Rory McIlroy has warned his fellow golf stars that have defected to the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf series about chasing ‘boatloads of cash’ ahead of the inaugural event in London this weekend.
LIV Golf will stage their first three-day, 54-hole event at The Centurion Club near St Albans from Thursday amid a build-up littered with controversy and infighting. On Wednesday, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler became the latest stars set to join the lucrative series, whose first event has a purse worth £20million while the series’ total purse is around £200m.
The field for the event will see the likes of six-time major champion Phil Mickelson and former World No. 1 Dustin Johnson compete against Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Charr Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Kevin Na for eye-watering sums of money. Players that resigned their membership could be barred from competing at majors, and Johnson - who won the 2016 US Open and the 2020 Masters - officially resigned his PGA Tour membership in order to play in the LIV Golf series.
