Lee Westwood wants to see LIV Golf cement itself on the packed British sporting calendar as the breakaway circuit returns to the United Kingdom for the first time since its first ever event next month.
LIV Golf recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, having initially got underway at the Centurion Club for LIV London in June 2022. The Saudi-funded series is returning to the St Albans course to the 2023 edition of the tournament amid a busy summer of sport on the British Isles.
With the men's and women's Ashes, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix all taking place on the same week as LIV London, it promises to be a busy few days for British sport.
The breakaway league are still working on building their following having only formed 12 months ago. Despite this, Westwood is hoping the LIV Golf brand can catch the eye of sports fans despite the world renowned events taking place at the same time.
Per Wales Online, the former world No. 1 said: “The strides they have made, and the amount LIV Golf has come on inside a year, are incredible. A new Tour has taken off and it’s what everyone is talking about. It has created a stir and everyone is getting the idea of it now.
“It’s very different from the 72-hole events, your run-of-the-mill tournaments. It’s kind of like T20 cricket, where you also have the five-day Tests for the purist. In Britain, we have all those summer sporting events around that time – Royal Ascot, the Ashes, Formula One down the road [at Silverstone].
"We must make a big impact as there are a lot of sports vying for that time. We are entertainers and we’ll be trying to play as much good golf as possible to put out a good product.”
Westwood will join fellow Englishman and former Ryder Cup teammate Paul Casey in returning to home soil to compete on the Saudi-backed series. And ahead of the return to the British Isles, Casey is expecting a good reception for his home crowd.
"I’m expecting a phenomenal reception [at LIV London]," revealed Casey With the global schedule we all play, we don’t play as much in the UK as we used to.
“When I started my career, we played half a dozen events a year back home and now it’s one, two or three at most, which is a shame. With Covid and everything else in the last few years, the fans have been starved of action and this will be a treat."
