7 LIV Golf including Koepka who went back on their word to join Saudi series
LIV Golf's second campaign will come to an end this week when its 48 players compete alongside each other across 12 teams at the season-ending Team Championship in Miami.
It has been another year of improvements for the LIV setup, having extended their season to 14 events in 2023, almost double the amount of tournaments that they hosted in 2022. In that time the Saudi-backed series has enticed a number of golf's biggest names thanks to the mega-money prize pots.
The final week in Miami is bigger than any other on the LIV schedule, with a whopping £41 million ($50m) on offer to those competing across the three days.
All of LIV's biggest stars will be out at Trump Doral hoping to get their slice of the eye-watering purse, including Dustin Johnson, whose 4Aces team head to the season finale as defending champions and 2023 leaders. Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka will be hoping he can add to his LIV earnings too, as he makes his way to Miami having won just short of £6.5 million after defending his LIV Jeddah title last Sunday.
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There is no doubt Koepka and Johnson have comfortably weathered the storm of controversially joining the breakaway league last summer, which will have been helped by their pockets being comfortably lined on the back of their Saudi switch. The pair - along with a number of other players - were not always on side with the LIV brand though.
Here is a look at seven LIV Golf stars who initially ruled out a move to the breakaway circuit, before going onto signed on the dotted line with Greg Norman and co.
Dustin Johnson
Nobody benefited from the formation of LIV Golf more than Johnson in 2022, as the former Masters champion won both the individual and team championship to earn an a mammoth £27.5 million in just eight events. Just eight months before his emphatic LIV Golf double though, Johnson was heard pledging his allegiances to the PGA Tour.
Rumours about the possible formation of a Saudi-funded golf league began to stick in 2022, which led to a number of players ruling themselves out of a potential move to the start-up circuit. One of those was Johnson. "I feel it is now time to put such speculation to rest," he said. "I am fully committed to the PGA Tour." Just four months later the American was enticed by a reported £103 million signing on fee, and became LIV Golf's biggest coup.
Dustin Johnson went back on his word to join LIV Golf (Tannen Maury/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)Brooks Koepka
On the back of Johnson, LIV's next marque signing from the PGA Tour was the then four-time major champion Koepka. It was initially thought that the Saudi-backed league would prove to be nothing more than a career-ending pit stop for some of the Tour's older players, but when arguably one of the world's best players opted to make the move, the PGA Tour knew they had an issue on their hands.
The move of Koepka would have proved all the more surprising for commissioner Jay Monahan and his team, after he had confirmed his loyalties to the Tour in a similar way to Johnson. Speaking at the 2022 Waste Management Phoenix Open, he said: "It's been pretty clear for a long time now that I'm with the PGA Tour, it's where I'm staying. I'm very happy.”
The Smash GC captain was soon left eating his words though after making the Saudi switch, later admitting: "My opinion changed. That was it... Here I am. Like I said, opinions change. And I feel very comfortable with the decision I made. I'm happy, and I did what's best for me."
Bryson DeChambeau
One man who had not seen eye-to-eye with Koepka in the past is his old rival Bryson DeChambeau, but one thing the pair do have in common is making a LIV Golf u-turn. Like his former Ryder Cup teammates, DeChambeau too ruled himself out of the running, before confirming his decision to join the breakaway league.
He wrote in February 2022: "While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I.” In the end it seems enough big-name players made the move, as he joined LIV Golf four months later.
Bryson DeChambeau is one of LIV Golf's biggest names (AP)Paul Casey
DeChambeau's Crushers GC teammate Paul Casey found himself in a similar situation too. On the back of his Saudi switch, the Englishman showed there was an element of hypocrisy in his decision, after previously criticising Saudi Arabia's in golf amid their poor human rights record.
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Speaking as a UNICEF ambassador in 2019 Casey vowed never to play or be paid to play golf by the Middle Eastern state. "Signing a deal and being paid to be down there, I would be a hypocrite if I did that. Anyone who says sport isn’t political, that’s rubbish. I’m glad I took a stance, more so if it highlighted the issues within the region.”
Four years later the former European Ryder Cup star has pocketed £7.5 million on the Saudi-backed tour across his 15 months with the LIV Golf setup.
Joaquin Niemann
LIV Golf were also seen investing in the future of golf as well as present and past stars, following the acquisition of Joaquin Niemann. The 24-year-old is the breakaway circuit's youngest captain, but his initial move will have come as a shock to many after initially claiming he was 'going nowhere'.
Just weeks before his mega-money move, the Chilean said: "Nothing to tell from me [on LIV Golf]. I want to do my best to beat all these guys. They’re still here and as long as they’re here [PGA Tour], I’m not going anywhere. No chance.”
Joaquin Niemann is LIV Golf's youngest captain (Getty Images)Harold Varner III
Another whose loyalties to the PGA Tour eventually caved in was Harold Varner III. Speaking prior to his move, Varner said the inspiration of his sporting icon Michael Jordan meant he would not be leaving the Tour to join the rebel series. "It helps because I'm sure he's [Jordan] had decisions like this long before I was even born," he said.
"I'm obviously not going [to LIV Golf]. I've spoken with Jay [Monahan], I've spoken with a lot of people I look up to and it just wasn't worth it to me for what it was worth." The influence of the basketball great soon wore off though, as he become a LIV player in August 2022.
Thomas Pieters
Thomas Pieters was one of LIV Golf's later additions, as he opted not to join the Saudi-funded series throughout its maiden season, before becoming one of Norman's new signings for 2023. The loss of Pieters was a big one to the DP World Tour, with the Belgian one of Europe's top players, and tipped to make the Ryder Cup in 2023.
DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley was reportedly given reassurance that he was keeping hold of the six-time winner, after The Telegraph claimed he had told the Tour he would not be making the switch in a bid to make Luke Donald's Ryder Cup's team in Rome. His priorities quickly changed though, and he is now set to complete his maiden LIV Golf season later this week.
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