Gayton McKenzie says LIV golf is coming to South Africa

If South African minister of sport Gayton McKenzie has any say in it, an LIV golf tournament will soon be staged in South Africa.

Golf’s breakaway tour, LIV, which is funded by Saudi Arabia, is still in its infancy after being established in 2021 to compete with the US PGA Tour, but drawing big crowds all over the world. There are now tournaments in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America … but not in Africa.

McKenzie, who visited the South African LIV team, “Stinger”, at the tournament in Incheon, South Korea last weekend, said in a social media post on Facebook on Monday: “We are very close to bringing the worlds most exciting golf tournament LIV Golf to South Africa, 54 of the worlds top golfers will descend on South African soil in very near future, I wanna thank Stinger GC crew, we nearly there boys.”

The LIV “Stinger” team consists of four South African players, namely Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, as well as Dean Burmester and Branden Grace.

McKenzie met with LIV golf CEO Scott O’Neil at the weekend and said on Facebook: “I met with the brilliant CEO, Scott O’Neil, and the rest of his bright executive team at golf’s freshest new globe-spanning tournament, LIV Golf, which has an all-South African team, Stingers GC. We are full of hope about bringing this festival of sport and culture to SA soon.”

In a video clip shared by McKenzie he says, among other things, “The Stinger boys are the next best thing to come out of South Africa after the Springboks.”

Where would an LIV tournament be held?

For some time now there has been speculation in South African golfing circles about bringing a lucrative LIV event to the country.

Not since the heyday of the Million Dollar golf tournament in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s at Sun City has South Africa staged a golf tournament with a world class field.

The new-look Million Dollar, the Nedbank Golf Challenge, has become a regular season DP World Tour (European Tour) event, at Sun City, but has failed to draw the very best golfers to South Africa.

Could an LIV tournament replace the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in the future? Or would Fancourt in the south western Cape be a better option to showcase South Africa to the golfing world?

Some of the top players involved in LIV include Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka and multiple tournament winner Joaquin Niemann.

DeChambeau won the tournament in Incheon last weekend. Schwartzel won the very first LIV tournament in 2022 in London, while Burmester won in Miami last season.