25 January 2024 , 19:06
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Despite links to a proposed move to LIV Golf, it appears Adrian Meronk's Saudi switch won't lead Viktor Hovland to depart the PGA Tour in 2024.
Hovland's future had been questioned by insider Matt Fischer of Mr Short Game, who reported that the Norwegian's recent absences on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were down to an imminent move to LIV. "For Viktor, why hasn't he been playing, where has he been?
"He wasn't out in the Desert playing in Dubai, he also hasn't been on the PGA Tour at the American Express and he is not at the Farmers [Insurance Open]," Fischer claimed.
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"A number of huge events on both sides, the DP World Tour, PGA Tour, he is MIA. Rumour is he is the player that will be signing with LIV any second right now." He went on: "He will be part of the Cleeks team which is Martin Kaymer's team."
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Hovland's future looks to be with the PGA Tour though with one of his fellow Europeans Meronk set to make the LIV switch. Per The Times, the Pole has finalised his move to the breakaway league, and on the back of that is the man expected to join Martin Kaymer at the Cleeks alongside Richard Bland and the soon-to-be-announced Kalle Samooja.
Numerous reports have also suggested that Englishman Tyrrell Hatton could be set to follow in these footsteps too, despite recently ruling out the move at last month's Dubai Desert Classic. In terms of Hovland, he is expected to finally return to the PGA Tour next week, having been included on the entry list for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Viktor Hovland won the FedEx Cup last season (Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)The FedEx Cup champion had previously sounded off any chance of him making the Saudi switch in an interview with FORE last month. "I don't think their product is that great," he said of LIV Golf. "I'm not such a fan of, for example, playing without a cut," Hovland said. "You need the competition with 150 players and a cut.
"If you don't play well enough, you're out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I don't think I would have become a better golfer. And then it is, in a way, end of discussion." Hovland however did not hold back in his criticism of the PGA Tour's leadership over their handling of the ongoing peace deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
"The management has not done a good job. They almost see the players as labour, and not as part of the members. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing," he added, "When you then get to see what happens behind closed doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players' best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best."