting the champion purse in previous events this season. We’ll get into one of my high-value prospects during the outright winner prediction section, along with previewing the course and a couple of key stats to stay ahead of the field at Copperhead.

Valspar Championship Course Preview

Innisbrook Golf Resort Copperhead Course

Designed by Larry Packard back in the 1970s, Copperhead is a course that prominently features an abundance of water hazards and sand bunkers. It’s comprised of Bermudagrass fairways and greens, which tend to run slower on the Stimpmeter than Bentgrass surfaces, so players will need to find a balance between their normal putting stroke and the reduced velocity of the greens. Weather will play a big factor in determining the speed as well, with drier conditions creating faster surfaces, while rainfall can reduce putting speeds even more. 

Valspar opens with either a par 5, 558-yarder on the front nine or a challenging par 4, 446-yarder on its back nine. It ends the back-nine with a three-hole segment referred to as the “Snake Pit,” which is two par 4s that book-end a difficult par 3 that stretches over 200 yards with four hefty sand bunkers flanking its green. The 18th hole doesn’t have water hazards, but it's a slight dogleg left and will require a strong tee shot and approach shot to avoid a bogey. The 16th hole is the only one in the Snake pit that features a water hazard, eating into the fairway from the right and jutting into the fairway closer to the small Bermudagrass green. 

There are four par 5s at Copperhead, evenly distributed on the front and back-nine; however, there are five par 3s, with three of them occurring between holes 13-18. 13 and 15 both feature water hazards, along with greens that are small but lengthy, which means finding the green in regulation does not necessarily equate to setting up for an easy birdie attempt. Strokes gained tee-to-green will be a massive piece to solving the puzzle, along with maintaining an accurate driver or tee shot. Of course, scrambling remains a premium at Copperhead, too, as there will be plenty of approach shots that wind up in any of the sand bunkers or tall rough that flank the greens. 

Driving strength will be nearly as important as accuracy, as two of the par 5s at Copperhead run 590 yards and 611 yards, respectively. Power is important, but this will inevitably lead to errant lies, which is why scrambling and sand save percentages are key statistics toward staying under par. Putting velocity will be reduced a bit, but without a lot of wet conditions forecasted, they should gain some speed, at least during the first two rounds prior to the cut being enforced. This narrows down the field quite a bit, especially without as many big names as we’re accustomed to seeing lately. However, there is still plenty of value to acquire when finding players who match these criteria entering the first round at the Valspar Championship. 

Copperhead Key Stats

• Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
• Driving Accuracy percentage
• Scrambling

Valspar Predictions: Outright Winner

Jordan Spieth (+1200) (Bet $100 to collect $1,300) Head to FanDuel for the best odds for this pick
Jordan Spieth hasn’t competed at Valspar since 2018, but he’s had success here in the past, winning outright back in 2015 to kickstart a massively successful run that would make the Texas native a household name. While we haven’t seen that same level of success sustained in recent years, the 29-year-old has a T6, and T4 finish in two of his past four events played in much more loaded fields, including a three-under-par opening round at TPC Sawgrass last weekend. Spieth seems to always deliver creativity with his approach shots, which is why he’s ranked third in scrambling from 20-30 yards, fourth in approaches from 125-150 yards, and top-ten in approaches from 150-275 yards. Spieth is also 28th in strokes gained tee-to-green and 15th in strokes gained around the green. It’s his putter that tends to be inconsistent. 

On the one hand, Spieth is 114th in strokes gained putting, which is far from ideal. However, he also ranks 15th in Round 1 putts and converts 40.8 percent of one-putt attempts, ranking 74th out of over 200 golfers on the PGA Tour. It will depend on how his flat stick handles at Copperhead, along with remaining consistent in staying under par in all four rounds, but there’s a reason why Spieth is currently second in odds for the outright winner at 12/1. I like him a lot more than Justin Thomas, who is the betting favorite at 11/1, which could be due to finishing T3 at Valspar in 2022. 

Spieth hasn’t played this course in an event in half a decade, but he’s gaining momentum and has the ability to scramble, keeps his irons dialed in, and is among the strongest drivers on the Tour. It’ll definitely be a rollercoaster ride, and it’s not sweat-free, but betting Spieth to win his first outright event of the season feels good, considering the field and his recent form since returning from the holiday hiatus.

Right now, Jordan Spieth is +1200 across the board, but if the money keeps coming in on him, he is going to dip to +1100 or even +1000 in spots. Get in now whilst he is still +1200, and ensure you are comparing odds before tee off, to see if his price changes.

Tommy Fleetwood (+2500) (Bet $100 to collect $2,600) DraftKings has the best odds for this Tommy Fleetwood pick

We’ve seen flashes of greatness from 32-year-old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood this season. That includes his seven-under-par third round at TPC Sawgrass, where he seemingly couldn’t miss a putt. The statistics back this up. Fleetwood is ranked second in overall putting average, second in one-putt percentage (47.4%), and second in putts per round.

He has great touch and accuracy with his irons too, which is a vital piece of the bag that will help him climb the leaderboard at Valspar, as he’s ranked 15th in total strokes gained, including 17th in tee-to-green, 22nd approaching the green, and sixth around the green. He’s decent at scrambling, ranking 91st, but he’s a birdie machine thanks to the flat stick, converting 38.9 percent of birdies or better out of 236 greens hit this season. 

Fleetwood particularly shows his putting prowess in the second and fourth rounds, ranking inside the top 20 in both metrics while being second-best in delivering one-putts. He’s collected 96 birdies or eagles on 396 holes played across only six events this season, meaning Fleetwood is fresh and prepped to make a run in a slightly lighter field than the one he’s been competing in since missing the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open a month ago. 

Fleetwood imploded with a four-over-par final round at TPC Sawgrass last weekend, erasing how impressive he fared during the third round, but he’s hungry and seeking his first outright win on the PGA Tour. That has to account for something, and in this case, I believe possessing one of the best putters on the Tour will give Fleetwood an edge that few other players have to enter Valspar’s opening round. Last year, Fleetwood logged a T16 finish at Copperhead, which was his debut at the course. The key will be whether or not Fleetwood can improve his final-round scoring average, which currently sits at 70.6 on the year, as he tends to deliver strong performances in the middle rounds. 

Despite never winning on the PGA Tour, 25/1 is great value to acquire from a player who has accurate irons, a red-hot putter, along with six finishes inside of the top three since becoming a professional in 2010. Oddsmakers believe in Fleetwood enough to designate him as the fifth most likely player to win outright at Valspar during his second stint at the course, tied with Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose at 25/1. The flat stick is humming, and Fleetwood is extremely accurate with his approach shots, so on a course filled with holes that test a player’s accuracy, let’s invest in Fleetwood to deliver a healthy outright winner payout at +2500 and enjoy watching his ascent up the leaderboard throughout the weekend.

