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Four LIV Golf players have emerged as surprise names in the field for next week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Talor Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen, Peter Uihlein and Laurie Canter are all in the entry list to compete at the $5million DP World Tour event in Scotland.
The quartet of LIV members will play across three of Scotland’s most iconic courses – the Old Course at St Andrews, Championship Course at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns – in the pro-am tournament.
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But the inclusion of LIV players at a DP World Tour event has inevitably raised eyebrows, given they all made the decision join the rival Saudi-backed league.
The presence of LIV players on the DP World Tour has been a rarity since an arbitration case earlier this year determined that the European circuit could impose fines and sanctions on their members who were teeing it up on the rival tour.
It has been clarified, however, that all four LIV players are eligible for this event either because they have never been a DP World Tour member, or because they gave up that privilege before playing in any LIV events.
And Gooch, Oosthuizen, Uihlein and Canter have been awarded sponsor’s invites that are controlled by Johann Rupert, the prominent tournament sponsor.
“The players are non-members, have no outstanding sanctions, and are playing on a sponsor’s invite,” a DP World Tour spokesperson told bunkered.co.uk.
South African Rupert, who is chair of the Swiss-based luxury goods company Compagnie Financiere Richemont, has backed the event since 2001 and is expected to play alongside his countryman Oosthuizen in the pro-am.
Oosthuizen, of course, won the Open around the Old Course in 2010 and the 40-year-old finished inside the top-ten in this event last year.
Gooch, meanwhile, became the first three-time winner on the LIV series back in July with his victory at Valderrama.
The American missed the cut at least year’s event, which was won by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
Canter, meanwhile, is still eligible for DP World Tour events after paying the fines and serving the suspensions imposed for his appearances on the LIV tour.
The Englishman is making his return on the European circuit after filling in as a substitute for Sam Horsfield on the Majesticks team co-captained by Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.
Big names in the field for next week’s showpiece in Angus and Fife also include Ryder Cup stars Bob MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood, as well as American duo Billy Horschel and Matt Kuchar.
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