Dropped LIV Golfer Set To Make Return This Week

Andy Ogletree takes a shot during the 2022 LIV Golf London tournament

Andy Ogletree returns to LIV Golf with Crushers GC for the LIV Golf Orlando event

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 28 March 2023

Andy Ogletree has been named in the Crushers GC team for this week’s LIV Golf Orlando event after regular team member Anirban Lahiri withdrew from the Orange County National tournament for personal reasons.

That will mark the first LIV Golf appearance for the American since his one and only start in the circuit’s first-ever tournament at London’s Centurion Club last June. Back then, the 2019 US Amateur champion finished rock bottom of the individual standings at 24-over for the tournament.

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That disappointing performance, coupled with the arrival of higher-profile players as the season progressed, meant he didn’t get another opportunity in 2022, and later admitted: “I kind of got the boot”.

The remaining three members of Crushers GC, which is captained by Bryson DeChambeau, will be hoping it’s a case of second-time lucky for Ogletree and that he can bring some better form this week. The team has some momentum, and is currently third in the points standings, so there will be some pressure for him to perform well.

Considering Ogletree’s form in recent months, they will have plenty of room for optimism. The 24-year-old has won two International Series events on the Asian Tour in relatively short order, most recently in February’s International Series Qatar.

Those victories have also given Ogletree a real chance of a permanent return to LIV Golf in 2024. The winner of the International Series Order of Merit is handed a place in the League, and Ogletree currently tops that list.

While he couldn’t follow up those successes in his most recent International Series outing, where he finished tied for 48th in Thailand, Ogletree’s LIV Golf return just three tournaments into the new season will surely be seen as reward for his generally excellent form.

Elsewhere, Laurie Canter continues as part of Cleeks GC. Canter was one of seven players initially dropped for season two of the circuit, but this will be his third start in a row as captain Martin Kaymer continued to recover from injury.

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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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