As you can see from our odds comparison table above, it is important to take the +2500 odds on Fleetwood at DraftKings or BetMGM, rather than at Bet365, where he is +2200. There is a $300 difference on your return, based on where you bet on Fleetwood this week.

Brooks Koepka has become the latest LIV Golf star to drop out of the world's top 100.

The four-time Major champion was World No.1 as recent as February 2020 but a little over three years later he has dropped to No.102 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Since joining LIV Golf in June, Koepka has played in just three OWGR sanctioned events - the 150th Open, the Saudi International and the International Series Oman. He dropped out of the top 50 in December and now finds himself out of the top 100 for the first time since September 2013.

A number of other LIV players have seen the same fate as Koepka recently, with 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau sliding out of the top 100 last month for the first time in five-and-a-half years. DeChambeau currently sits at No.131.

Louis Oosthuizen currently finds himself ranked 100th in world, having been inside the top 100 every week since January 2009. Anirban Lahiri, number 99, is also in danger of sliding out very soon. Paul Casey, No.94, is another who looks likely to fall out in the coming weeks, having been in the top 100 since 2014.

Dustin Johnson, who has spent 135 weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking, the third-most since the ranking's inception in 1986, recently fell out of the top 50 for the first time in 13 years and is currently sat at No.62.

The second event of the LIV Golf League takes place this week in Tucson, Arizona, where once again no world ranking points will be on offer to competitors.

LIV's OWGR fate rests in the hands of the four men's Majors after PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley recused themselves from the Saudi-backed league's ranking application in January.

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.

The final tournament of the Florida Swing takes place at the Copperhead Course for the Valspar Championship, where Sam Burns returns to defend the title he won last year as he bids for his third successive victory in the event.

In 2022, Burns won in thrilling style with a 33-foot putt for birdie in the second playoff hole to edge out Davis Riley. The runner-up also returns to Innisbrook this year as he goes in search of his maiden PGA Tour win.

Before Burns’ run of wins in the tournament, players now with LIV Golf enjoyed the most recent success in the event. After Charl Schwartzel won in 2016, Paul Casey claimed victory in 2018 and 2019, but now each player is with the Tour’s rival, they are ineligible for this year’s tournament. Another former winner in the field, though, is 2017 victor Adam Hadwin, who beat Patrick Cantlay by one shot six years ago.

A playoff saw Jordan Spieth win in 2015, and the American will be hopeful of a similar performance this week as he goes in search of his first win since last April in the RBC Heritage. 

Other former winners include Kevin Streelman, who triumphed a decade ago when the tournament was called the Tampa Bay Championship and Team Europe Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, who won in 2012 when the tournament was named the Transitions Championship.

After successive designated events, it’s not surprising that many of the world’s top players opted out of this week’s tournament, but as well as the likes of Burns and Spieth, there are a handful of other high-profile players to look out for, including Justin Rose, who recently won his first title in four years at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, PGA Champion Justin Thomas, World No.22 Keegan Bradley and World No.27 Tommy Fleetwood.

Players are competing for a purse of $8.1 million, with the winner claiming $1.458m. To be in with a chance of earning some of the top prizes, players will need to navigate a series of narrow fairways with acute angles. That includes the notorious Snake Pit, which encompasses holes 16 through 18. Of those, the 16th, a par-4 dogleg right, is considered one of the hardest on the PGA Tour. 

Below is the prize money breakdown and field for the 2023 Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course. 

Valspar Championship Prize Money

Valspar Championship Field

• Aberg, Ludvig
• Albertson, Anders
• Alexander, Tyson
• An, Byeong Hun
• Armour, Ryan
• Barnes, Erik
• Bhatia, Akshay
• Blair, Zac
• Bradley, Keegan
• Bramlett, Joseph
• Brehm, Ryan
• Bryan, Wesley
• Burns, Sam
• Champ, Cameron
• Cink, Stewart
• Clark, Wyndham
• Cole, Eric
• Cone, Trevor
• Coody, Pierceson
• Cook, Austin
• Daffue, MJ
• Dahmen, Joel
• Donald, Luke
• Dou, Zecheng
• Dufner, Jason
• Duncan, Tyler
• Echavarria, Nico
• Eckroat, Austin
• Endycott, Harrison
• Fitzpatrick, Matt
• Fleetwood, Tommy
• Fratelli, Dylan
• Gabrelcik, Nick
• Garnett, Brice
• Gerard, Ryan
• Ghim, Doug
• Gligic, Michael
• Glover, Lucas
• Gordon, Will
• Goya, Tano
• Grant, Brent
• Gribble, Cody
• Griffin, Ben
• Hadley, Chesson
• Hadwin, Adam
• Hahn, James
• Haley II, Paul
• Hall, Harry
• Hammer, Cole
• Hardy, Nick
• Harman, Brian
• Harrington, Scott
• Herman, Jim
• Hickok, Kramer
• Higgo, Garrick
• Higgs, Harry
• Hodges, Lee
• Hoffman, Charley
• Holmes, J.B.
• Hossler, Beau
• Hubbard, Mark
• Jaeger, Stephan
• Johnson, Zach
• Kim, Michael
• Kim, S.H.
• Kisner, Kevin
• Kizzire, Patton
• Knox, Russell
• Koch, Greg
• Kraft, Kelly
• Laird, Martin
• Landry, Andrew
• Lashley, Nate
• Lee, K.H.
• Lingmerth, David
• Lipsky, David
• List, Luke
• Long, Adam
• Lower, Justin
• Malnati, Peter
• Martin, Ben
• Matthews, Brandon
• McCarthy, Denny
• McGreevy, Max
• McNealy, Maverick
• Merritt, Troy
• Moore, Ryan
• Moore, Taylor
• Mullinax, Trey
• NeSmith, Matthew
• Norlander, Henrik
• Norrman, Vincent
• Novak, Andrew
• Núñez, Augusto
• Perez, Victor
• Poston, J.T.
• Rai, Aaron
• Ramey, Chad
• Reavie, Chez
• Redman, Doc
• Riley, Davis
• Rodgers, Patrick
• Rose, Justin
• Roy, Kevin
• Ryder, Sam
• Sabbatini, Rory
• Schenk, Adam
• Schmid, Matti
• Schwab, Matthias
• Shelton, Robby
• Sigg, Greyson
• Simpson, Webb
• Smalley, Alex
• Smotherman, Austin
• Spieth, Jordan
• Stanley, Kyle
• Stevens, Sam
• Streb, Robert
• Streelman, Kevin
• Stuard, Brian
• Suh, Justin
• Taylor, Ben
• Taylor, Nick
• Thomas, Justin
• Thompson, Michael
• Tway, Kevin
• Van Rooyen, Erik
• VanDerLaan, John
• Vegas, Jhonattan
• Walker, Jimmy
• Wallace, Matt
• Webelo, Trevor
• Werenski, Richy
• Westmoreland, Kyle
• Woodland, Gary
• Wu, Brandon
• Wu, Dylan
• Young, Carson
• Yuan, Carl

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 Players Championship is one of the most eagerly anticipated tournaments on the PGA Tour calendar, and is regarded by many as the unofficial fifth Major.

