LIV Field Announced for Oregon and There’s Three Spaces Up for Grabs

The LIV field has been announced for the event on June 30^th in Portland, Oregon.

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The headline for the field reads ‘48 players from every corner of the globe’ but lists only 45, with three slots available to fill over the coming days. The world rankings for each player are detailed in the LIV Golf tweet, with the highest rankings belonging to DJ, Koepka, and Ancer with #16, #19 and #20 respectively.

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have been appointed captains of their respective teams, Smash GC and the Crushers. It remains to be seen whether their feud is continued into the new series, or whether the signing on fee appointed to both players means they care a little less about petty rivalries.

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Elsewhere in the field are recent LIV signings Pat Perez, as well as Chase Koepka, brother of Brooks. Patrick Reed adds some status to the field, the former Masters Champion coming in as World #38. Former European Ryder Cup players Bernd Weisberger (World #97) and Martin Kaymer (#224) also take to the field.

Now, the PGA Tour’s announcement this week of a new series, with bigger purses, no cuts and a shorter season, appears to be using the model of the LIV Series, and it does appear to take the form of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.

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However, the merit-based outlook of the PGA Tour has never wavered, as the players in this future set-up have earned their way onto the Tour. In comparison, looking at the bottom row of the LIV field at the next event , there are five players outside the World’s top 400, and two outside the top 1500.

Andy Ogletree took some hits for shooting +24 over three rounds in England at the first LIV event, and I stand by the point that receiving six figure pay-outs for shooting in the high 70s doesn’t promote good viewing. It is in the interest of the LIV Series to make the golf more competitive and improve the scoring across the board.

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The addition of Brooks Koepka certainly makes things interesting for the future of the LIV Series and the PGA Tour, and what affect tis has on the majors. It could put pressure on the smaller PGA Tour events to increase their purses, or risk being removed from the schedule. The headlines for the remainder of the week will be orientated around what the PGA is doing to keep their current roster as is, versus who else is being enticed over to the LIV Series.

Cover Image Via Twitter