The LIV Golf UK Invitational is moving from St Albans to Uttoxeter. Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
The exclusive JCB Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire will soon be included in the LIV Golf League schedule for 2024, replacing The Centurion in St Albans as the UK stop on the Saudi-funded circuit.
LIV is preparing to announce next year's calendar, contradicting speculation that the breakaway series will be dropped as part of ongoing merger talks between the kingdom's Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
At least , LIV appears poised to receive a contract extension (the deal is expected to last much longer than the original December 31 deadline) as well as visit new countries and new layouts in season three.
That includes a course created four years ago by Lord Bamford – the billionaire owner and chairman of the construction and farming equipment manufacturer – meaning Uttoxeter is unlikely to be the stage for golf superstars including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks. Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and European Ryder Cup legends such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
Gabriella Cowley wins the Rose Ladies Series at JCB Golf and Country Club in 2020. Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images
Centurion will always be in the tumultuous LIV history books as it hosted the first LIV event in June 2022 with a budget of $25 million. It is not known why he is being forced out, although it is understood that ties remain strong and that LIV could return to the parkland just an hour's drive from London in the future, depending on what happens to the league that disrupted the previously established landscape of the men's professional game.
Lord Bamford's patronage is intriguing, not least because JCB has hosted the Legends Tour, the senior leg of the DP World Tour, for the past two years. With Yasser Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of LIV and Governor of PIF, invited to take part in Dunhill Links last week and appear on the same panel as R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers, there is no doubt that relations with Saudi Arabia are strengthening in the corridor of the game. powers.
However, there are still deep divisions in the dressing rooms and the coming months and years will inevitably see more rancor and controversy as plans emerge.
LIV's 2024 plan must also be ready. will introduce new international stops in Hong Kong and South Korea, as well as Adelaide, Valderrama, Mexico, Singapore and Jeddah. This will mean that the majority of tournaments will take place outside America.
Eight of the 14 tournaments in 2023 will be held in the United States, with the Grand Team Final in Miami next week, following the individual final which begins in Jeddah on Friday, but the number will be reduced to six.
Rumors suggest LIV will not return to any of former President Donald Trump's courses after two on the 2022 schedule and three in 2023. LIV does not appear to be returning to any of former President Donald Trump's courses. , the reason he is being touted on the LIV training ground is because Trump is completely focused on his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.
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