Not surprisingly, it has also been awarded designated status this year, adding even more importance to a tournament that already stood a level above many other events in the eyes of players and fans alike.

As well as a record purse of $25m, the tournament also features an outstanding field with many of the world’s best players competing at the world-famous TPC Sawgrass.

One player who will not be in the field is the defending champion. That’s because the 2022 winner was Cameron Smith, who has since signed for LIV Golf. In fact, it is for the same reason that the two players who finished behind the Australian last year, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey, also miss out.

Despite their absences, there is still an embarrassment of riches in the field, including Kurt Kitayama, who claimed an enthralling Arnold Palmer Invitational victory last week, and a host of former Players champions.

World No.3 Rory McIlroy finished tied for second at Bay Hill, but that represented a marked improvement on his previous PGA Tour outings in 2023, and he will be confident of replicating his 2019 victory, when he edged out Jim Furyk by one shot.

Following cancellation in 2020 due to Covid-19, the tournament returned in 2021, and Justin Thomas took the honours. The World No.9’s best finish of 2023 so far came with fourth in last month’s WM Phoenix Open, and he’ll be another with high expectations this week.

After the first round in last week’s tournament, it appeared to be business as usual for World No.1 Jon Rahm, whose 65 gave him the overnight lead. That was as good as it got for the Spaniard, though, and eventually he finished outside the top 10 for the first time in 10 starts worldwide with a disappointing tie for 39th. Despite the underwhelming result, few would bet against him claiming his fourth win since the turn of the year this week.

It is now just a month until World No.2 Scottie Scheffler defends his Masters title, and he will be confident of building on strong performances in recent weeks, which included winning at TPC Scottsdale and a tie for fourth last week, as the Augusta National Major approaches.

Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Will Zalatoris and Collin Morikawa complete the list of players in the world’s top 10. Sitting just outside that elite group, Viktor Hovland will be hoping to build on a tie for 10th last week, while US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick also appears.

Other former winners in the field include 2018 champion Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim, who triumphed the year before, and 2016 victor Jason Day. Rickie Fowler, who won in 2015, has shown encouraging signs of recovering some of his best form in recent months, and he also plays, along with 2012 winner Matt Kuchar.

Below is the complete field for the 2023 Players Championship.

The Players Championship Field 2023

• Alexander, Tyson
• An, Byeong Hun
• Armour, Ryan
• Baddeley, Aaron
• Barnes, Erik
• Bezuidenhout, Christiaan
• Bradley, Keegan
• Bramlett, Joseph
• Brehm, Ryan
• Buckley, Hayden
• Burns, Sam
• Cantlay, Patrick
• Cink, Stewart
• Clark, Wyndham
• Cole, Eric
• Conners, Corey
• Dahmen, Joel
• Davis, Cam
• Day, Jason
• Detry, Thomas
• Duncan, Tyler
• Endycott, Harrison
• English, Harris
• Finau, Tony
• Fitzpatrick, Matt
• Fleetwood, Tommy
• Fowler, Rickie
• Fox, Ryan
• Frittelli, Dylan
• Ghim, Doug
• Glover, Lucas
• Gordon, Will
• Griffin, Ben
• Griffin, Lanto
• Grillo, Emiliano
• Hadley, Chesson
• Hadwin, Adam
• Hahn, James
• Hardy, Nick
• Harman, Brian
• Hatton, Tyrrell
• Henley, Russell
• Herbert, Lucas
• Hickok, Kramer
• Higgo, Garrick
• Hodges, Lee
• Hoge, Tom
• Homa, Max
• Horschel, Billy
• Hossler, Beau
• Hovland, Viktor
• Hubbard, Mark
• Hughes, Mackenzie
• Im, Sungjae
• Jaeger, Stephan
• Kelly, Jerry
• Kim, S.H.
• Kim, Si Woo
• Kim, Tom
• Kirk, Chris
• Kisner, Kevin
• Kitayama, Kurt
• Kizzire, Patton
• Knox, Russell
• Kraft, Kelly
• Kuchar, Matt
• Laird, Martin
• Lashley, Nate
• Lee, K.H.
• Lee, Min Woo
• Lingmerth, David
• Lipsky, David
• List, Luke
• Long, Adam
• Lower, Justin
• Lowry, Shane
• Malnati, Peter
• Martin, Ben
• Matsuyama, Hideki
• McCarthy, Denny
• McGreevy, Max
• McIlroy, Rory
• McNealy, Maverick
• Merritt, Troy
• Mitchell, Keith
• Molinari, Francesco
• Montgomery, Taylor
• Moore, Taylor
• Morikawa, Collin
• Mullinax, Trey
• NeSmith, Matthew
• Noren, Alex
• Novak, Andrew
• Palmer, Ryan
• Pendrith, Taylor
• Piercy, Scott
• Poston, J.T.
• Power, Seamus
• Putnam, Andrew
• Rahm, Jon
• Rai, Aaron
• Ramey, Chad
• Reavie, Chez
• Redman, Doc
• Riley, Davis
• Rodgers, Patrick
• Rose, Justin
• Ryder, Sam
• Schauffele, Xander
• Scheffler, Scottie
• Schenk, Adam
• Schwab, Matthias
• Scott, Adam
• Shelton, Robby
• Sigg, Greyson
• Simpson, Webb
• Smalley, Alex
• Smotherman, Austin
• Spaun, J.J.
• Spieth, Jordan
• Stallings, Scott
• Straka, Sepp
• Streb, Robert
• Streelman, Kevin
• Suh, Justin
• Svensson, Adam
• Tarren, Callum
• Taylor, Nick
• Theegala, Sahith
• Thomas, Justin
• Thompson, Davis
• Thompson, Michael
• Todd, Brendon
• Tway, Kevin
• Vegas, Jhonattan
• Wallace, Matt
• Watney, Nick
• Willett, Danny
• Wise, Aaron
• Woodland, Gary
• Wu, Brandon
• Wu, Dylan
• Young, Cameron
• Zalatoris, Will

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.

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. 

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

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.

Ian Poulter had a blast from the past at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he walked the fairways of Yas Links wearing clothing from his former apparel company.

Poulter wore some of his old IJP Design gear almost six years after the company closed, with the DP World Tour previously requesting players from LIV to not wear branding from the Saudi-backed series in its events.

