During the final round's play at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Paul Casey was announced by LIV Golf as he became the latest high-profile name to jump ship to the Saudi-backed series.
Joining Team Crushers, who are captained by Bryson DeChambeau, Casey stated that the first LIV event he will play in will be at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster at the end of July, with the 44-year-old then being welcomed by captain DeChambeau.
"Congratulations Paul Casey. I'm so stoked to have you on Team Crushers. Let's go!" states an excited DeChambeu, before adding: "Huge, huge deal and an awesome golfer and even better person. I love you dude and let's go and kill it for the rest of this year. I'll see you at Trump Bedminster."
Paul Casey is the latest player to join the LIV Golf series and will play the next event at Bedminster, New Jersey at the end of July. pic.twitter.com/sK3nhd2iftJuly 3, 2022
After the encounter, Casey revealed that one of the reasons as to why he joined LIV Golf was the team element, with the 15-time European Tour winner explaining: "I'm a guy who played college golf and there are a couple of Arizona State Sun Devils also out there, Matt Jones and Pat Perez for example. It is an individual sport, but to get that team element, I'm excited to be part of that."
Ranked 26th in the world, Casey hasn't played since March due to an ongoing injury. However, this now means that LIV Golf has 22 of the World's Top 100 players, with the 44-year-old joining the likes of DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.
Branden Grace secured the $4 million first prize in Portland
Casey, a former UNICEF ambassador, was one of the first players to speak out about about not playing in the original Saudi International tournament, which was then sanctioned by the European Tour, citing his then-association with UNICEF for skipping the tournament.
“It just didn’t sit well with me,’’ Casey told the Independent newspaper at the time. “I’ve not talked too much about it and I’m not sure I want to, but certainly signing a deal and being paid to be down there... I would be a hypocrite if I did that. Anybody who says sport isn’t political, that’s rubbish. Sport is very political.
"I’m glad I took a stance, more so if it highlights the issues within the region, especially next door in Yemen. I’ve seen the numbers. In Yemen, 22 million people are facing starvation, 11.5 million of the kids. I didn’t want anything to do to get in the way of a great organisation like UNICEF."
