Xander Schauffele has signed a deal with LIV Golf and will be a team captain of Torque GC in the 2023 $405m LIV Golf League, according to a report.
It’s not official, but according to an “insider” Xander Schauffele has agreed to join LIV Golf and will be the team captain of Torque GC in 2023.
Of course, we have to take everything with a pinch of salt until there has been official confirmation, but @LIVTracking claims to have an “unblemished record” when it comes to announcing players joining the breakaway series.
The account also believes that Patrick Cantlay and Mito Pereira will join Torque alongside Joaquin Niemann.
Schauffele has been heavily-linked with Greg Norman’s league since before a single shot was struck.
He was one of a number of high-profile players who released statements through their team insisting they wouldn’t be leaving the PGA Tour.
Those included the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.
They are just three players out of nine now plying their trade with LIV Golf who changed their mind about the Saudi-financed circuit.
This reported news comes after Rory McIlroy – who has been at the heart of this whole saga – called for the warring tours to sit down and talk.
McIlroy this week told Golf & Turismo there needed to be a “compromise” for the good of the game and that “no time should be wasted”.
He said:
“[The] PGA Tour and LIV will have to find a compromise and speak for the sake of our sport.
“I don’t know when this can happen, certainly not tomorrow, but of course we will have to find an agreement.
“Golf is a small reality, it is not football where inside it large worlds such as Serie A, the Champions League, FIFA or UEFA coexist with each other. So, even more so, we need to stick together and find a way to ensure that in the future there are no splits like the one we are witnessing today.”
As for Schauffele, he was one of at least seven players targeted by Norman after their inaugural $255m eight-event “beta test” season came to a close in Miami where DJ’s 4 Aces GC scooped the top prize.
LIV Golf chief Atul Khosla said before that event they wanted all of their transfers confirmed before the end of 2022.
According to various reports, the players who are likely to join the LIV Golf League next are:
- Xander Schauffele
- Patrick Cantlay
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Matt Kuchar
- Mito Pereira
- Sebastian Munoz
- Thomas Pieters
The 2023 LIV Golf League will reportedly have as many as 60 competitors.
PGA Tour Rookie of The Year Cameron Young admitted he was torn over his LIV Golf offer before the FedEx Cup Playoffs last season but looks to be staying put.
It has to be said that this account also claimed Jon Rahm would be joining LIV Golf.
Rahm’s Twitter account reacted to that by saying that their source was “wrong” and thanked them for the lift in the Player Impact Program boost.
However, the account responded by saying:
“We both know who the source is and what was said on the call. My track record is literally perfect.”
Rahm was reportedly close to joining Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC team but that appears not to be the case.
Schauffele issued a statement about the “Saudi Golf League” on 24 February saying that he met with LIV representatives but he did not believe their product was “close to a finished product or a business model”.
At the time, he added:
“My allegiance to the PGA Tour, my belief in the positive changes at the verge of being implemented at the PGA Tour, in particular when it comes to shared intellectual property rights, size of purses and overall transparency never waivered”.
Has he changed his mind? He wouldn’t be the first to do so.
Article originally appeared on: Golfmagic.com