He wore a Majesticks GC logo, his LIV Golf team, during the BMW PGA Championship but there were no signs of that logo in Abu Dhabi.

“This is a business that I actually own part of, so it has a right to be there,” he said at Wentworth in September. “I have had about six different sets of clothes in the last five weeks. I can’t possibly go to the embroiderers and have another set made up for this week. I am here for three weeks. I’m travelling, so this was the set I brought.”

The Englishman formed the IJP Design brand in 2017, with it lasting 10 years before closing due to the "ever increasingly competitive landscape."

"We have been unable to justify its continuation after many years of investing in the business and a number of attempts to reshape it against an ever increasingly competitive landscape," Poulter said in 2017.

Following his T60 finish in Abu Dhabi, the 12-time European Tour winner wrote on Instagram that it was "so nice" to wear some of his old apparel.

The Ryder Cup legend signed a lucrative deal with LIV Golf last year and has since been playing on both the Saudi-backed start-up circuit and the DP World Tour, although this week's Dubai Desert Classic could potentially be his last ever start on the former European Tour.

The European-based tour is currently embroiled in a court case with LIV, with a decision set to come next month on whether LIV players can continue to play.

If they're not allowed, it would also mean that the likes of Poulter, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia would not be eligible for future Ryder Cups.

Poulter's next starts are set to come this week in Dubai, the week after in Saudi Arabia on the Asian Tour and then in Mexico towards the end of February in the LIV Golf League opener.

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 organisation that bankrolls LIV Golf. Last year, some of the PGA Tour players in the field offered an indication as to who would sign for its bitter rival. Among those was the eventual winner of the tournament, Harold Varner III and two of LIV Golf’s highest-profile initial signings, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. All three are also in the field this year.

As well as 2022 victor Varner III, who holed an incredible eagle putt of 92ft to clinch the trophy, and Johnson, who won the tournament in 2019 and 2021, another player who would eventually join LIV Golf, 2020 winner Graeme McDowell, also appears. 

The highest-ranked player this year is World No.3 Cameron Smith, who also joined LIV Golf last August. Other players on the Saudi-funded circuit who are appearing include Smith’s compatriot Marc Leishman, Mexican-American Abraham Ancer, and 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau. Four-time Major winner Brooks Koepka and two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, who Varner III edged out by one shot last year, also play. 

Henrik Stenson, who was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy when he defected to LIV Golf, also plays, as do former World No.1 Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, who were part of the the Greg Norman-fronted organisation’s original intake of players. The LIV associations don’t end there - another high-profile signing was 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed, and he also tees it up. Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who claimed victory at Augusta National the year before Reed, and Englishman Paul Casey, are two other big-name LIV Golf players appearing.

Recently it was reported that Cameron Young is among the PGA Tour players being lined up for this year’s Saudi International, along with Lucas Herbert and Cameron Champ, and all three are confirmed in the field. 

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. In total, almost half of the 126-man field will comprise players who competed for LIV Golf last year. 

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 is projected to receive 26 ranking points - a potentially valuable haul given LIV Golf’s ineligibility to offer its players points.

The final line-up for the 2023 Saudi International is to be confirmed, but below is the list of players committed to appearing so far.

Saudi International Prize Money 2023

Saudi International Field 2023

• Issa Abouelela
• Shergo Al Kurdi
• Othman Ibrahim Almulla
• Saud Alsharif
• Abraham Ancer
• Kiradech Aphibarnrat
• Gaganjeet Bhullar
• Richard Bland
• Danthai Boonma
• Baha Boulakmine
• Adam Bresnu
• Itthipat Buranatanyarat
• Laurie Canter
• Miguel Carballo
• Paul Casey
• Filippo Celli
• Eugenio Chacarra
• Cameron Champ
• Ervin Chang
• Yikeun Chang
• Ratchanon Chantananuwat
• Matthew Cheung
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Taylor Dickson
• Louis James Dobbelaar
• Andrew Dodt
• Hennie Du Plessis
• El Mehdi Fakori
• Oliver Fisher
• Sergio Garcia
• Talor Gooch
• Branden Grace
• Oihan Guillamoundeguy
• Kosuke Hamamoto
• Justin Harding
• Scott Hend
• Berry Henson
• Lucas Herbert
• Sam Horsfield
• Rikuya Hoshino
• Tomoyo Ikemura
• Yuki Inamori
• Aguri Iwasaki
• Hiroshi Iwata
• Jazz Janewattananond
• Dustin Johnson
• Matt Jones
• Sadom Kaewkanjana
• Tirawat Kaewsiribandit
• Takumi Kanaya
• Shiv Kapur
• Rashid Khan
• Phachara Khongwatmai
• Matt Killen
• Bio Kim
• Sihwan Kim
• Yeongsu Kim
• Minkyu Kim
• Ryosuke Kinoshita
• Brooks Koepka
• Chase Koepka
• Jason Kokrak
• Jinichiro Kozuma
• Jbe Kruger
• Anirban Lahiri
• Richard Lee
• Taehee Lee
• Marc Leishman
• Tom Lewis
• Steve Lewton
• Stefano Mazzoli
• Graeme McDowell
• Phil Mickelson
• Kyongjun Moon
• Jediah Morgan
• Sebastian Munoz
• Zach Murray
• Kevin Na
• Joaquin Niemann
• Andy Ogletree
• Taehoon Ok
• Louis Oosthuizen
• Wade Ormsby
• Carlos Ortiz
• Sanghyun Park
• Mito Pereira
• Pat Perez
• Turk Pettit
• James Piot
• Ian Poulter
• David Puig
• Angelo Que
• Naraajie Ramadhanputra
• Patrick Reed
• Quinn Riley
• Faisal Salhab
• Ajeetesh Sandhu
• Charl Schwartzel
• Shubhankar Sharma
• Chan Shih-chang
• Trevor Simsby
• Todd Sinnott
• Cameron Smith
• Travis Smyth
• Ian Snyman
• Henrik Stenson
• Sarit Suwannarut
• Hudson Swafford
• Pavit Tangkamolprasert
• Hideto Tanihara
• Nitithorn Thippong
• Jack Thompson
• Jarin Todd
• Cameron Tringale
• Peter Uihlein
• Harold Varner III
• Scott Vincent
• Rattanon Wannasrichan
• Bubba Watson
• Ding Wenyi
• Lee Westwood
• Bernd Wiesberger
• Matthew Wolff
• Suradit Yongcharoenchai
• Cameron Young
• Kevin Yuan

As the golfing year of 2023 begins we see a whole host of big events lined up throughout the next 12 months. We've already seen Jon Rahm fight back to claim the Sentry Tournament of Champions, while Continental Europe put on a dazzling display to beat team GB&I at the Hero Cup.

