Dustin Johnson headlines field for first LIV Golf Invitational Series event; Phil Mickelson not currently among entrants

COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than a dozen PGA Tour players, including two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, are included in the field for the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event, which will be played next month outside of London.

The list of 42 players was released by LIV Golf on Tuesday night. It also includes longtime PGA Tour players Sergio Garcia, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood.

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson was not included on the list of players released on Tuesday. LIV Golf had previously said its events would include 48 players competing in 12 teams of four players. The final six spots will consist of players invited by CEO Greg Norman and qualifiers from an Asian Tour event, LIV Golf said in a release.

Mickelson, who skipped the Masters and PGA Championship, an event he won last year, was among the players who requested a release from the PGA Tour to compete in the first LIV Golf event, scheduled June 9-11 at Centurion Golf Club outside London. Mickelson hasn't played on the PGA Tour since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in late January.

Among the other PGA Tour players who will defy the PGA Tour by playing in the LIV Golf Invitational Series — which is being fronted by Norman, the two-time Open winner and former No. 1 player, and financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund — are Talor Gooch, Justin Harding, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford. Brooks Koepka's brother, Chase, also is among the LIV participants.

Johnson, whose 24 PGA Tour victories include wins at the 2016 U.S. Open and 2020 Masters, was the biggest surprise in the LIV field. On Feb. 20, shortly after Mickelson's controversial comments about the PGA Tour's