Xander Schauffele drops subtle hint he's not joining LIV Golf anytime soon
Xander Schauffele has dropped a hint he isn't thinking of leaving the PGA Tour anytime soon by committing to the AT&T Pebble-Beach Pro-Am.
PGA Tour star Xander Schauffele has dropped a hint he won't be leaving for the riches of LIV Golf anytime soon.
The American could of course changed his mind and, who knows, the floodgates might open if the rumours are true that Jon Rahm will be signing for the breakaway tour for $300m.
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But Schauffele has decided to kick off his 2024 campaign by committing to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.
The tournament will be played over 31 January to 4 February and features a bumper prize purse as it is one of the Tour's signature events.
Signature events are limited-field tournaments offering increased purses and FedEx Cup points.
The fields will range from 70-80 players. As many as three of the eight scheduled signature events will not have a cut.
The tournaments were created amid unprecedented disruption in the game owing to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
For his part, Schauffele has spoken fairly openly about how close he was to joining the rival league.
He was one of several PGA Tour stars to release a statement committing his future to the North American circuit in February 2022 in the aftermath of Phil Mickelson's comments being published about his dealings with the Saudis.
Mickelson was accused of saying the quiet part loud and it later emerged his thoughts about Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses almost brought down the whole show before it began.
After the 2023 Ryder Cup, Schauffele told Today's Golfer he didn't regret joining LIV.
"I don't sit here and think, oh gosh, I should have pursued that more or anything of that nature," he said of his LIV offer.
"I'm pretty content with where I'm at and what I've done."
In the very same interview Schauffele called for change in the PGA Tour's leadership by urging commissioner Jay Monahan to quit.
Referring to the 6 June framework agreement, Schauffele said: "I would be lying if I said that I have a whole lot of trust after what happened.
"That's definitely the consensus that I get when I talk to a lot of guys.
"It's a bit contradictory when they call it 'our Tour' and things can happen without us even knowing."
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