With the DP World Tour season underway, we head to Abu Dhabi for the first Rolex Series event of the year, followed by the Hero Dubai Desert Classic a week later. However, it's certain names in the field that are perhaps the big talking point so far, with a number of LIV players listed for the opening tournaments of 2023.

This isn't something new though as, you may remember back in September, controversy surrounded the BMW PGA Championship when over 15 LIV golfers were listed in the field for the flagship tournament. Within the event, LIV players were excluded from the Pro-Am, with Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick calling it "odd" and "disappointing" that they were present.

Further controversy followed when Sergio Garcia withdrew from the tournament after the first round without an explanation. What's more he then attended a Texas football game while the tournament was still in progress. This left a sour taste in the mouth for some players, including eventual winner Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm. The latter even pointed out that the appearance of LIV Golf players meant his friend Alfredo Garcia-Heredia missed out.

At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, LIV players will be present, with Lee Westwood, who played all eight of their events last year, questioning the DP World Tour's behaviour after being left off promotional material for 2023. Westwood will be one of the players also at Emirates GC in Dubai for the Desert Classic, with a full list of LIV golfers below.

LIV GOLF PLAYERS IN THE HERO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

• Lee Westwood
• Henrik Stenson
• Patrick Reed
• Abraham Ancer
• Bernd Wiesberger
• Adrian Otaegui
• Sam Horsfield
• Pablo Larrazábal
• Richard Bland
• Shaun Norris
• Ian Poulter
• Hennie Du Plessis

Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has hinted that the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey will not be appearing for Team Europe again.

While the official reason may be due to their moves to LIV Golf, Europe's captain seems insistent that he wants a younger team for Rome 2023 with players made up from the upcoming Hero Cup.

It's nailed on that Europe will be headlined by Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick - with all four not featuring in the GB&I vs Europe match in Abu Dhabi next month - and the rest of the team will likely come from the Hero Cup.

That means that Westwood, Poulter, Garcia, Casey, McDowell and Kaymer, and even younger LIV Europeans like Sam Horsfield and Laurie Canter, will probably not be teeing it up against Team USA at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club next September.

"You can get a little bit of an idea from the Hero Cup that’s coming up," Donald told the 5 Clubs Podcast on how his team might look.

"First of all it’s a great opportunity to get some younger guys into the team room, playing together and seeing how they bond. This is an important step to bring a matchplay event back to the European schedule.

"There are some great young players. I’m very excited about some of the core players who have started playing well again but there’s a new generation of players who are hungry to make that Ryder Cup."

Donald seemed to confirm that he is hoping to go down a younger route for Rome, with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour, the organisers of Team Europe, currently embroiled in court cases amid golf's new civil war.

"The US team have had a shift where they have gone with younger players with less scar tissue; guys that seem to get on very well. Europe is starting to go through a similar shift," he said.

"A lot of the guys who have been stalwarts are coming towards the end of their careers. I’m not saying they don’t have opportunities to make further Ryder Cups, but it’s becoming less and less likely so we need some of these younger guys to step up and fill some of those holes.”

Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and GB&I playing captain Tommy Fleetwood are also likely nailed on to feature for Team Europe next year, meaning there could be just five spots left for the younger rookies and returning Ryder Cuppers.

Players like Adrian Meronk, Robert MacIntyre, Seamus Power, Matt Wallace, Jordan Smith, Victor Perez, Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard, Sepp Straka, Guido Migliozzi and Thomas Detry will all be in contention to make their debuts if they have strong showings next year. Returning Ryder Cuppers like Thomas Pieters, Alex Noren and Europe's Hero Cup playing captain Francesco Molinari will also fancy their chances too.

Either way, it seems that the race to make Team Europe will be very competitive next year - and the likelihood of LIV Golf players featuring continues to dwindle.

World No.1 Rory McIlroy will be the figurehead of the side and he has been very vocal in his criticism of LIV and the players who left for the Greg Norman-fronted tour.

“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," the Northern Irishman said of LIV Golf players ahead of September's Italian Open.

"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. I think Whistling Straits is a good sort of demarcation, I guess."

HERO CUP TEAMS

CONTINENTAL EUROPE

• Francesco MOLINARI (C)
• Thomas DETRY
• Rasmus HØJGAARD
• Adrian MERONK
• Guido MIGLIOZZI
• Alex NOREN
• Victor PEREZ
• Thomas PIETERS
• Sepp STRAKA
• Player TBC

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

• Tommy FLEETWOOD (C)
• Ewen FERGUSON
• Tyrrell HATTON
• Shane LOWRY
• Robert MACINTYRE
• Séamus POWER
• Callum SHINKWIN
• Jordan SMITH
• Matt WALLACE
• Player TBC

Looking for the perfect gift for the festive season? Check out the best Christmas Golf Gift Ideas

First reported by the Twitter page Nosferatu, Paul Casey is the most recent LIV golfer to fall outside of the World's Top 50, something which hasn't happened to the Englishman since the 2015 Northern Trust Open.

Casey joins the likes of Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau, who have also dropped outside the World's Top 50, with two-time Major winner, Dustin Johnson, also falling down to 35th in the Rankings.

Although Casey was injured for the majority of the events in the early half of the year, with the 45-year-old withdrawing from three of the four Majors, the Masters, US Open and PGA Championship, it's his time with LIV Golf where his World Ranking has suffered most.

Since joining the Saudi-backed series, Casey has currently dropped around 20 places and, with there being no sign of LIV Golf securing World Ranking points any time soon, that position is likely to only get worse.

Currently, Cameron Smith is the best ranked LIV player in the World Rankings, with the current Champion Golfer of the Year sat third. Other players inside the Top 50 include Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Brooks Koepka, Kevin Na, Harold Varner III, Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Kokrak, with all seeing their Ranking drop since their time with LIV Golf.

The story of LIV Golf and World Rankings has been a slightly bizarre one... Back in October, the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Tour announced a strategic alliance with LIV Golf that would see it qualify for Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points for its events.

However, although the MENA Tour said LIV would "immediately qualify" for Official World Golf Ranking points as part of the deal, OWGR has said that "insufficient notice" was given, saying that "only after the review is complete will a decision be made on awarding points to the MENA Tour's new "Limited Field Tournaments" (the LIV Golf Invitational Series)."

The decision, obviously, didn't go down well with LIV's CEO, Greg Norman, who stated "it doesn't make sense" and that "just because you have a negative viewpoint and you're one of the voting members of an independent organization, that you hate LIV and you vote against it... Grow up."

In a weather hit final day in Bangkok, it was Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra who picked up the $4 million first prize, as well as the $750,000 team prize, just four months after giving up his amateur status and signing a three-year contract with LIV Golf.

