RUMOUR: Pro in field at Tiger Woods' PGA Tour event joins LIV Golf
PGA Tour pros Danny Lee and Brendan Steele are reportedly set to join the 2023 LIV Golf League with Belgian Thomas Pieters.
PGA Tour pros Brendan Steele and Danny Lee are reportedly the two players who will be joining Thomas Pieters in the latest wave of defections to LIV Golf.
Reporting from The Telegraph and Handicap54 has suggested that former Ryder Cup star Pieters, 31, will be announced by the breakaway tour on Monday.
It is not known which team they will join but team captains Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen and Bubba Watson are yet to name the players who will join them for the 2023 $405m season.
At No. 34 in the OWGR, Pieters' apparent signature represents the "biggest" signing the tour led by Greg Norman have made since the end of their inaugural season.
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Pieters has six international victories, the most recent came at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
He starred for Europe in the 2016 Ryder Cup, claiming four points in the side that ultimately 17-11 at Hazeltine.
Pieters has previously discussed how at times he found life on tour difficult, telling GolfDigest that during the 2017 season: "I hated my life".
He added:
Pieters is said to have signed for a seven-figure fee. The news will come as a bitter blow for European captain Luke Donald.
Pieters had been odds-on to make the side heading to the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in September. The Belgian is putting that at risk.
We won't know his and other LIV players' Ryder Cup fate until we hear the outcome of the DP World Tour v LIV Golf hearing.
Who are Brendan Steele and Danny Lee?
A report from ESPN states that Lee and Steele will be joining LIV with Pieters.
Steele is 39 years old and has three PGA Tour titles to his name. They came at the 2011 Valero Texas Open, 2016 and 2017 Safeway Open.
Throughout his career, he has earned more than $20m.
It's interesting to note that Steele was scheduled to play in the Genesis Invitational, hosted by Woods, but withdrew.
Lee, a 32-year-old pro from New Zealand, has one PGA Tour victory to his name.
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That came at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic. He has made more than $15m on the PGA Tour.
Lee played in Tiger's event, missing the cut after shooting 76-69 at Riviera Country Club.
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