
After months of speculation, LIV Golf has announced a partial field list for their inaugural tournament at Centurion Club June 9 – 11.
Dustin Johnson is the biggest name to test the PGA TOUR’s resolve to prevent players from bandying about between the leagues.
Of note to Michiganders is that reigning US Amateur Champion James Piot is also in the field. Piot is a Michigan State star and a resident of Canton. Piot is listed as an amateur in the field notes.
Also of note is who is NOT on the list: Phil Mickelson. I think there’s a lot more going on in Phil’s life than anyone thinks.
Other big names are (in order of relative significance) Sergio Garcia (World Golf Ranking 54), Lee Westwood (74), Charl Schwartzel (120), Lous Oosthuizen (20), Graeme McDowell (376) and Martin Kaymer (210).
Of those, however, only DJ (13) has been any real threat to win a PGA TOUR event in recent years.
Other recognizable PGA TOUR and European Tour players on the list include Talor Gooch (35), Branden Grace (118), Kevin Na (33), Ian Poulter (89) Hudson Swafford (91), Peter Uihlein (319) and Bernd Wiesberger (90).
The average ranking of this field is 106. The median is 98. That’s not exactly a stellar field.
In fact, the LIV field looks a lot like I thought it would when I posted an article on how LIV could actually be good for the PGA TOUR. LIV is for the most part signing hangers-on with the regular tour who are not really threats to win any more.
A lot is going to depend on what punishment the PGA TOUR is prepared to hand to Dustin Johnson.
The complete list of names released by LIV follow:
Last Name | First Name | Country | OWGR | Career Highlights |
Bekker | Oliver | RSA | 93 | Seven career wins |
Bland | Richard | ENG | 66 | Two career wins |
Canter | Laurie | ENG | 114 | One professional win |
Chantananuwat (Am) | Ratchanon “TK” | THA | Youngest to win an OWGR event | |
Du Plessis | Hennie | RSA | 128 | Three professional wins |
Fisher | Oliver | ENG | One professional win; 16 top-10 finishes | |
Garcia | Sergio | ESP | 54 | Major champion; 36 career victories |
Gooch | Talor | USA | 35 | Two professional wins |
Grace | Branden | RSA | 118 | 14 professional wins |
Harding | Justin | RSA | 111 | 11 professional wins |
Horsfield | Sam | ENG | 72 | Three professional wins |
Johnson | Dustin | USA | 13 | Former World No. 1; Two-time major champion |
Jones | Matt | AUS | 68 | Four professional wins |
Kaewkanjana | Sadom | THA | 125 | Former Asian Tour Order of Merit leader (2 wins) |
Kaymer | Martin | GER | 210 | Former World No. 1; Two-time major champion |
Khongwatmai | Phachara | THA | 133 | Youngest player to win pro event (2013) |
Kim | Sihwan | USA | 138 | Two Asian Tour wins |
Kinoshita | Ryosuke | JPN | 87 | Three professional wins |
Koepka | Chase | USA | Six professional top-10 finishes | |
Kozuma | Jinichiro | JPN | 103 | Two professional wins |
Larrazabal | Pablo | ESP | 65 | Eight professional wins |
McDowell | Graeme | NIR | Major champion; 16 professional victories | |
Morgan | Jediah | AUS | 235 | 2021-22 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit |
Na | Kevin | USA | 33 | Nine professional victories |
Norris | Shaun | RSA | 69 | 12 professional wins |
Ogletree | Andy | USA | 2019 U.S. Amateur Champion | |
Oosthuizen | Louis | RSA | 20 | Major champion; 20 professional wins |
Ormsby | Wade | AUS | Four professional victories | |
Otaegui | Adrian | ESP | 162 | Three professional wins |
Pettit | Turk | USA | 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Champion | |
Piot (Am) | James | USA | 2021 U.S. Amateur Champion | |
Poulter | Ian | ENG | 89 | 19 professional victories; former World No. 5 |
Puig (Am) | David | ESP | Seven top-10 finishes in 2021 (NCAA) | |
Ritchie | JC | RSA | 154 | 10 professional victories |
Schwartzel | Charl | RSA | 120 | Major champion; 23 professional wins |
Swafford | Hudson | USA | 91 | Four professional wins; 12 top 10 finishes |
Tanihara | Hideto | JPN | 173 | 16 professional victories |
Uihlein | Peter | USA | Former No. 1 Amateur; Four professional wins | |
Vincent | Scott | ZIM | 109 | Four professional wins |
Westwood | Lee | ENG | 74 | Former World No. 1; 44 professional wins |
Wiesberger | Bernd | AUT | 90 | 13 professional victories |
Windred | Blake | AUS | 250 | Earned first professional win in 2021 |
*Note: The final six players will include Commissioner’s invites and berths following the results of The Asian Tour International Series England tournament, June 2-5 at Slayley Hall. Announcements will be made by Monday, June 6.
Discover more from GolfBlogger Golf Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.