Following rounds of 65 and 63, the Spaniard led the field by five shots at 16-under-par, with a quartet of Richard Bland, Sihwan Kim, Harold Varner III and Patrick Reed chasing him down.

Beginning at the first hole in the shotgun start, Chacarra started perfectly, with a birdie at the opening hole keeping him well in front. Back-to-back bogeys did follow though at the fourth and fifth, but a birdie at the sixth gave him a level-par front nine as he scythed down a first professional win.

However, Reed was cutting the gap to the 22-year-old and, even though birdies for Chacarra at the 11th and 14th kept him ahead, there was drama to come, as thunder and lightning in the area suspended play for an hour and a half.

Upon return, players only had a handful of holes to play and, following a par at the 16th, the title was heading Chacarra's way, as a birdie at the par 5 17th gave him a three shot advantage down the 54th hole. 

Finding the green safely, the Spaniard rolled his birdie putt to near gimme range and, after tapping in, the title was his, as he secured his first professional victory in just his fifth start.

There was yet more joy for Chacarra, as his Fireballs team of Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz claimed the team prize by seven shots, with the foursome picking up $750,000 each for their efforts.

The 4 Aces had been looking to secure their fifth consecutive team title, but for the second time they didn't even feature on the podium, as the Crushers team of Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri finished second, whilst the Cleeks team of Bland, Laurie Canter, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell finished third.

The handicap system is absolutely fundamental to the amateur game. It allows players of any sex, age and abillity to compete against one another on a level playing field. The World Handicap System uses an average calculation method to provide an accurate representation of an amateur golfer’s current aptitude and performance level.

The theory everything is predicated on is that a player with a 36 handicap should have an equal chance to win a Stableford competition as a player with a handicap of scratch. Without the handicap system in amateur golf, the vast majority of participants would have no way to compete in a fair and equitable way and the game would be far less appealing. That said, some low-handicap golfers do feel strongly that the WHS gives them less chance of winning competitions. 

But Do Professionals Have Handicaps?

In professional golf, there is no handicap system. Professionals compete against one another flat and no shots are given. The best gross score wins either after 72 or 54-holes of stroke play, or on individual holes in match play.

Some pro golfers keep a handicap for interest or at their home club to give an idea of how many shots they should give amateur friends in fun matches, but those handicaps are not considered official. They're just an interesting guide and something for us mere mortals to be gobsmacked by. 

Players like Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer have kept handicaps at Whisper Rock in Arizona, where they regularly play, and the European duo have been as low as between +6 and +7 there.

How Low Have Some Amateur Handicaps Been?

The players on the PGA Tour are the best of the best. They are a couple of competitive levels above the elite amateurs, who can have seriously low handicaps. For example, Gordon Sargent, who was the world's number-one amateur ahead of the Ryder Cup, plays off 5.5. Conor Graham, the second-youngest player to represent Team GB&I at 17, is off 5.3.

At the 2023 Amateur Championship, four players had handicaps of +7 or better, led by South African Christiaan Maas, who was off +8.

In the female game, Ladies European Tour player Esther Henseleit had the lowest recorded handicap in Europe before turning professional in 2019. The German's number was a remarkable +7.1

So, what did some stars of the pro game play off before they gave up their amateur status? Well, Tiger Woods was off a remarkable +8 when he turned pro. Sergio Garcia was a couple of shots worse off at +5.8, Phil Mickelson and Shaun Micheel were reportedly at +6, Jim Furyk and Ben Curtis purportedly played off +7 when they left the unpaid ranks and Jack Nicklaus was off +3. Rory McIlroy was another one in the +6 club when he turned pro, too. Unbelievably, Ian Poulter turned professional with a handicap of 4. 

What Handicap Would PGA Tour Players Be?

A couple of years ago, the Golf Stat Pro Lou Stagner crunched the numbers on the PGA Tour from 2016 to 2020 and worked out what Handicap Index players would be relative to Course Rating and Slope Rating on the course’s scorecard from that period - see below.

It showed the average Handicap Index for PGA Tour players in that time was +5.4.

The best index achieved during the period was +8.4 by Rickie Fowler and the best average index for the four years was +6.5 – Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka.

Those figures are impressive but are even more so when you consider that those calculations didn’t take into consideration the tournament set-up – faster greens, longer rough, difficult pin positions. If those were factored in the handicaps of PGA Tour players could be at least a shot or two lower. As the PGA Tour often stresses, “these guys are good.”

US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick has opened up about the recently announced Hero Cup, the match play event between Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe, and why a Ryder Cup partnership with Viktor Hovland never quite materialised.

The Hero Cup, which will take place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January 2023, shares similar characteristics to that of the Seve Trophy, which was last contested in 2013. Speaking of the event, the Englishman said: "I was talking with somebody earlier this year and said that it would be good to have practice of playing foursomes, playing fourballs with guys you potentially could play with in Ryder Cup."

The Hero Cup is designed at giving European players experience in the format, which then can ultimately transfer to the Ryder Cup. The teams will be selected by Luke Donald, who will preside over the event in his capacity as 2023 European Ryder Cup Captain, in consultation with the two team captains, who will be named in due course.

"I think that's definitely important because I think it just gives you that experience of not playing your own ball," Fitzpatrick said.

In the 2021 Ryder Cup, the 28-year-old had been tipped to form a foursomes bond with debutant Viktor Hovland, with the pair possessing a similar skill-set tee-to-green that has so often gelled in the past. That however, never quite came to fruition. 

"That's something I found I was really disappointed with and found difficult when we played at Whistling Straits. I was really up for playing with Viktor Hovland in the foursomes and that's kind of what we were down to do, and then we went out there, tried each other's ball, he hit mine and it was spinning all over the place and I hit his and there was no spin whatsoever.

"All of a sudden, that's a pairing that's just gone out the window without really knowing it. If we had known before about the ball, it probably would not have entered the conversation and things might have been different or we'd have played a different, played fourball instead or something. I think it's good to get that practice in and see what's going on"

Fitzpatrick would go on to partner Lee Westwood and narrowly lose out to the pairs of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Berger before Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay. Hovland instead paired with Paul Casey and Bernd Wiesberger, suffering the same fate.

The US Open champion is in the field at the DP World Tour's flagship BMW PGA Championship this week, his first event on English soil since the triumph at Brookline Country Club. He will then make the trip to Marco Simone Golf and Country Club on the outskirts of Rome for the Italian Open, and a first glimpse of the 2023 Ryder Cup venue.

Crushers GC is one of the strongest LIV Golf teams and is aptly captained by one of golf's longest hitters, Bryson DeChambeau.

The 2020 US Open champion and eight-time PGA Tour winner joined the team ahead of the second ever LIV Golf event in 2022 after his big-money signing was announced in June of that year. DeChambeau had been long linked with LIV but was a surprise addition after pledging his future to the PGA Tour.

