The LIV Golf Invitational Series is in Saudi Arabia for the second to last event on the 2022 LIV Golf schedule.
Following last week’s event in Bangkok, the LIV Golf members will hop on the private jet for the 4048 mile flight from Thailand to Saudi Arabia. This is the first time LIV Golf has competed in back to back weeks.
The Bangkok event was won by Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (22) who opted for LIV Golf instead of the PGA Tour. Lopez-Chacarra turned professional in June of this year after a stellar college career at Oklahoma State.
The Spaniard pocketed $4.75 million between his first place finishes in the individual and team competitions.
Fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm, congratulated Eugenio for his performance, highlighting how many who have stayed loyal to the PGA Tour have avoided vilifying the members that defected to LIV. Rahm went as far to say he hope that the LIV Golf defects would have a chance to compete in upcoming Ryder Cup events.
Venue – Royal Greens & Country Club
The players will be heading to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City on the outskirts of Jeddah. Royal Greens is ranked as the #1 course in Saudi Arabia and the 9th best course in the entire Middle East according to Top100golfcourses.com.
The course opened in 2017, and despite just being 5 years old the hosted several events on the Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour (LET).
Royal Greens is an annual stop on the Aramco Team Series that features a $1 million prize purse one of the highest purses on the LET.
Royal Greens has also hosted the annual Saudi International from its establishment in 2019. The Saudi International is currently sanctioned by the Asian Tour, and was sanctioned by the DP World Tour up until 2021, when it was announced that the PGA Tour would no longer allow their members to participate in future events.
All of the previous for iterations of the Saudi International have been won by current LIV Golf members, including the most recent event in February won by Harold Varner III. HV3 won the event by making a thrilling 90′ put to win and avoid a playoff with his good friend Bubba Watson.
Dustin Johnson won twice (2021/2019), and Graeme McDowell once (2020) rounding out the four year history of the PIF Saudi International which will become the flagship event of the Asian Tour.
Despite the increasing field strength of the event with the addition of Cam Smith, LIV Golf still does not have Official World Golf Ranking points appointed to participants in their events.
LIV Golf attempted to bridge that void by joining with the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) Tour, however the application submitted has been stiff armed by the brass at the OWGR which includes PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour Commissioner Keith Pelley, and R & A Executive Martin Slumber, all who have been vocal opponents of the upstart league. It’s to be determined if LIV Golf will be successful in gaining OWGR points for its membership.
In an interview ahead of the LIV Golf – Jeddah event, Graeme McDowell gave a scathing rebuke of the stiff arm being given to LIV Golf by the OWRG officiating body.
His example of the short comings of the OWGR was Dustin Johnson who won the LIV Golf Individual championship, who’s ranking has dropped from #13 to #24 despite success on the upstart series, and chastised the OWGR governing body from excluding the LIV Golf events from OWGR points.
Players to Watch
Harold Varner III
HV3 will be competing in his fourth LIV Golf event following his departure from the PGA Tour. Last week Harold finished 7th in Bangkok after going 67-66-69 for a -14 total in the 54 hole event.
Varner has steadily improved in each of his three LIV Golf events, finishing 34th in his first event in Boston, 26th in Chicago, and his best finish this past week in Bangkok.
Despite not winning yet on the LIV Golf circuit, HV3 has had success at Royal Greens as mentioned above winning the 4th installment of the PIF Saudi International.
HV3 should be one of the favorites this week with his recent history at Royal Greens, however he will have to compete with a hot DJ who has also won twice at this venue.
How to Watch
LIV Golf Jeddah will be live streamed on Youtube.