As momentum for golf’s rebel tour gathered pace with the shock news that Bryson DeChambeau will join the party, Ian Poulter insisted more of the world’s top players will soon be of a mind to follow suit.
The Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf, which stages its inaugural $25m (£19.9m) event here from Thursday, has already turned the heads of Dustin Johnson and Sergio García sufficiently for the pair to resign from the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau is not expected to go that far but one of the most recognisable personalities in this sport is likely to tee up when the LIV Series reaches Oregon this month. So, too, is Patrick Reed.
“Bryson has always been an innovator,” said Brett Falkoff, DeChambeau’s manager. “Having the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing and it’s happening quickly.”
Curiously as recently as last week DeChambeau appeared to rule out LIV participation. “I personally don’t think that at this point in time I’m in a place in my career where I can risk things like that,” he said at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. DeChambeau is known to have given close consideration to playing here in Hertfordshire but his plans were disrupted by hand surgery.
At Centurion Poulter had already spoken of shifting sands. A team element – worth $5m between four players – forms part of the LIV concept. Competitions take place over 54 holes, as opposed to the traditional 72.
“I definitely see other top players watching on this week and wanting to be a part of it,” he said. “There’s a huge investment coming into the game of golf and sport in general. Other players will be looking in with interest and I think they will want to come and see what it’s all about.
“The team format has always been something which most people have gravitated to and had their best time on the course.
“It is a vast sum of money but it’s a great platform to be able to build the game and give back at the same time.”
Rory McIlroy, who is defending the Canadian Open this weekend on the PGA Tour, supported the rights of Poulter and other European Ryder Cup veterans to retain involvement in the biennial joust with the United States. The DP World, formerly European Tour, has an alliance with the PGA Tour and must decide how to deal with players who have accepted LIV’s millions. Exclusion from the Ryder Cup – as players or captains - has been speculated upon.
“I still think they should be able to [feature],” McIlroy said. “They’ve been such a part of the Ryder Cup. Look at the history Poulter has at the Ryder Cup. It would be such a shame for him not to be involved, whether that’s as a vice-captain or a captain or one last time in a playing capacity. Same with Graeme McDowell and a lot of these guys.”
Not that McIlroy is at all convinced by the LIV scheme. “It’s their life, it’s their decision, they can live it the way they want to,” he said of his peers.
“I want to play on the PGA Tour against the best players in the world. Any decision that you make in your life that’s purely for money usually doesn’t end up going the right way.
“Obviously money is a deciding factor in a lot of things in this world but, if it’s purely for money, it never seems to go the way you want it to. I think everything needs to try to become more cohesive and it was on a pretty good trajectory until this happened.”
McIlroy added that “short‑term” thinking seems at play with many golfers.
Poulter’s fellow Englishman and Ryder Cup player Lee Westwood defended the decision to accept millions from Saudi’s public investment fund despite links to human rights abuses. “We are independent contractors and we have played all over the world,” he said. “I’ve played the last 29 years pretty much wherever I’ve wanted to. Nothing’s changing. I think we are all comfortable with the decisions that we’ve made.”
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said: “Solidarity with Saudi Arabia’s beleaguered human rights community is incredibly important and at the moment the LIV Golf Series is displaying very little of this.”
The PGA Tour is likely to issue an update on its position on Thursday.
