EXCLUSIVE: LIV Golf execs eye Saskatoon courses for future events

Saskatoon could soon be playing host to some of the best golfers in the world.

LIV Golf executives – including its CEO, hall-of-fame golfer Greg Norman – were in the Bridge City last week, scoping out the Riverside Country Club and the Dakota Dunes Golf Links for potential future events.

“It was fairly quick and under the radar,” Robert Klombies, executive director of the Riverside Country Club, told 650 CKOM in an email.

Representatives from both Riverside and Dakota Dunes declined requests for a full interview, citing privacy reasons. A request for comment from LIV Golf was not returned prior to publication.

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LIV Golf burst onto the professional scene in 2021, but has been met with criticism from the golf community for both its ownership and its format.

The tour is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total assets estimated at $925 billion USD.

LIV has attracted some of the best golf talent in the world, including Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith – taking many of the PGA’s stars away from that tour for lucrative sums.

The tour also doesn’t follow the traditional PGA format. LIV golfers play 54 holes and three rounds instead of 72 holes and four rounds. The tour also features team events, which is something the PGA doesn’t offer.

Currently, LIV Golf hosts events in various countries throughout the world including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, China, Australia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The tour has never played in Canada.