LIV Golf: Where is the new tour being played?

Golf is facing a watershed moment and the brand new - and highly controversial - tour, the LIV Golf Series, is up and running outside London this weekend.

The Saudi-backed venture has lured the like of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson to play in the inaugural event, with further names confirmed for future competitions including Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman claimed that “free agency has finally come to golf,” but the PGA Tour reacted by sending out a notification that all players taking part in LIV Golf events are being suspended.

In any case, amid rule changes, a team event and a three-day fight to win instead of across four and a weekend cut, the LIV Golf era is up and running and the big prizes on offer will be dealt out soon.

Here’s everything you need to know for the first event.

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 Series events will be played over three days and 54 holes, rather than the traditional four-day events with 72 holes. There won’t be a cut, either, so the 48 players who start the week will play all three rounds.

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