Dustin Johnson is making headlines for players set to take part in the LIV Golf Series’ first Invitational Event

It’s been nauseatingly debated for the past four months, and on Tuesday, the first course of the LIV Golf Invitational Series was finally announced. Dustin Johnson, the 13th-ranked golfer in the world, leads the line-up for the 48-player, 12-team event at the Centurion Club in London from June 9-11 versus the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open and DP World. Scandinavian mixed tour.

Martin Keimer and Lee Westwood were supposed to be the only ones to feature in the former world number one, but Johnson’s addition came as a huge surprise. The 37-year-old has won 24 times on the PGA Tour – including the 2016 US Open and 2020 Masters – and has been an integral part of the US team in the Presidents Cups and recent Ryder Cups.

Agent David Winkle said in reversal of the position taken by Johnson February. 20 who indicated that he is “fully committed” to the PGA Tour. “Dustin never had an issue with the PGA Tour and is grateful for everything he gave him, but in the end, he felt this was too compelling to miss.”

Other notable names to be played include Louis Oosthuizen (OWGR #20), Kevin Naa (33), Talor Gooch (35) and Sergio Garcia (54). 42 names have been released with five of the remaining locations assigned to players from the Asian Tour and one presumably to Phil Mickelson.

With the names of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour players emerging, one has to wonder what will happen next in terms of potential disciplinary action. The PGA Tour is expected to announce penalties for those who choose to play LIV Golf in the near future with the assumption that participants will face suspension or possibly even a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour.

Not only will the two dominant men’s tours have to define their long-term position, but the four governing bodies responsible for the major tournaments will have to make one of their own. The US Golf Association (USGA) has been thrown into the unenviable position of the US Open from June 16-19, a week after the first LIV Golf Series Invitational was invited, and their decision to include or exclude competitors could have repercussions. .

A few weeks ago, the PGA Tour All player requests rejected For the event sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While some believed that players would be granted concessions for the inaugural tournament, that proved not to be the case, and the DP World Tour soon followed in the footsteps of the PGA Tour by giving their members the same ruling.

LIV Golf is run by CEO Greg Norman, and its eight championship series starting in London is set to start with astronomical portfolios: $20 million in individual prizes, plus a $5 million team payout. It is being funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which recently committed an additional $2 billion to fund future iterations of the league which is expected to include more events as this eight-championship series is believed to be just the beginning. The goal is to expand to 10 championships in 2023 and 14 championships in the following two years.

Beyond the simple goal of organizing tournaments is to provide them with some of the best players in the world. The first event in London lacks depth in terms of talent, but how long will it take before a young star like Joaquin Niemann sees Richard Bland win $10 million in just three tournaments and asks himself, “I’m so much better than him, why don’t I play like that?” from money? “

There was a lot of controversy leading up to the first LIV Golf event, but now that the field is set, how will the actual product stack alongside the PGA Tour and DP World Tour?

Ticket prices soared and broadcast distribution hit a snag; The first event will be broadcast on YouTube. If the quality of the gameplay is poor, there may not be much, if any, appeal to the average fan. However, as has been the case for the past 120 days or so, we’ll just have to wait and see the first tee shot hit to confirm anything else.