LIV Golf LIVE: Leaderboard and Day 1 scores as Carlos Ortiz leads the way after the opening round in Portland
Follow all the action from the second event of the Saudi-funded breakaway series
Golf’s newest and most controversial tour, the LIV Golf Series, hosts its second event in Portland, Oregon this week with the action kicking off tonight. The Saudi-backed venture has added more high-profile names to its roster, with America’s Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Patrick Reed among the latest players to defect from the PGA Tour, joining the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
The American PGA Tour and European DP World Tour have issued suspensions and fines respectively in a bid to halt the breakaway but players Carlos Ortiz and Matthew Wolff have committed themselves to LIV Golf in the last week alone. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, amongst others, have spoken publicly in favour of golf’s two main tours yet the field in Portland is set to be significantly stronger than at LIV Golf’s inaugural event in England last month.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel bagged the first winner’s cheque for £3.85m after triumphing at the Centurion Club and another eye-watering £20m prize pot will be on offer in Oregon with the lure of the Saudi-backed rebel series’ riches proving hard to resist for players. The full field of 48 players has been confirmed and the format will continue to be a 54-hole shotgun start played across three days with Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland hosting this week’s event.
Relive all the action from Day 1 of the second event of the controversial tour below:
What is LIV Golf?
Reports of a new breakaway league first emerged in 2019 but gathered pace last year as two-time Open champion Greg Norman became the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series as its chief executive.
With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund financing the series, there is a clear link to the Saudi Arabia government, whose record on human rights has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.
But what for a long time was considered to be a bargaining threat to the traditional PGA and DP World Tours and nothing more took shape as the LIV Golf Series, which also features new competition rules and what tournament organisers say is an “exciting” new format.
LIV Golf returns with second invitational event
The controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tour returns this week as LIV Golf hits America with its second event being held at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon.
The breakaway series continues to gather momentum with a number of new players announced since it made its debut at Centurion Club just outside London earlier this month. Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are among the high-profile players to have recently defected from the PGA Tour joining the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have attempted to come down hard on rebel players, issuing suspensions and fines, but the eye-watering sums on offer are proving hard to resist for some players.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel won the maiden event in Hemel Hempstead and claimed the £3.85m pot with his team, Stingers GC, also claiming the top prize in the team event.
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