“We played at Grove twice” - LIV Golf League captains reveal hilarious ‘training camp’ stories ahead at season opener
Prior to LIV Golf's second season opener in Maayakoba, Ian Poulter ran a three-day training camp for his squad in Orlando’s Lake Nona area. Dustin Johnson also hosted his teammates at Michael Jordan’s exclusive golf club in Jupiter, Florida.
Team Majesticks GC is co-captained by Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Henrik Stenson together alongside Sam Horsfield. The Majesticks did a bonding and training camp at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club last weekend.
“Mayakoba was a short flight down from Florida, so Lee[Westwood] came in [from England], and the caddies and staff helping us run the team got together,” Stenson said in Mayakoba.
He added that it was a team bonding session with a little bit of golf practice.
"We got all our team gear, the golf bags and clothing and also met with our clothing partner, Redvanly. It wasn't like a boot camp in that sense; it was more like getting together and bonding.”
Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces didn't overdo any of this session as they didn't feel the need to overdo the pre-season practice. Johnson played host to his teammates Pat Perez, Patrick Reed, and Peter Uihlein at The Grove XXIII, NBA legend Michael Jordan's exclusive club in Hobe Sound, Florida, for a round of 36 holes.
“We played at Grove twice … if you want to call that training camp, sure,” Johnson explained.
Cameron Smith had a get-together with his teammates at his Florida Ponte Vedra area residence on New Season Eve.
Unlike the previous season, the 12 teams will bear their travel costs as LIV wants to make it a franchise model with captains having a stake in the teams' share. The Saudi-backed circuit covered the flights and accommodation expenses for players, caddies, and support staff in the 2022 season.
LIVGOLF Plus- LIV Golf's streaming app
LIV Golf announced the launch of their app, LIV Golf Plus, and website LIVGolfPlus.com which will be streaming LIV Golf events across the world, excluding the US, providing fans with live and on-demand coverage of the league's second season. The season began with its first event in Mayakoba, Mexico on February 24th.
LIV Golf Plus is now available on both the Play Store and Apple Store for free download in over 180 countries. Fans can enjoy the events on Fire TV as well. Website LIVGolfplus.com will stream the matches.
For the United States, LIV Golf has partnered with CW and now with new announcements, other regions of the world can also view the broadcast on the Saudi-backed circuit's app. The deal is based on a revenue-sharing model.
Dom Boulet, Arlo White, Su-Ann Heng, Jerry Foltz, David Feherty, and Troy Mullins will form the broadcast team.
Unlike last year's eight LIV events, there will be 14 events this season, with the purse size of each tournament being $25 million. Individual events will have $20 million as prize money while the team portion will have $5 million.
LIV also announced this week that EasyPost will be their first global sponsor this season. EasyPost also sponsors 4Aces Patrick Reed.