Bryson reportedly received somewhere between $100m-$125m to join LIV, a decision that he called a no brainer at the time.

The Crushers GC line-up has remained constant since the middle of the first season, with DeChambeau joined by Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahri.

The side captured the Team Championship title in 2023 after finishing second to the 4Aces in the regular season points list. They beat the RangeGoats by two strokes in Miami to lift the title as captain Bryson shone with a five-under-par 67.

DeChambeau returned to form in 2023, famously shooting 58 to win at The Greenbrier before victory again in Chicago. The team won the opening event of the season in Mexico and also won the Chicago event along with four other podiums.

They also finished 2nd in the regular points standings in the inaugural 2022 season, too, thanks to three podium finishes in the final four events.

Crushers GC Players

Crushers GC Results

Just a few days ago, it was reported that Joaquin Niemann was set to sign with LIV Golf. Now, according to his manager, Carlos Rodriguez, the 23-year-old has joined the Saudi-backed series and will be featuring in Boston at the end of this week.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Niemann's manager stated that the Chilean is "going but has not signed it yet." As of writing, he is the highest-ranked player in the world aged under 25. What's more, he was in attendance at the PGA Tour's Players Meeting at the BMW Championship where, just a week after, PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, announced a number of unprecedented changes.

According to The Telegraph, it is understood that Niemann will be another to receive a nine-figure signing-on fee from LIV, with insiders reporting a cheque topping $100m. 

Because of the move, it provides yet another headache for Presidents Cup International Team captain, Trevor Immelman, who has already called LIV Golf "a giant pain in my a**."

Niemann had been an automatic qualifier for the Presidents Cup International team in September. However, because of the move, he won't be able to feature in the team tournament, as LIV golfers are banned from playing.

The fourth LIV Golf event gets underway on the 2nd September and, although the full field is yet to be announced, Niemann joins his fellow LIV colleagues who are managed by GSE Worldwide agency. These players include Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen, Carlos Ortiz, Paul Casey, Branden Grace, Jason Kokrak and Eugenio Chacarra.

Moving to LIV Golf also means Niemann will face a suspension from the PGA Tour, with Jay Monahan releasing a strongly worded letter claiming that LIV Golf players are "suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate" in PGA Tour events. 

The letter went on to say: "These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons. But they can't demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platforms as you. That expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners."

Rumours surrounding who will be moving to LIV Golf have been rife of late. However, aside from the Champion Golfer of the Year, Cameron Smith,who is reportedly set to join, could their biggest steal be 23-year-old, Joaquin Niemann, with the Chilean reportedly one of the six players reportedly set to sign with the Saudi-backed series.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Niemann, who stated on Friday, following his second round at the Tour Championship: "I haven't made my decision yet. Obviously there's some things I’ve got to see first. But I’m not thinking about that right now. I want to finish the playoffs and then see what my decision will be."

As of writing, the Chilean is the highest-ranked player in the world aged under 25. What's more, he was in attendance at the PGA Tour's Players Meeting at the BMW Championship where, just a week after, PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, announced a number of unprecedented changes.

According to The Telegraph, it is understood that Niemann will be another to receive a nine-figure signing-on fee from LIV, with insiders reporting a cheque topping $100m. 

Earlier on Sunday, Cameron Tringale stated that he is the next player to sign with LIV Golf, as it was also revealed by No Laying Up that a number of current PGA Tour players' names could be used as a discount code for the fourth LIV Golf event in Boston at the beginning of September, before they were deactivated.

Niemann was one of those seven and, if he were to sign with LIV Golf, it would be yet another headache for Presidents Cup International Team captain, Trevor Immelman, who has already called LIV Golf "a giant pain in my a**."

Reportedly, Smith, Niemann and Mito Pereira have been linked with LIV Golf, and are automatic qualifiers for the Presidents Cup in September. What's more, the likes of Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri could also feature in the team event, but have also been reportedly linked with LIV, with the pair amongst the names included within the discount codes.

The fourth LIV Golf event gets underway on the 2nd September, with the full field yet to be announced. It may be worth noting that Niemann is managed by the same GSE Worldwide agency that also represents LIV golfers: Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen, Carlos Ortiz, Paul Casey, Branden Grace, Jason Kokrak and Eugenio Chacarra.

Paul Casey What's In The Bag?

What clubs does Englishman Paul Casey use on Tour? Let's take a look. Casey's equipment situation is an interesting one as he was a Nike staffer when the company announced that they were to stop making golf clubs in August 2016. Since then he had a mix of golf clubs from a variety of brands in the bag and he also had a woods contract with TaylorMade for a while too. Right now he has a couple of brands represented in his setup so let's get into it. 

Paul Casey What's In The Bag?

Paul Casey WITB: Full Specs

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees) with Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX shaft

3 wood: Titleist TSi2 (16.5 degrees) with Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX shaft

Irons: Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pro (3-4), Mizuno MP-5 (5-PW), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120TX

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52-08F, 56-10S) Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-T) all with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 120 X shafts

Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Shoes: Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 2

Driver

Titleist TSi3

He starts with a TSi3 driver which has nine degrees of loft and a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX shaft. After adding the driver in, he said; "I feel like I'm driving the golf ball like I did when I was playing my best golf, when I was 3 in the world or whatever, and that's -- I feel like its a rejuvenation." Clearly the driver performs well for Casey and it did during our testing as well, receiving five stars. The compact look will suit the eye of the better player, but many more abilities have the potential to benefit from the more varied adjustability and extra forgiveness on offer. Our testing, after being custom fitted, showed it was longer and straighter than the TS equivalent, producing longer but more playable distance.

• Read our full Titleist TSi3 driver review

Fairway

Titleist TSi2

Casey then had a Titleist TSi2 fairway wood in the bag, and it has 16.5 degrees of loft. A club that nearly got five stars in our review; one of the first things we noticed with the TSi2 was the consistency of the flight. Inevitably with fairway woods, which are often the hardest clubs in the bag to hit well, the strike locations tend to be more inconsistent. And yet, with the TSi2, the resulting distances and flights were impressively predictable. 

• Read our full Titleist TSi2 Fairway Wood Review

Irons

Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pro, Mizuno MP-5

In 2021 Casey had interestingly been testing Honma prototypes but he quickly went back to his Mizuno irons which are two slightly older models. In the long irons, his three and four-iron, Casey uses the Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pro iron. Then from five-iron down to pitching wedge Casey uses a set of the Mizuno MP-5's. The MP-5's first came to our attention in 2015 and we enjoyed the feel and crisp sound at impact. The saying with Mizuno irons is 'nothing feels like a Mizuno', and clearly Casey agrees and shows no sign of changing.

