LIV Golf Players - Confirmed Big Names In LIV Series

The LIV Golf Invitational Series has been gaining momentum since the first event at London’s Centurion Club.

In that tournament, the field contained a mixture of several rookies, some seasoned pros whose best years were possibly behind them and just a couple of genuinely huge stars. While that opening event only took place last month, the fields are growing increasingly impressive, with LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman stating: “What we’re doing is very appealing to the world’s best players”. With the third of the eight-tournament inaugural season getting under way at Bedminster, New Jersey next week, that certainly appears to be the case.

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When the Series got under way last month, two names stood out in its mixed bag of a field – Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. Two-time Major winner and former World No.1 Johnson is one of the game's biggest names, and his inclusion took many by surprise. Meanwhile, although Mickelson is unlikely to recreate the heights of his earlier years, when he won five of his six career Majors in a nine-year period between 2004 and 2013, it’s still only just more than a year since he won the most recent of them, the 2021 PGA Championship. Of that first intake an honourable mention also goes to Louis Oosthuizen, who was inside the world's top 10 until the end of last year. 

Since then, more high-profile players have signed up. Former World No.6 Patrick Reed, who won The Masters in 2018, played in the second tournament at Pumpkin Ridge, as did 2020 US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau, who was World No.4 as recently as May last year. Another big signing teeing it up in Portland, Oregon was former World No.11 Abraham Ancer. However, perhaps the biggest shock came when another former World No.1, Brooks Koepka, signed up too. The American has four Majors to his name and is still aged just 32, suggesting he's in the prime of his career. Adding to that impressive clutch of players was a rising star of the game, 23-year-old Matthew Wolff. 

Next week’s tournament promises to be the strongest of the three. As well as the aforementioned players, two other standout names have joined the field – Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson. Despite being a relative veteran, having turned 45 this week, Casey has not strayed far from the world's top 30 since 2015 and has only recently dropped to World No.32 following an injury-hampered year to date.

Finally, 2016 Open Champion Henrik Stenson has also been unveiled as a LIV Golf player. The Swede had been given the honour of captaining next year’s European Ryder Cup team. He’s been stripped of that in light of his decision to tee it up in the Saudi-backed Series, but there are few greater honours in the game, which highlights the reputation and stellar profile of the former World No.2.

Below is a list of the full 48-man field for the Bedminster, New Jersey event.

LIV GOLF INVITATIONAL SERIES NEW JERSEY FIELD

• Abraham Ancer
• Richard Bland
• Laurie Canter
• Paul Casey
• Eugenio Chacarra
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Hennie du Plessis
• Sergio Garcia
• Talor Gooch
• Branden Grace
• Justin Harding
• Sam Horsfield
• Charles Howell III
• Yuki Inamori
• Dustin Johnson
• Matt Jones
• Sadom Kaewkanjana
• Martin Kaymer
• Phachara Khongwatmai
• Ryosuke Kinoshita
• Brooks Koepka
• Chase Koepka
• Jason Kokrak
• Jinichiro Kozuma
• Graeme McDowell
• Phil Mickelson
• Jediah Morgan
• Kevin Na
• Shaun Norris
• Louis Oosthuizen
• Wade Ormsby
• Carlos Ortiz
• Pat Perez
• Turk Pettit
• James Piot 
• Ian Poulter
• David Puig (am)
• Patrick Reed
• Charl Schwartzel
• Travis Smyth
• Henrik Stenson
• Hudson Swafford
• Hideto Tanihara
• Peter Uihlein
• Scott Vincent
• Lee Westwood
• Bernd Wiesberger
• Matthew Wolff