LIV Golf: Another Top-10 Player on the Move This Week?

With the flurry of announcements two weeks ago, which included Cameron Smith’s long-awaited jump from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, the new series is reportedly at it again.

With event No. 5 of the LIV Golf Invitational Series teeing off this weekend in the Chicago area, there is more talk that a golfer ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings is going to be joining the series for 2023.

I have similar information. Attention! https://t.co/gCE4Ynyz60

— HANDICAP 54 (@handicap_54) September 11, 2022

Both sources have been accurate in reporting in defections to the Saudi-based golf league so far this year.

So as we await more juicy details, which golfers could it be from the current top-10 crop?

Nos. 1 and 2 are Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy: slim and none, respectively.

No. 3 is Smith: already gone.

The other five Americans in the top 10—Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, and Collin Morikawa—have publicly refuted LIV Golf, but Cantlay did express dissatisfaction at the courses the PGA Tour has selected for the past two BMW Championships. (He also won those two events, so we’re not sure what he has to complain about!)

The remaining two top-10ers are Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland.

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First, the two are international players, which fits the bill of the younger players who have gone to LIV.

Hovland has been rumored to make the jump, but he has been quiet about it for months. He also expressed how honored he was to be the first Norwegian to play in the Ryder Cup last year.

Rahm has publicly gone after LIV for months, including this past week at the BMW PGA Championship. But he also has called for the two series to come up with an agreement to keep top players in the Ryder Cup.

And he also expressed some frustration at having to participate in 20 PGA Tour events in order to be able to take advantage of all the changes that the series announced for 2024.

So while we wait, those two are the most likely defections via our analysis.

Cover Image Via Twitter