Players who’ve signed up to the breakaway Saudi-backed LIV Golf collection will be allowed to compete in subsequent month’s a hundred and fiftieth British Open, organisers the R&A introduced on Wednesday.
The US PGA Tour has banned these concerned in the insurgent enterprise after the inaugural occasion in Britain earlier this month however organisers of final week’s US Open didn’t comply with go well with.
That stance will be adopted on the 12 months’s remaining main, which begins at St Andrews in Scotland on July 14.
“The Open is golf’s original championship and since it was first played in 1860, openness has been fundamental to its ethos and unique appeal,” stated R&A chief govt Martin Slumbers.
“Players who’re exempt or have earned a spot by way of qualifying for the a hundred and fiftieth Open in accordance with the entry phrases and situations will be ready to compete in the championship at St Andrews.
“We are focused on staging a world-class championship in July and celebrating this truly historic occasion for golf.”
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Four-time main champion Brooks Koepka is the most recent big-name participant to defect to the LIV Golf circuit, together with Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, the world quantity 20.
Koepka, 32, is predicted to make his debut on the money-spinning circuit at its maiden US occasion in Oregon subsequent week. Koepka’s administration crew didn’t instantly reply when contacted by AFP on Tuesday.
The American, who has eliminated “PGA Tour” from his Twitter profile, will comply with a clutch of stars together with Dustin Johnson and six-time major-winner Phil Mickelson by becoming a member of LIV.
The collection, which is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has plunged the golf world into turmoil since its emergence.
LIV Golf has drawn stinging criticism from human rights teams, which say the collection is an try to enhance the dominion’s picture by way of sport.
The PGA Tour has adopted a zero-tolerance stance in direction of the collection, with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspending 17 former or present tour gamers for making the change after the beginning of the inaugural occasion close to London.
He made it clear that different golfers who signed up would undergo an analogous destiny.
PGA Tour revamp
Reports on Tuesday stated the PGA Tour was planning to revamp its schedule with a collection of profitable new tournaments — the clearest indicator but of a method to fight the rise of LIV Golf.
Monahan is known to have defined proposed adjustments to the schedule at a packed assembly of gamers forward of this week’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
Plans outlined by Monahan embody boosting purses to not less than $20 million in eight present marquee tournaments and the introduction of three new $25 million tournaments that might function no cuts and restricted fields. The schedule overhaul might be in place by the 2023 season.
LIV Golf has steadily been luring star names to signal with the upstart circuit that provides $25 million in prize cash for every of its 54-hole tournaments.
Other adjustments proposed by Monahan on Tuesday included a return to a calendar 12 months schedule operating from January to December.
The present “wraparound” season begins in the North American autumn and is unpopular with some gamers who complain it doesn’t permit for a clearly outlined low season.
Speaking on the Travelers Championship on Tuesday, defending champion Harris English stated he hoped the PGA Tour’s proposed revamp might persuade gamers to stay with the circuit.
Patrick Cantlay described the PGA-LIV confrontation as a battle to entice and retain expertise.
“If the PGA Tour wants to remain the pre-eminent tour for professional golfers, it has to be the best place to play for the best players in the world,” he stated.