LIV Golf launches with Saudi PIF backing at Centurion Club near London

On 9 June 2022, the LIV Golf Invitational Series held its first tournament at the Centurion Club, north of London. The breakaway league was financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, and led by former world number one Greg Norman as chief executive.

LIV offered huge prize money, with a purse of 25 million dollars per event, and a format of 54 holes, no cut and shotgun starts, where all players begin at once on different holes. Big names such as Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson joined, along with several other major winners, many of them reportedly paid very large signing fees. South African Charl Schwartzel won the opening event.

The launch split professional golf. The PGA Tour, the main American circuit, suspended players who took part, and critics accused Saudi Arabia of using sport to improve its image, often called sportswashing. The row led to legal disputes and, a year later, a surprise framework deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF.