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England's Paul Casey will make his LIV debut after joining the
Saudi-funded tour earlier this month. The field also includes
Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Mexico's
Abraham Ancer playing in their second events since joining.
Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Spaniard Sergio Garcia, South
Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and Englishmen Ian Poulter and Lee
Westwood will make their third straight appearances since the
controversial circuit debuted last month outside London.
South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace won the first
two tournaments of the inaugural LIV season at London and
Portland, Ore., respectively. Both men will be in the field in
New Jersey.
The speculation will turn to which three players will fill out
the vacant spots in the field. One could be reserved for Henrik
Stenson, the Swede who reportedly is surrendering his 2023 Ryder
Cup captaincy in order to join LIV. An official announcement has
yet to be made regarding Stenson's status.
When asked about LIV after winning The Open Championship on
Sunday, Australia's Cameron Smith expressed frustration but did
not deny that he could switch allegiances from the PGA Tour.
"I just won the British Open, and you're asking about that. I
think that's pretty not that good," Smith said. "I don't know,
mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff. I'm here
to win golf tournaments."
Smith would be the biggest coup yet for LIV in terms of world
ranking. Smith moved to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking
by winning The Open. (Players currently do not earn OWGR points
for playing in LIV tournaments.)
Sky Sports reported that a rumor linking England's Tommy
Fleetwood to LIV Golf was untrue.
The LIV Golf Bedminster Invitational will be played July 29-31
at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, one of two events of the
eight-tournament inaugural season to be hosted at a Donald
Trump-owned property.
The former U.S. president is firmly on the side of LIV Golf in
the ongoing fracturing of the golf world. He wrote Tuesday on
his social media platform Truth Social that golfers ought to
"take the money now" from LIV ahead of "the inevitable MERGER"
between LIV and the PGA Tour.
--Field Level Media
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