NORTH PLAINS, Oregon — The LIV Golf Invitational Series will include more events and a name change in 2023.
The series moves to the LIV Golf League next year and events will grow from eight this year to 14 in the coming years with 48 signed players across 12 teams. The number of events is limited to 14.
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The Saudi-backed series has grown faster than expected with eight of the top 50 players and 20 of the top 100 in the current World Golf Rankings joining LIV to date. Included are Jupiter residents Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, both ranked in the top 20.
The fields for this year’s eight events are flowing as more players spill over from the PGA Tour. This week’s field at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course outside Portland, nine players did not participate in the inaugural event to be held outside London, including Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Matthew Wolff, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.
The plan for 2023 is to open the season in March with 48 contracted players. The four-man teams will be established for the season, with the players selected and recruited by the 12 captains.
The contracts for each player vary, the longest being four years. Phil Mickelson is said to have signed the largest contract, $200 million, followed by Johnson with $125 million.
The list of locations is not yet final. It is known, however, that the number of international branches will expand. This year, the series will stop in England, Bangkok and Saudi Arabia, along with five US locations: Portland; Bedminster, NJ; Boston; Chicago; and Miami.
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One US site that will remain the same is Trump National Doral outside of Miami, which will host this year’s season finale, October 27-30.
After the first round of this week’s event, Ortiz is the leader of the 54-hole tournament at 5-under, one shot ahead of Johnson.
LIV to receive $250 million from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and offering purses of $25 million — including $5 million for the top three finishers in the team competition — for the first seven events and $50 million for the series finale in Doral.
The individual winner will receive $4 million.
Tom D’Angelo is a journalist at the Palm Beach Post† You can reach him at [email protected]†
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: LIV Golf changes to competition schedule with 14 events in 2023