Wedges

Titleist Vokey Design SM9, Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto

He carries three Titleist Vokey wedges, two of which are SM9 models - the 52 and 56 degree options. His most lofted club is a 60 degree Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks Prototype. The SM9 is a case of evolution rather than revolution from the SM8 but Titleist says it has developed the groundbreaking Progressive Centre of Gravity (CG) design to improve distance and trajectory control. In testing, we found it very easy to square-up on full shots and deliver excellent consistency of spin and flight from closer to the green.

• Read our full Titleist Vokey SM9 Wedge Review

Putter

Scotty Cameron 009M Prototype

Casey had been using a Scotty Cameron Special Select Fastback for a while but it appears he has gone back to his Scotty Cameron 009M Prototype putter. He has been using a Scotty Cameron putter for many years now and he has 'Lex' and 'Star' stamped on his putter to remind him of his children Lex and Astaria. 

Ball

Titleist Pro V1

His ball is the Titleist Pro V1 and he has used this for some time. One of the best golf balls money can buy, the Pro V1 got five stars in our review and it is easy to see why. It provides superb all-round performance with impressive distance in the long game, excellent control into the greens and high levels of consistency throughout with a soft feel. It was also particularly impressive when playing in the wind.

• Read our full Titleist Pro V1 ball review

Apparel/Shoes

Nike

Casey wears Nike apparel and golf shoes at the moment which is no surprise given he used to also play Nike golf clubs as well. Speaking specifically about his shoes, Casey wears the same model as Rory McIlroy, the Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 2's. Available in lots of different colors; the premium leather gives a refined look with some cool modern touches like the stitching, Nike swoosh effect, and of course the Air Zoom unit.

• Read our full Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 2 Golf Shoe Review

Matt Fitzpatrick has said that the second FedEx Cup Playoff won’t suffer from the absence of three of its top six finishers last year.

The 2021 BMW Championship saw Bryson DeChambeau finish runner-up with Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia tying for sixth. However, while the trio are ineligible for this year’s tournament thanks to their involvement in the LIV Golf Invitational Series, the US Open champion isn’t too worried about their absence. He said: “It's still an incredibly fantastic field. The field this week is 70 of the best players in the world. Yeah, I think only three of them that aren't here, it's not a massive loss in my opinion.”

Video: What Is LIV Golf?

The PGA Tour has lost several high-profile players to the Saudi-backed Series over the last few months. As well as the aforementioned trio, the likes of Patrick Reed, Paul Casey and Brooks Koepka have also opted to sign-up to the Series, which has triggered suspensions from the PGA Tour. Indeed, until last week, there had been a chance that three other LIV Golf players – Hudson Swafford, Taylor Gooch and Matt Jones – could have been reinstated to the Playoffs. However, their attempt to do so via the courts went against them.

That marked the latest in a series of controversial incidents involving LIV Golf, but Fitzpatrick insists that, as far as he’s concerned, the saga has not been a distraction. He said: “I'll be honest, I haven't been asked much about it myself personally. It's been fine. I've just seen it in the media and stuff. You just get fed up with talking about it. My personal opinion, it's like, right, let's just get on with it now. Just want to play golf and concentrate on what you're doing. Yeah, that's purely my take on that.”

That certainly appears to be the case. As well as claiming his first Major two months ago, Fitzpatrick also rose to a career-high World No.10 following that US Open victory. Fitzpatrick puts his success down to his preparation. He said: “I feel like I do my homework more than most. So I definitely feel like that's kind of -  that is a little bit of an advantage, yeah. It's always interesting to see how the holes play, even in practice, how the guys play, what he's hitting, what's he hitting, definitely looking around. I definitely feel like I do my bit of work more so than most, so definitely feel I've got maybe a bit of an edge here.”

Fitzpatrick is in pursuit of his first FedEx Cup triumph. He finished tied for fifth in last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship and begins this week’s tournament 12th in the FedEx Cup standings.

The PGA Tour has announced Max Homa, Brandt Snedeker, Keith Mitchell and Kevin Streelman as additions to the Player Advisory Council (PAC) for the remainder of 2022.

Homa and Snedeker fill vacated positions previously held by Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell. In a separate election to replace Paul Casey, Mitchell and Streelman tied for the most votes, and both players have been added to the PAC, which has increased in size from 16 members to 17.

Koepka, McDowell and Casey are no longer eligible to fulfil the position after they defected to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series; a decision which resulted in suspension from the PGA Tour. 

The PAC advises and consults with the PGA Tour Policy Board (Board of Directors) and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the circuit.

Homa, Snedeker and Mitchell will be members of the PAC for the first time. Streelman served as PAC co-chairman in 2016 and subsequently served a three-year term as a Player Director on the Policy Board (2017-19).

Homa, a California native, has four career PGA Tour wins, including two during the 2021-22 season. The 31-year-old is currently No.16 in the FedEx Cup standings, No.10 in the United States Team standings for the Presidents Cup and No.22 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Homa joined the PGA Tour for the first time in 2014, and in addition to his four career Tour wins, he has two victories on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Snedeker is a nine-time PGA Tour winner and qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in each of his first 15 seasons on the PGA Tour, missing the Playoffs for the first time in 2022. Snedeker is one of four players that has been named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year (2007) and won the FedEx Cup (2012), along with Vijay Singh, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods.

Mitchell is in his fifth season on the PGA Tour. Winner of the 2019 Honda Classic, Mitchell has a career-high six top-10s in 2021-22 and seeks his first appearance in the season-ending Tour Championship, entering the BMW Championship at No.38 in the FedEx Cup standings. Mitchell turned professional in 2014 and played on PGA Tour Latinoamérica and the Korn Ferry Tour before joining the PGA Tour at the start of the 2017-18 season.

Streelman is a two-time PGA Tour winner, most recently winning the 2014 Travelers Championship. The American, who enters the BMW Championship at No.93 in the FedEx Cup standings, has qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in each of the last 15 seasons; the only players with longer active streaks are Matt Kuchar and Adam Scott, who have qualified every year during the FedEx Cup era (since 2007).

Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson will replace James Hahn and Kevin Kisner as Player Directors on the PGA Tour Policy Board next year, serving three-year terms (2023-25). Patrick Cantlay will also join the Policy Board in the 2023 with the addition of a fifth Player Director.

2022 Player Advisory Council

• Patrick Cantlay (Player Director appointee 2023)
• Austin Cook
• Joel Dahmen
• Harry Higgs
• Max Homa
• Billy Horschel
• Russell Knox
• Justin Lower
• Peter Malnati (Co-Chairman)
• Maverick McNealy
• Keith Mitchell
• Trey Mullinax
• Jon Rahm
• Webb Simpson (Co-Chairman)
• Brandt Snedeker
• Kevin Streelman
• Will Zalatoris