LIV star left red-faced after claiming he 'hated' Johnson's team before trade

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Harold Varner III claimed he
Harold Varner III claimed he 'hated' the 4Aces (Image: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Harold Varner III claimed he 'hated' the 4Aces before signing with the LIV Golf team led by Dustin Johnson during the current off-season.

Varner became one of LIV's first ever trades earlier this month, after he was traded by the RangeGoats to the 4Aces in exchange for Peter Uihlein. The decision to join Johnson's team may have come as a surprise to many though going off his previous comments.

Speaking at LIV Greenbrier earlier this year, Varner was questioned what his thoughts were on the 2022 Team Champions, and without much hesitation responded: "I hate the Aces!"

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Four months on though the American has been forced to eat his words after signing with Johnson and co, and admitted he has been reminded of his comments since making the switch. “Yeah, I’m getting slack for that right now,” he told LIVGolf.com.

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The trading process in the off-season did raise some eyebrows, after Varner's former team the RangeGoats also traded 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch to Smash GC, bringing in the struggling Matthew Wolff as his replacement. Varner himself however appeared to be more than comfortable with his trade.

Opening up on how the switch came about, he commented: "It was an interesting process, and I wasn’t really a part of it, to be honest. It’s kind of is what it is. An opportunity came up, and when Bubba [Watson] called, I said, yeah, I’d be interested in doing that.

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LIV star left red-faced after claiming he 'hated' Johnson's team before tradeHarold Varner III joined the 4Aces earlier this month (Brian Bishop/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“So, no hard feelings with the RangeGoats or anything like that. It’s part of all this, it’s new for golf.” Varner is joining one of the strongest teams on the LIV setup for 2024, with the 4Aces announcing themselves as a dominant brand in season one and two.

In 2022, the Aces got their hands on the Team Championship, whilst skipper, Johnson took home the individual prize to complete a double. A year later they looked set to defend their team crown, after going into the season finale top of the standings, before Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers came out on top in Miami.

He joins 2022 champion, Johnson, as well as the returning Pat Perez and Patrick Reed ahead of the upcoming campaign. Despite joining a team with a proven track record, Varner also arrives with plenty of pedigree after finishing seventh in the individual standings this year.

The American star also landed his first LIV title since joining the breakaway league from the PGA Tour last year, winning the LIV Washington DC title by one shot ahead of runner-up Branden Grace in May of this year.

Joshua Lees

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