LIV Golf is reportedly looking at The Grove in Tennessee as a possible host venue for the 2024 season - a course which currently stages a Korn Ferry Tour playoff event.
LIV boss Greg Norman designed the course at College Grove just outside Nashville, which has served has host for the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation for the last two seasons.
The event is already down on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule to be held on 12-15 September 2024, but that could well change if LIV Golf manages to do a deal to stage an event at the same venue.
The Grove has recently been bought by Escalante Golf, a company which owns other courses to have staged LIV event such as The International and Pumpkin Ridge.
The Golf Channel is now reporting that Escalante will decide in the coming weeks whether to continue hosting the Korn Ferry Tour event or instead switch and sign up with LIV Golf.
That backs up the initial report from the Sports Business Journal about LIV Golf looking to hold an event at The Grove.
And we've seen from previous experience that it is one or the other as far as holding LIV Golf or PGA Tour-based events - notably when Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleon Golf Course hosted the first LIV event of the season.
The PGA Tour then switched the regular event held there to Tiger Woods' El Cardonal course in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for this season.
It was also a similar story over in Europe when former Ryder Cup host venue Valderrama signed up with LIV Golf after being a long-time host of a DP World Tour event.
The Simmons Bank Open is still the one listed for The Grove though, with a spokesperson for the Korn Ferry Tour telling GolfChannel.com that they fully plan for the event to go ahead as scheduled.
“We are fortunate to have top-tier partners in Simmons Bank, Brandt and Mandy Snedeker and the Tennessee Golf Foundation," read the Korn Ferry Tour statment.
"The Nashville community has shown its support for the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation since day one and we are confident we will find the best long-term solution for the tournament and the Korn Ferry Tour.”
Golf Monthly has contacted LIV Golf for comment.
