Bryson DeShampoo Joins the LIV Golf Invitational Series

Bryson DeShampoothe 2020 US Open champion, will join the LIV Golf Invitational Series, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

Patrick Reedthe 2018 Masters champion, is also joining the LIV series, according to multiple reports.

DeChambeau and Reed are expected to compete in the first LIV Golf event in the US, scheduled at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon, from June 30 to July 2.

A spokesperson for LIV Golf declined to comment.

“Bryson has always been innovative,” DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff of GSE Worldwide, told ESPN on Wednesday. “Having the chance to step on the ground floor for something unique has always been of interest to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing, and it’s happening fast.”

It will be another blow to the PGA Tour, which has denied triggering conflicting events for players who have asked them to compete in LIV Golf tournaments. The events are funded by the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

DeChambeau and Reed are two of the most polarizing players on the tour.

DeChambeau’s and Reed LIV Golf’s additions will give no less than nine former champions vouchers from the PGA Tour. Six times main champion Phil MickelsonTwice main winners Dustin Johnson And the Martin Kaymer and four others – Sergio Garcia (Masters 2017), Charles Schwarzl (2011 master’s degree), Graeme McDowell (2010 US Open) and Louis Oosthuizen (2010 Open Championship) – They compete in the inaugural LIV Golf event, which begins on Thursday at the Centurion Club outside London.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan threatened players who competed without release with potential penalties, including fines, suspensions and/or bans. A handful of players, including Johnson, Garcia, Schwartzell and Kevin Naquit the tour.

DeChambeau, 28, was one of LIV Golf’s early targets. He said at the memorial last week that he intends to continue playing on the PGA Tour.

“I think that’s mostly — a lot of it is special,” DeChambeau said. “There aren’t really any conversations to have about that, other than the fact that, like, everyone here has their own opinion. Me, there are obviously a lot of conversations. For me, I personally don’t think that at this time I’m in a place in My career is where I can risk things like that.

“I am loyal to the family I have built around me with sponsors and everything. As of now, the world of golf is likely to change in some capacity. I don’t know what this is. It is not my job to do that. I will continue to play and enjoy professional golf wherever it takes me, and play with my best The players in the world. That’s all I really have, and that’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my life, because I want to be one of the best players in the world.”

An eight-time winner of the PGA Tour, DeChambeau has made only six appearances this season due to a left hand injury, which required surgery in April. Ranked 28th in the official world golf rankings.

Reed, 31, has nine PGA Tour wins and earned nearly $37 million over his career. Reed struggled after being hospitalized with double pneumonia in August. It ranks 36 in the world.

PGA Champion Justin ThomasSpeaking on Wednesday from the PGA Tour station in Toronto, he reiterated previous ideas that his peers are entitled to choose where they want to play.

He said, “You know, it’s a problem. I mean, I think a lot of us are — I don’t know if the right word is annoyed or tired. I mean, it’s just one of those things.”

“I don’t hate DJ [Dustin Johnson] Now, he continued to say. I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I wouldn’t treat him any differently. It seems that he has the right to choose as he pleases. Like I said, that doesn’t make him a bad person. Now I’m disappointed and I hope he and the others don’t, but that’s their decision.”

ESPN’s Tom Van Haren contributed to this report.