Bryson DeChambo, the US Open 2020 champion, is joining the LIV Golf Invitational Series, a source told ESPN on Wednesday.
Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters Champion, is also joining the LIV series, according to numerous reports.
DeChambeau and Reed are expected to compete in the first US-based LIV Golf event, scheduled at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon, from June 30 to July 2.
A LIV Golf spokesman declined to comment.
“Bryson has always been an innovator,” DeChambeau agent Bret Falkoff of GSE Worldwide told ESPN on Wednesday. “The opportunity to get on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing and it’s happening fast.”
This would be another blow to the PGA Tour, which refused to issue conflicting events to players who asked them to compete in LIV Golf tournaments. The events are funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
DeChambo and Reed are two of the most polarizing players on the tour.
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The additions to DeChambeau and Reed will give LIV Golf at least nine former big champions who jumped from the PGA Tour. Six-time grand champion Phil Mickelson, two-time grand winners Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaimer and four others – Sergio Garcia (Masters 2017), Charles Schwarzell (Masters 2011), Graham McDowell (2010 US Open) and Louis Osthuisen (2010 Open) Championship compete in the first LIV Golf event, which starts 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, Schwarzell and Kevin Na, have dropped out of the tour.
The 28-year-old DeChambo was one of the first targets of LIV Golf. He told the Memorial last week that he plans to continue playing in the PGA Tour.
“I think that’s mostly – a lot of it is private,” De Chambo said. “In fact, there is no need to talk about it, except for the fact that everyone here has their own opinion about it. I obviously have a lot of conversations. For me personally, I don’t think I’m at a point in my career right now where I can risk things like that.
“I am loyal to my family, which I created around me with sponsors and everything else. And right now, the world of golf is likely to change in some ways. I do not know what that is. It’s not my job to do that. I will just continue to play professional golf and enjoy it, wherever it takes me, I will play with the best players in the world. That’s really all I have, I’ll do that for the rest of my life because I want to be one of the best players in the world. “
An eight-time PGA Tour winner, DeChambeau has made just six starts this season due to a left arm injury that required surgery in April. He is ranked 28th in the official world golf rankings.
The 31-year-old Reed has won nine PGA Tours and earned nearly $ 37 million during his touring career. Reed struggled after being hospitalized with double pneumonia in August. He is ranked 36th in the world.
Incumbent PGA champion Justin Thomas, speaking Wednesday at the PGA Tour in Toronto, reiterated previous thoughts that his peers have the right to choose where they want to play.
“You know, it’s a nuisance. I mean, I think a lot of us are – I don’t know if irritated or tired is the right word. I mean, it’s just one of those things,” he said.
“I don’t like DJs [Dustin Johnson] now, “he continued.” I don’t think he’s a bad dude. I will not treat him differently. As if he has the right to choose as he wishes. Like I said, that doesn’t make him a bad person. I’m disappointed now and I wish he and the others hadn’t done it, but it’s their decision. “
ESPN’s Tom Van Haaren contributed to this report.
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