Controversial LIV Golf brings Team Championship tournament to Trump National Doral
MIAMI — LIV Golf is tweaking its schedule this fall, with Miami-Dade County becoming the team tournament season's championship destination in October.
The controversial Saudi Arabia-backed professional golf tour announced Monday that the 2023 Team Championship will take place Oct. 20-23 at Trump National Doral Golf Club, where the Blue Monster at Doral will the stage the seeded three-day tournament featuring both match play and stroke play, delivering the excitement of head-to-head competition to determine the season's team champion, the tour stated.
"We're thrilled to return to the Blue Monster at Doral to celebrate a historic year and crown the 2023 LIV Golf League team champion," stated LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman. "The team concept has come to life this year in exciting new ways as our players and fans embrace the launch of team golf."
"We're building up for an action-packed weekend with headline entertainment that will put an exclamation point on another can't-miss LIV Golf event," he added.
The tour stated LIV Golf Jeddah, which was previously scheduled for Nov. 3-5 and to be the final stop this season, will now take place Oct. 13-15 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club as the 13th and last tournament of the regular season.
According to the tour, final team standings following Jeddah will determine the No.1-12 seeds for the Team Championship, with the top four teams will receive first-round byes. Additional information on the Team Championship's format and music entertainment will be released in the near future, the tour stated.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Miami tournament last year was one of LIV Golf's most popular events and led to questions as to why it wasn't going to be staged again as the season-ending tournament, especially given the low attendance rate at tournaments in Saudi Arabia.
LIV Golf has been facing controversy since its inception as it is financed by the Public Investment Fund: the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Some critics have said the tour is part of efforts by the Saudi monarchy to improve its public image as it has also been criticized for its alleged corruption and human rights abuses.
Despite the controversy, the PGA Tour announced last month that it will merge with LIV Golf, ending the rivalry between the two tours that sparked an anti-trust lawsuit as well as accusations of unfair behavior.