LIV golfers have yet to be kept out of the four men’s majors by the organisations that run them. But that isn’t stopping one high-profile club that runs an exclusive small event from saying no to the pros who play the Saudi-backed circuit.
According to a report in Golfweek, Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, will not be inviting LIV golfers to participate in its prestigious Seminole Pro-Member tournament this year.
Started in 2004, the two-person team event is set to be played February 27 in its traditional spot the Monday after the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic. Over the years, it has seen its field filled by a who’s who of top-ranked men’s and women’s players. In 2022, former major winners Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott and Shane Lowry were among those competing, along with LPGA standouts Nelly and Jessica Korda.
Past winners of the event have included Davis Love III, Rickie Fowler (three times), McIlroy and, a year ago, Patrick Cantlay.
“We are doing what we have always done,” Seminole president Jimmy Dunne told Golfweek. “PGA Tour players get the first priority. This event has always been supported by the PGA Tour. We try to make this a special and unique day for tour players.”
The stance from Dunne and the club is not that surprising, even when you consider that Dunne himself has teamed with now LIV players Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson in the past. Dunne was appointed to PGA Tour Policy Board in November. Two other Seminole members, Ed Herlihy and Mark Flaherty, are also PGA Tour board members (Herlihy is the board chair; Flaherty is the member who won the title with Cantlay in 2022). The PGA Tour has banned any players who compete on the LIV Golf circuit from playing in PGA Tour events and is in the midst of a lawsuit with the upstart golf league.
A majestic Donald Ross design with a clever routing on a rectangular site, each hole at Seminole encounters a new wind direction. The greens are no longer Ross, replaced 50 years ago in a regrassing effort that showed little appreciation for the original rolling contours. The bunkers aren’t Ross either. Dick Wilson replaced them in 1947, his own version meant to the imitate crests of waves on the adjacent Atlantic. A few years back, Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw redesigned the bunkers again, along with exposing some sandy expanses in the rough. Seminole has long been one of America’s most exclusive clubs, which is why it was thrilling to see it on TV for a first time during the TaylorMade Driving Relief match, and then again for the 2021 Walker Cup.
Several players now playing for LIV competed in the 2022 Pro-Member, including Johnson, Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Cameron Tringale, Peter Uihlein, Hudson Swafford, Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Harold Varner III and Andy Ogletree.
LIV Golf’s 2023 season-opening event is being played at Mayakoba Resort on February 24-26, making a return to Florida for the Monday event a reality for those who had wished to participate.
