NORTH PLAINS — The new LIV Golf Invitational Series and its upcoming event at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club have already generated plenty of drama. When players tee off at the Portland area course Thursday afternoon, it will mark the start of a weekend of firsts.
Not only will the event be the first in North America for the upstart, Saudi-backed league, it also will represent the debut for several prominent golfers who have helped bring it credibility. Several of those players defended their decisions to join LIV Golf during an interview session with reporters on Tuesday, when they faced questions about the tour’s connections to human rights violations and how it will fit into the future of golf.
Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed represent three of the most recent players who have made the leap from the PGA Tour. The trio was joined by Abraham Ancer and Matthew Wolff, fellow PGA Tour winners who are 32 or younger.
Their arrival represented a major victory for LIV Golf in its ongoing feud with the PGA Tour, which has announced it will suspend any player who takes the course in a LIV event. Tensions further increased Tuesday when the PGA Tour announced an alliance with the DP World Tour — a move that became public while Dechambeau, Ancer and Wolff were speaking at Pumpkin Ridge.
It’s little secret that the primary motive for the defections involves money. DeChambeau, at least, didn’t hide that. He called his move a “business decision.” Both he and Koepka, along with the likes of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, reportedly have received contracts in excess of $100 million to join the new tour.
“For me it was a personal business decision,” DeChambeau said. “I run and operate my golf as a business, as well as wanting to be one of the better players in the world.”
The source of that money has been the primary cause of the controversy surrounding LIV Golf. The league is funded by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Critics have accused the Saudi government of attempting to use LIV Golf to “sportswash,” improving its reputation by distracting from its record of human rights abuses. That includes the death of Fallon Smart, the 15-year-old Portland resident who was struck and killed by the car of Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, a Saudi national, in August 2016. Noorah escaped to Saudi Arabia and has never stood trial.
North Plains Mayor Teri Lenahan joined mayors of 10 other Washington County cities and signed a letter voicing opposition to LIV Golf coming to Pumpkin Ridge. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has spoken out. And, last month, a group of nearly 2,500 survivors and family members of those killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks wrote an open letter to PGA Tour players thanking them for remaining loyal to the tour and not joining LIV Golf.
DeChambeau, Koepka and others were prodded about whether they had any qualms about the source of their lucrative contracts and, unlike previous interview sessions, journalists were not removed. In exchanges that at times grew combative, each dismissed the concern. “We’re just golfers” became a consistent refrain.
“They’re allowed to have their opinions,” Koepka said, when asked about critics of LIV Golf. “We’ve heard it. I think everybody has. It’s been brought up. But, look, like we said, our only job is to go play golf, and that’s all we’re trying to do.”
DeChambeau, at the very least, showed an awareness that LIV Golf’s financial backing is a sore subject and said he plans to use his new, lucrative paychecks — and increased time between events — to give back to the community.
“It wasn’t just an, ‘Oh, I’m selfish and taking all of this,’” DeChambeau said. “It was more of, ‘How can this do good for the people around me?’ Now that I have this opportunity presented in front of me, what can I do good with it in my community back in California where I grew up and in numerous other junior golf events and areas and other potentials moving forward?”
The players were much more willing to talk about the less controversial differences between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour — most notably, as DeChambeau alluded to, a more player-friendly schedule that includes just eight events in 2022.
They also noted a few other new wrinkles that will be on display this week. The Portland event will feature three 18-hole rounds of competition, as opposed to the four-day, 72-hole format at PGA Tour events. A shotgun start will see the entire field tee off at the same time, spread across different holes. Golfers will also be grouped into teams of four, with the top three teams at the end of the event receiving cash prizes.
The controversy surrounding LIV Golf and its U.S. debut isn’t likely to dissipate once the tournament tees off. But Reed expects the team competition, as well as Pumpkin Ridge itself, to provide plenty of drama inside the ropes.
“Golf course is pure,” Reed said. “It’s in immaculate shape. … It gives you so many different opportunities. There’s so many different shots you have to hit, and you have to be creative around this place, and I really can’t wait for the event to really start, especially with playing on that team side. Come that last day, you have a chance to win, but at the same time, you’re trying to win for your team as well, and I just see this place having fireworks toward the end.”
— Mitchell Forde, for The Oregonian/OregonLive
