Brooks Koepka was aloof with the media during his US Open press availability, and now the golf world knows why. The 4 time major winner, and World Number 19 ranked golfer has become the latest big name to jump ship from the PGA Tour in order to join the LIV Golf Series.
LIV is expected to announce the signing of Koepka in the coming days, for an as of yet undetermined amount. The 32 year old is now the 8th top 50 player in the world which the Saudi backed startup league has signed in the last few months.
The expectation is that Koepka will compete in the first US based LIV Golf event on June 30th at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, OR. The former US Open winner will now join his longtime friend Dustin Johnson and brother Chase Koepka on the Greg Norman led tour.
Reports also indicate that Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, currently ranked 20th in the world, will also join Koepka at the upcoming event in Portland. Neither player’s signing bonus’ have been publicly released as of yet, however the deep pocket LIV Golf Series hasn’t been shy about using its financial heft to secure top flight talent.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had previously suspended 17 former PGA players from competing in upcoming Tour sanctioned events as a result of their participation in the LIV Golf Series. This suspension however does not currently carry over to all of the sport’s majors which are usually run by separate entities (The Master’s is a privately run event, US Open is run by USGA and not the PGA, etc.).
With the list of players leaving for the rival tour growing by the day, Monahan and the PGA’s advisory council are set to meet with players on Tuesday ahead of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
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