Many LIV Golfers to Play on Asian Tour This Week

Before the Saudi-backed league resumes, more than 20 of its players will compete in Oman where world ranking points are available.

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The first International Series event of the year takes place this week in Oman and the event will have a slew of LIV Golf players competing a week before they are all scheduled to play consecutive tournaments in Jeddah and Hong Kong.

The International Series consists of 10 elevated events that are part of the Asian Tour and are funded by LIV Golf Investments. All will have a minimum purse of $2 million and the leader of the Order of Merit earns a fully exempt spot with LIV Golf next year.

Although not specifically laid out, several LIV players have clauses in their contracts to compete in International Series events, and it makes sense to play this one in a region of the world where LIV is already scheduled to play.

As of now, there are 21 LIV Golf players in the field, including Joaquin Niemann, who won the first LIV Golf event of the year two weeks ago and has been trying to qualify for the Masters via the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Joaquin Niemann could pick up world ranking points on the Asian Tour but a top-50 OWGR berth for the Masters seems unlikely :: Lucas Peltier/USA TODAY Sports

But even though the event is likely to give more than 15 ranking points to the winner, it’s unlikely a win would be enough to push him into the top 50. And even if it did, Niemann has points depreciating in the coming weeks. Niemann went into the weekend ranked 78th in the world.

Others from LIV in the field are Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Matthew Wolff, Peter Uihlein, Anirban Lahiri, Branden Grace, Dean Burmester and Matt Jones.

A few more things ...

David Puig won the Asian Tour’s Malaysian Open and was one of three players to earn a spot in the British Open at Royal Troon. Puig, who captured his second Asian Tour title, plays for LIV Golf and was one of just two players from the circuit to make the journey for the Open Qualifying Series event. ... Unfortunately for LIV Golfers, the Malaysian tournament came at a poor point on the schedule. LIV just played two events. Many LIV players are competing in this week’s Oman International Series event before two more LIV events in Jeddah and Hong Kong. It would have meant six straight weeks. Nonetheless, that was an Open opportunity lost. ... Scottie Scheffler was -4.36 in strokes-gained putting for the week at the Genesis, which put him last among the 51 players who made the cut. He still shot all four rounds under par and tied for 11th. He was first in strokes-gained tee to green and strokes-gained around the green. ... He’s been in the top 10 three times this year but has no official victories since the 2023 Players Championship. ... Hideki Matsuyama’s victory at the Genesis was the ninth of his PGA Tour career, surpassing the record held by Asian players by South Korea’s K.J. Choi. ... Matsuyama also became the first player to trail by six and win by as many as three strokes since Bubba Watson did it at the 2018 Travelers Championship. ... The next Signature event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational which follows the Mexico Open and the Cognizant Classic. As of now, the field size appears to be 71, with the possibility of one or two more additions. ... The first round of the Masters is in 52 days.