PGA Tour’s Koepka to join LIV Golf

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. (UPI) — Brooks Koepka is the latest PGA Tour star to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Sources told ESPN, Sky Sports, and the Telegraph on Tuesday that the four-time major champion will join the breakaway league.

Koepka, who recently removed a “PGA Tour” reference from his Twitter bio, criticized reporters last week when they asked him about LIV Golf.

Koepka joins the second LIV Golf tournament on June 30

He is expected to join the 48-player field for the second LIV Golf tournament. LIV Golf Invitational Portland will run from June 30 to July 2 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.

Koepka, the No. 19 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, and No. 16 Dustin Johnson are among the highest-profile players to leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Players who participate in LIV Golf are suspended from PGA Tour play.

Koepka’s younger brother, No. 1,607 Chase Koepka, participated in the LIV Golf Invitational London, the first tournament of the breakaway league, earlier this month.

The elder Koepka told reporters on June 14 that the topic of LIV Golf put a “dark cloud” over the U.S. Open, but did not say he wouldn’t join the PGA Tour rival.

“I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open,” Koepka said last week at a U.S. Open news conference. “I legitimately don’t get it. I’m tired of the conversations and all this stuff. [It is] throwing a dark cloud over the U.S. Open.”

15 LIV Golf competitors in the U.S. Open field

Fifteen LIV Golf competitors were in the field at last week’s U.S. Open. Johnson was the top finisher in the group. He was 4-over par and tied for 24th.

Koepka was 12-over par and finished 55th in Brookline.

No. 123 Charl Schwartzel won the LIV Golf Invitational London but was not eligible for the U.S. Open. Additional LIV Golf tournament sites include Bedminster, N.J.; Boston; Chicago; Bangkok; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Miami, two of them owned by the Trump Organization.

The PGA Tour will continue with the Travelers Championship from Thursday to Sunday at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.

Reporting by Alex Butler