What we know and still don't know about LIV Golf, the circuit challenging the PGA Tour

Two more major champions, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, are reportedly defecting from the PGA Tour to the new LIV Golf Invitational Series.

They might not be the last high-profile golfers to join the breakaway circuit being fronted by two-time Open Championship winner Greg Norman and financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Rickie Fowler and others have also been linked to the new venture.

At least 16 PGA Tour players have defied the tour and joined forces with the Saudis, including six-time major champion Phil Mickelson and two-time winner Dustin Johnson, who are competing in LIV Golf's inaugural event, which begins Thursday at Centurion Club outside London.

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At the RBC Canadian Open in Ontario on Wednesday, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas called the defections a «bummer.» «I don't know if annoyed or tired is the right word,» Thomas said. «It's just one of those things. I've thought a lot about it and it's like, people are entitled to choose as they wish. I don't dislike DJ now. I don't think he's a bad dude. I'm not going to treat him any differently. It's like he's entitled to choose as he wishes.

»And I think that the day and age that we live in now, it's just so negative that you see it in everything. Sport, politics, whatever it is, it's like if you disagree with someone you just feel that you're entitled to hate them and talk bad about them and just bash their decision, when everybody's entitled to their own opinion, you know what I mean?"

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has warned players that they would face stiff penalties for competing in the rival circuit, and the tour issued