More of golf's major winners are on the move.
Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, and Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, are set to join LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed rival league of the PGA Tour, per James Corrigan of The Telegraph.
The duo is expected to play in LIV Golf's first U.S.-based event from June 30 to July 2 in Oregon at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. They become the latest major champions poached by LIV Golf, which is funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. They join Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen.
Those seven are set to compete in LIV Golf's opening event that begins Thursday in England at the Centurion Club.
The PGA Tour did not grant releases for any of its members to partake in LIV Golf tournaments, leading to at least six golfers having already resigned their PGA Tour memberships.
DeChambeau, ranked No. 28 in the world, has eight victories on the PGA Tour. In February, he released a statement backing off, but not ruling out, the notion that he'd be joining LIV Golf.
“While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I,” DeChambeau said.
That changed following the exodus of big-name golfers - which included Johnson, who also previously released a statement committing to the PGA Tour.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
“Bryson has always been an innovator,” agent Brett Falkoff told Golfweek. “Having the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing and it’s happening quickly.”
