Editor’s note: For the latest on the LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger,follow USA TODAY Sports’ live updates here.
LIV golfers Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have been hard to miss near the top of major tournament leaderboards this year – especially with Koepka collecting his fifth major at the PGA Championship.
But what about all the other players who left the PGA for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour in past months?
With the surprise announcement Tuesday morning of the merger of the two tours’ business operations, here’s a look at the top 52 players of each tour in 2023.
52? Yes, that’s how many players are ranked currently on the LIV site so leaving out Kieran Vincent and Wade Ormsby seemed a bit odd. With a much deeper pool of players competing for the FedExCup, the PGA list leaves out notable players such as Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas – just to name a few.
In the PGA, Jon Rahm (3,042 points) and Scottie Scheffler are running away from the pack with Max Homa, Viktor Hovland and Tony Finau rounding out the top five.
On the LIV tour, Talor Gooch (96 points), Branden Grace, Koepka and Cameron Smith (83) hold the top four slots with Peter Uihlein in fifth.
Who are the top players on the PGA tour and LIV Tour this year
Both entities announced the move in a joint statement published Tuesday. The merger aims to create “a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”
The terms of the agreement are not fully finalized and are scheduled to be completed in the coming months.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Tuesday in a statement.
Contributing: Lorenzo Reyes, Teddy Maiorca