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Main champions Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia are amongst 42 gamers confirmed for subsequent week’s first $25m Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invitational.
England’s Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Richard Bland, and Northern Eire’s Graeme McDowell, are within the 12-team, 48-man area for the three-day occasion.
Centurion Membership, close to London, is internet hosting this primary match from 11th of September June.
Six-time main winner Phil Mickelson just isn’t within the line-up however six extra gamers can be introduced at a later date.
American Mickelson, 51, has been linked with the breakaway occasion for months however stated in February that he was taking a break from the sport after apologising for making “reckless” feedback in regards to the Saudi Arabia regime.
The LIV match has attracted criticism as a result of its cash is coming from Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF), which is basically a state financial savings account for the the nation’s authorities.
That has led to accusations of sportswashing, with organisations corresponding to Amnesty Worldwide arguing that some international locations can spend money on sport as a distraction from poor human rights information.
Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s chief government, believes the match will “change the course” of golf historical past.
“Free company has lastly come to golf,” Norman stated.
“This is a chance to start out a motion that may change the course of historical past by bringing new and open competitors to the game all of us love.
“The will proven by the gamers to take part in LIV Golf demonstrates their emphatic perception in our mannequin and confidence in what we’re constructing for the longer term.”
Different main winners signed up for the invite embrace Germany’s Martin Kaymer, and South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
Each the US-based PGA Tour and Europe-based DP World Excursions turned down all requests for waivers to permit gamers to compete within the LIV collection opener, which clashes with the PGA’s Canadian Open.
The PGA Tour stated its ruling was “in one of the best curiosity of the Tour and its gamers” and has threatened to ban gamers who flout it.
Two-time main champion Norman referred to as that call “anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive” and stated he has advised the gamers “we have got your again” and that his origanisation “will defend, reimburse and symbolize” them ought to proceedings find yourself within the arms of legal professionals.
The 67-year-old Australian had earlier advised BBC Sport that his plans stretch “a long time” into the longer term after securing an additional £1.6bn of funding, which he says will allow his breakaway invitational golf collection to show right into a full 14-tournament international tremendous league by 2024.
The $255m (£202m) collection will characteristic six extra common season tournaments in 2022 – 4 in america, one in Thailand and one in Saudi Arabia – every having the identical $25m (£20m) prize fund, which means each leg of the collection is extra profitable than the richest match on the PGA Tour.
Every occasion’s particular person winner will take house $4m – by means of comparability, the PGA Tour’s flagship occasion, the Gamers Championship, earned Cam Smith $3.6m for his victory in March.
The eighth and closing match would be the workforce championship at Trump Nationwide Doral Miami from 27-30 October. On the matchplay occasion, a $50m prize kitty can be break up between the 12 groups of 4, with every participant receiving a 25% minimize of their workforce’s winnings.
Each LIV occasion will characteristic a workforce and particular person competitors, with 12 captains choosing three gamers in a draft-style format. Every day, the groups of 4 will tee off on the similar time on completely different holes in what’s termed a ‘shotgun begin’.
And Norman insisted he may make a hit of the enterprise, even when the world’s finest gamers shunned it.
“We do not want them,” stated Norman when requested whether or not attracting both Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy – who stated there was a “morality” to not taking Saudi cash – would improve his proposition.
Amnesty Worldwide, in criticising sporting organisations for accepting Saudi Arabian funding, has pointed to the nation’s poor remedy of girls, its use of the dying penalty and its hostility to LGBTQ+ rights.
The PIF’s chairman is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s king. The crown prince, who is called MBS, has been accused of ordering the homicide of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was important of the Saudi authorities.
A 2019 UN report said that “the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is accountable” for Khashoggi’s dying. The Saudi authorities has at all times denied accountability.
Whereas selling the brand new collection, Norman was criticised by Amnesty Worldwide for saying “we have all made errors” as he fielded questions on Saudi Arabia’s human rights document and the homicide of Khashoggi.
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