Matthew Wolff the latest talent to join Saudi-backed LIV Golf series
So much for the Saudi rebel circuit merely being an ultra-lucrative retiring ground for big names with their best years behind them.
In a move that will cause further alarm in the male pro game’s traditional corridors of power, Telegraph Sport has learned that the LIV Golf Series will on Monday announce two new recruits under the age of 25, both of whom are rated as possessing huge potential.
Matthew Wolff, 23, was ranked in the world’s top 20 at the start of last year, having become the first male golfer to finish in top five in his first two majors for 132 years.
The Californian has since dropped to 75th in the rankings, with four missed cuts in his last five events, and those who bizarrely still insist on ridiculing the LIV roster will doubtless point to Wolff’s unorthodox swing and claim that he, too, is simply grabbing the up-front dollars while they are available.
But be sure that Wolff's defection from the PGA Tour, knowing that he will be hit with an indefinite ban as soon as his ball is in the air in the second $25million LIV event on Thursday, is notable. As is that of the Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra.
The 22-year-old was the world’s second highest ranked amateur and his exploits on the US collegiate circuit with Oklahoma State has earned him the nickname “Nino Marvilla” (“Wonder Boy”).
Yet after recently saying that he intended to follow the example of countryman Jon Rahm, the world No 3 who completed all four years of his scholarship at Arizona State, he has decided to jump straight in with LIV, figuring that even if he finished last in each of the seven LIv events left this year and the 10 next year, he would still be guaranteed more than £2million. There is also likely a signing-on bonus.
“My position is that of a player who is not a member of the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour, and I have not earned money while I have been an amateur, so I can play in this league without problems,” Chacarra, whose sister Carolina has also made a splash in her time in American college, told Marca.
“This contract gives me peace of mind and ensures the future of my family. My grandfather always told me that when you have an opportunity, to take the train.”
It might not only have been the words of a relative that helped convince the young Madridian. Chacarra’s mentor is Sergio Garcia, who is already on LIV’s books and who has resigned his PGA Tour membership.
Chacarra is believed to be joining the stable of GSE Worldwide, the agency who also oversee the careers of several LIV players including Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace - and Wolff .
The US-based company has Carlos Ortiza as a client as well and it is understood the 31-year-old will be third player named by LIV today as it completes its 48-man field for his first event on US soil taking place in Portland, Oregon this week.
Ortiz, the world No 115, joins fellow Mexican Abraham Ancer, who is another GSE player. The world No 20 was last week unveiled as a LIV capture alongside four-time major winner Brooks Koepka.
