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The best player on the 2023 European Tour, Adrian Meronk, has said goodbye to his colleagues who voted for him and will now join the LIV Golf Tour, completing the team led by Martin Kaymer. Meronk withdrew from the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at the last moment and was listed as leaving for the Arab Super League, along with Jon Rahm.
Liv Golf, players
This 30-year-old Pole, born in Hamburg, will join the Cleeks team led by Martin Kaymer and will make his debut on the Arab golf circuit in the first round of the LIV Golf Tour 2024 in Mexico, from February 2 to 4.
At the moment, the Cleeks team only has two players: captain Martin Kaymer and Richard Bland. Meanwhile, there is also strong interest from the Super League, financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, in Tyrrell Hatton, the Englishman who played in tandem with Jon Rahm at the Ryder Cup in Rome.
Hatton could join Rahm and accept LIV’s offer. In 2019, the golfing world witnessed the emergence of a new contender to rival the PGA Tour, known as the Premier Golf League. This development sparked a response from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who suggested that golfers participating in the new league could be excluded from PGA Tour events.
As events unfolded in 2020, the PGA European Tour and the PGA Tour joined forces through a “strategic alliance” aimed at collaborating on commercial opportunities, scheduling, and prize funds for their respective memberships.
Meanwhile, the Premier Golf League engaged in discussions with Saudi investors for potential financial support. However, Golf Saudi, a division of the Public Investment Fund, decided to create its own plan for establishing a global professional league, often referred to as the “Super Golf League.” This initiative took shape in October 2021 when LIV Golf Investments was formally launched, with former professional golfer Greg Norman appointed as CEO.
LIV Golf has drawn comparisons to the European Super League in football due to its potential to disrupt the golfing landscape. In July 2022, LIV Golf took a significant step by formally applying to be included in the Official World Golf Ranking, a process that typically takes one to two years for approval and the allocation of OWGR points.
Subsequently, in October 2022, LIV Golf entered into a “strategic alliance” with the MENA Tour, initially aimed at providing ranking points for LIV Golf events. However, it was later confirmed that events in 2022 would not receive points, pending a review of changes to the MENA Tour.