The talk of the golf world has been about the players that have departed thus far from the PGA Tour to join the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series that debuted on Thursday.
Thus far, we have seen the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, and 14 others who have jumped ship.
These players received a memo from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on Thursday stating that all current and future LIV Golf players will be suspended from the PGA Tour.
It seems like that hasn’t stopped yet another notable golfer to jump ship and officially sign with LIV Golf.
On Friday, the LIV Golf circuit has announced that former U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau has officially signed on with the new league.
This is not a shocking development considering it was reported by James Corrigan of The Telegraph on Wednesday that this would be the case, but it is now official.
The official addition of former Masters winner Patrick Reed is also expected in the coming days.
Many around the golf world found it a bit comical that the PGA Tour’s statement that was supposed to scare potential departures to LIV Golf has seemingly not worked to this point.
https://twitter.com/AmandaGolf59/status/1535297131363311617
Now confirmed that @b_dechambeau is the latest marquee signing for #LIVGolf . That will really rattle the @PGATOUR gilded cage . Sponsors won’t be happy
— rupert bell (@Rupertbell) June 10, 2022
LIV Golf released a statement regarding the new signing and appears to be very excited about taking yet another big-name golfer from the PGA Tour.
“Bryson DeChambeau is an exciting addition to LIV Golf’s supercharged style of play. He is passionate about the sport, innovative in his approach and committed to pushing the boundaries in pursuit of excellence,” said LIV Golf commissioner and CEO Greg Norman. “He’s not afraid to think outside the box and supports our mission of doing things differently to grow our game. The power and energy he brings to the course will deliver added electricity to our competition in Portland [Oregon, site of the series’ first U.S. event] and beyond.”
While this move was likely made as a better financial opportunity by DeChambeau, there were some repercussions served to him for his decision.
Rocket Mortgage, a sponsor of DeChambeau and a longtime supporter of the PGA Tour decided to end their sponsorship deal with the 28-year-old golfer.
With this big signing, it is likely that others may be on the horizon of following DeChambeau in leaving the PGA Tour in the coming weeks ahead of LIV’s first U.S. competition later this month.
[ESPN]