LIV Golf are on the verge of striking a double blow in golf's civil war with two current PGA Tour players set to join the rebel series.
In an expanded scheduled this year, the Saudi-backed venture will run 14 tournaments, the first of which gets underway in Mayakoba, Mexico, on February 26. It will get underway amid a number of LIV defectors taking legal action against the status quo over being barred from PGA events.
Hostilities between the two parties are showing no signs of simmering, with the 2023 Ryder Cup still in apparent jeopardy over the debate as to whether rebel stars will be permitted to play. And Greg Norman and co are clearly intent on continuing their aggressive pursuit of players, having seemingly secured extra additions.
According to Yahoo , Colombian Sebastian Munoz and Chilean Mito Pereira will be the next to jump ship. The pair are expected to help form Joaquin Niemann's Tourque team, with all representatives from South America.
The capture of Munoz in particular might not be seen as significant. giving hi No 97 ranking. But the 30-year-old has a PGA Tour win to his name, and has also produced top 20 finishes at both the Masters and the US Open.
Pereira, 27, has not enjoyed the same career success, but did come to close to a huge underdog win at the US PGA last year. Starting the final round with a three shot lead, he still led by one going down the last before an erratic drive led to a double bogey, and an agonising third-placed finish as he watched Justin Thomas beat Will Zalatoris in a play off.
The reported moves come just days away from the Netflix release of Full Swing. The eight episode series, that will premier on February 15, is set to give an explosive insight into how tensions over LIV Golf escalated last year.
The PGA Tour was given a welcome boost in publicity this week though, with Tiger Woods confirming he will make his return at the Genesis Invitational. Woods has not featured on the Tour since the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in July 2022, where he was given a standing ovation as he walked down the 18th fairway in his second round.
It will be his first non-major event since his high-speed car crash in February 2021. Despite still being hampered by the injuries, the 47-year-old is still considered a huge draw in viewing figures.
