Last month, Adelaide and its renowned Grange Golf Club emerged as the leading contender to host the inaugural LIV Golf Australia event, despite Sydney being considered an early frontrunner. Today, Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club has been locked in for the richest golf tournament ever played in our country.
“Passion for sport is at the core of Australian culture, and LIV Golf is proud to bring its global league to a country deserving of the world’s top competition,” LIV Golf’s CEO Greg “The Shark” Norman said in a statement.
“This is an opportunity to grow the game with generations of Australians while connecting them with star players like Cameron Smith who are building a new platform for golf around the globe.”
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“There is massive potential for Australia to play a bigger role in this great sport, and I couldn’t be more excited to showcase Adelaide for our league’s debut year.”
Executives from the controversial Saudi-backed rebel league visited several potential landing spots around Sydney, including The Lakes and Stonecutters Ridge, with surprisingly minimal resistance.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, only a single prestigious course opted to turn away LIV Golf personnel when they arrived at our sunburnt shores: The Royal Sydney Golf Club in Rose Bay.
Norman himself scouted his home state of Queensland, but that clearly didn’t yield the desired result. Victoria, on the other hand, rejected the organisation’s proposal outright.
“Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – who is said to have a personal relationship with PGA commissioner Jay Monahan – has reportedly knocked back LIV and sided with the PGA Tour instead,” wrote Sam Goodwin of Yahoo Sport.
“LIV Golf officials toured a number of courses in Victoria recently and made contact with Kingston Heath and Peninsula Kingswood.”
South Australia’s confirmation vis-a-vis the inaugural LIV Golf Australia event is, of course, an extremely welcome one. The state has been lacking a major golf tournament after the women’s Australian Open announced it would be played alongside the men in 2022. And they’ve been feeling rather unloved ever since.
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“I haven’t seen much evidence of the US PGA doing Australian golfing supporters any favours recently,” South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said back in September.
“I think it’s about time golf had a bit of a shake-up. So to that end, I wish LIV Golf all the best.”
The forthcoming affair represents a multi-year commitment between Australia and the LIV event, with next year’s hotly-anticipated debut taking place from April 21st to 23rd (two weeks after The Masters at Augusta National).
Our very own Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, and Matt Jones will compete against the likes of A-list names such as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, as well as Phil Mickelson for a $35 million purse.
