LIV Golf Will Continue To Lure Golf’s Biggest Names
Henrik Stenson is the latest player who will reportedly join LIV Golf in the coming days and in the process forgo his European Ryder Cup captaincy.
There had been rumors flying around that the former Players and Open Champion was considering accepting an offer from the LIV Golf series, and on Sunday it was reported that the rumors were in fact reality.
Henrik Stenson is expected to join LIV Golf imminently and to be stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy
— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) July 17, 2022
In essence, the 2016 ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’ is prepared to give up the honor of being a Ryder Cup captain for the vast amounts of money that LIV Golf is dishing out.
The announcement of Stenson’s Ryder Cup captaincy was announced back in May shortly after Zach Johnson had been named Team USA’s captain.
The Swede has participated in five Ryder Cups over the course of his career and he owns a 10-7-2 overall record in one the of greatest competitions in sports.
Henrik is nearing the end of his golfing career and just like some of the other veterans of the sport before him, the promise of unimaginable large sums of money was too enticing to resist. Unlike the others, however, Stenson is reportedly paying a steep price for his decision.
It is a worrying sign for the future of the Ryder Cup that seemingly more and more players are happy to choose money over competition.
Something will have to give in the near future and the Ryder Cup may be forced to reconsider its stance on banning LIV Golf defectors.
The 21-time career winner will follow in the footsteps of Paul Casey, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Brooks Koepka, to name a few who have recently joined LIV Golf.
More Big Names Set To Join LIV Golf?
Now that the Major season has come and gone for 2022 it is widely expected that a host of players will be making the jump to LIV Golf in the coming weeks.
Newly crowned ‘Champion Golf of the Year’ Cameron Smith danced around the question when asked following his historic win at St. Andrews on Sunday responding with:
"“I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that. I think that’s pretty not that good. I don’t know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff. I’m here to win golf tournaments.”"
The Aussie’s response will only add fuel to the speculation surrounding him over the coming weeks.
It was just last month at the Travelers Championship that Patrick Cantlay gave a similar response when asked about a potential move to LIV Golf.
Speculation also continues to surround 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama as another big name who could be taking his talents to LIV.
Next. Does The LIV Tour Have A Plan For Success?. dark
It is abundantly clear that LIV Golf isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and it is also becoming an increasing reality, that like it or not, more big names will be joining the Saudi-backed tour in the near future.