A look at the first LIV Golf Invitational Portland

At Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, there are twelve teams lined up for action. One of them, the Stringer GC, consists of four players from South Africa. Another (Crusher GC) is captained by Bryson DeChambeau, a U.S. Open champion. The Torque GC has all Japanese natives. Two Masters champions - Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed - are part of the 4 Aces. Brooks Koepka is captain of a team that includes his brother Chase. Phil Mickelson, who won last year's PGA title at age 50, leads the Hy Flyers GC.

It's something that, interestingly enough, the players like.

It's all part of the LIV Golf tour (LIV actually the roman numeral for "54"), which, as BetOnline customers may have noticed, is making a huge impact in, well, perhaps disrupting the game and business of golf, spearheaded by the quintessential golf businessman, two-time British Open champion Greg Norman.

Backed by Saudi Arabian interests, those who have chosen to play LIV golf events have been rewarded with huge up-front payouts (for the most part), and have met with punishment from Jay Monahan of the PGA Tour, who has suspended all of them (not applicable to the majors, which are operated independently).

What you keep hearing from these players is that they enjoy the fact that the schedule is lighter. After Portland, the next event starts on July 29, at Trump National at Bedminster in New Jersey.

It's not as if the PGA Tour necessarily requires its players to play a breakneck schedule. It's that if they don't, they won't as good a chance of qualifying for the FedEx playoffs, and in some cases, the majors, because they have to gather points through the Official World Golf Ranking to do so.

So it's guaranteed money, no cuts, and the opportunity to spend more time with family or other ventures. You can understand if the PGA Tour is threatened by such independence.

And no one should kid themselves - there are some heavy hitters in this group, as far as public profile and recognition are concerned. There was, as you may have heard, an offer to Tiger Woods that was in the "high nine figures," and if he had accepted it, this whole game may have been over. Or at least the PGA Tour may have taken a different posture than to suspend every LIV golfer.

Dustin Johnson was one of the first players to defect. Sergio Garcia, who is known to every golf fan, followed him. Louis Oosthuizen, a former British Open champion, was an early member. Charl Schwartzel, former Masters champion, won the first even in London.

Recently, DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka decided to bring their feud over to LIV. At a press conference, they conveyed the message that they were making a business-related decision, and that is understandable, in the sense that there was a lot of money thrown at them.

Since BetOnline is well-known for its head-to-head matchups, it is worth noting that Koepka is a -125 favorite over DeChambeau (-105). One of the positive things about betting golf on the LIV events is everybody gets started at the same time. So you absolutely know what time the tournament starts. And you can expect to see these matchups for all THREE days (not four).

Koepka had earlier declared loyalty to the PGA Tour, and he was asked what changed from then till now. "My opinion," he said. Don't underestimate that the draconian attitude of the PGA Tour can be a turn-off for some players.

This week, in time for Portland, new players were added. LIV already had the 2021 U.S. Amateur champion, James Piot, and now Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, the #2 amateur in the world and an All-American from Oklahoma State, is on board.

So is Mexican pro Carlos Ortiz and the enigmatic Matthew Wolff, another Oklahoma State All-American, who was second in the U.S. Open in 2020, but walked off the course during an attempt to qualify this year. No one can deny his talent; he's been as high as 12th in the world.

And the rumor is that there is a top ten player who is ready to come aboard as early as next week. The speculation has started, and they've narrowed it down to three possibilities - world #6 Cameron Smith, #7 Patrick Cantley and #8 Viktor Hovland.

And the beat goes on.

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