Vincent named in star-studded field

ZIMBABWE’S star golfer Scott Vincent has been named in the field for the inaugural US$25 million LIV Golf Invitational Series event in England next week. 

The field is headlined by former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson while South African golf stars Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Charl Schwartzel are among several former major winners to participate. 

The 54-hole tournament which tees off at Centurion Club at St Albans, north of London on June 9, will have a purse of US$25m, almost double that of any Major, with US$4m going to the winner.

The 30-year-old Zimbabwean golf star Vincent earns his place in the star-studded field due to his impressive record on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won his third title at the Mizuno Open last Sunday to book his place at the 150th British Open Championship in July. 

The win also lifted the Harare-born golfer to 109th on the Official World Golf Ranking and closer to his goal of breaking into the top 100 on the global rankings. 

There were 42 players listed in the 48-player field, with the field to be completed with players who qualify via an Asian Tour-sanctioned International Series tournament that got underway yesterday in London. 

Spain’s major winner Sergio Garcia, plus former US Open champions Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer are also in the field. Former world No. 1 Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter have also signed up for the event. 

But many leading players have rejected the new golf circuit, including world number two Jon Rahm and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy. The PGA Tour has refused to grant releases for its players in the LIV event, which clashes with next week’s Canadian Open. 

The first Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invitational has Johnson and 12 other PGA Tour members as part of its 48-man field next week outside London. The next move falls to the PGA Tour, which must decide whether to allow them to come back.

The first fallout after the rival league released the names of players who will compete at its inaugural event came on Wednesday when the Royal Bank of Canada said it was dropping Johnson and Graeme McDowell as corporate sponsors. Both are playing the LIV event, the same week as the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour’s only comment was to mention a May 10 memo to players in which it denied releases for them to play the first LIV event. “Members who violate the tournament regulations are subject to disciplinary action,” the statement said.

Full list of players

Oliver Bekker

Richard Bland

Laurie Canter

Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat (Amateur)

Hennie Du Plessis

Oliver Fisher

Sergio Garcia

Talor Gooch

Branden Grace

Justin Harding

Sam Horsfield

Dustin Johnson

Matt Jones

Sadom Kaewkanjana

Martin Kaymer

Phachara Khongwatmai

Sihwan Kim

Ryosuke Kinoshita

Chase Koepka

Jinichiro Kosuma

Pablo Larrazabal

Graeme McDowell

Jediah Morgan

Kevin Na

Shaun Norris

Andy Ogletree

Louis Oosthuizen

Wade Ormsby

Adrian Otaegui

Turk Pettit

James Plot (Amateur)

Ian Poulter

David Puig

JC Ritche

Charl Schwartzel

Hudson Swafford

Hideto Tanihara

Peter Uihlein

Scott Vincent

Lee Westwood

Bernd Wiesberger

Blake Windred — AP/ZimSpoLive