Dustin Johnson among four major winners to quit PGA Tour to join Saudi breakaway LIV

Dustin Johnson, the former world No 1 with career winnings of dollars 74 million (pounds 58 million) from the PGA Tour, announced he had quit at a press event at Centurion Club near St Albans, north of London, where the dollars 255 million LIV Golf Invitational Series starts tomorrow (Thursday). Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have all joined him. Kevin Na, the world No 34, had already announced his resignation, while Branden Grace, a third South African, followed.

In another twist the USGA (United States Golf Association) said last night (Tuesday) that Johnson, Garcia, Phil Mickelson and other Saudi sign-ups were free to play in next week’s US Open near Boston. They issued a statement saying: “We simply asked ourselves this question – should a player who had earned his way into the 2022 US Open, via our criteria, be pulled out of the field as a result of his decision to play in another event? We decided that they should not.”

The majors are run by four different governing bodies and not the main tours. Johnson’s resignation is the most worrying for the PGA and DP World Tours, which have refused to issue releases for their members to play in Hertfordshire. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, has threatened rebels with life bans, and it is believed the players tendering their resignations have done so to avoid that affecting their eligibility for the majors.

“For right now, I resigned my membership from the Tour,” said Johnson, the 2020 Masters and 2016 US Open champion. “I’m going to play here for now. That’s the plan. I can’t comment on how the Tour is going to handle it.”

Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, explained his resignation by saying this was going to be his last year on the PGA Tour anyway, but Johnson’s departure means he will now be ineligible for the Ryder Cup, according to the criteria explained last year by PGA of America chief, Seth Waugh.

“Hopefully, at some point it will change and we will be able to participate,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do that again, but I don’t make the rules.” Asked if he had chosen money over his country, he said: “I chose what’s best for me and my family.”

The resignations came despite Greg Norman, the LIV Golf chief executive, saying players did not need to take that action. He has promised to reimburse players if they are sanctioned.

Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open winner, is one man who has not resigned, saying he did not want a “legal situation” with the PGA Tour, but he knows his hopes of being a future Ryder Cup captain will be harmed by playing at Centurion. “I hope it doesn’t affect that,” he said. “When you look at the European Tour and the players that are here, they have done a huge amount for the Ryder Cup. It would be a shame to see those guys not invited back.”

He said he would have been “crazy” to walk away from the sums being offered by the Saudis. Johnson is being paid more than dollars 100 million to join the rebel series with Phil Mickelson understood to be getting double that.

Mickelson denied he needed the Saudi money because of his gambling losses. “My family and I are and have been financially secure for some time,” he told Sports Illustrated. “My gambling got to a point where it was reckless and embarrassing. I’ve been addressing it for a number of years and [with] hundreds of hours of therapy.”

– The Times

Originally published as Dustin Johnson among four major winners to quit PGA Tour to join Saudi breakaway LIV