LIV Golf set sights on poaching iconic US Open course that hosted Jordan Spieth win
LIV Golf are looking to add one of the most iconic courses in the United States to their schedule moving forward, with Greg Norman and co keen to acquire US Open venue Chambers Bay in Washington.
LIV currently host 14 events throughout their season, across eight different countries in their bid to take professional golf around the world. The breakaway league takes trips to Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, as well as two stops in Europe in Spain and the United Kingdom.
Seven of the 14 tournaments take place on American soil, with Las Vegas, Miami Houston, Nashville, West Virginia and Chicago hosting regular season events in 2024, with the season finishing with the team championship in Dallas.
Since forming back in 2022, LIV has added some of golf's most famed tracks to its schedule, including former PGA Tour courses Trump Doral, The Greenbrier and Houston Golf Club, as well as the iconic Real Club Valderrama - former host of the Ryder Cup, World Golf Championships and a number of DP World Tour events.
Looking forward it appears the Saudi-backed series are now on the hunt to bring in a major championship course in Chambers Bay according to the Tacoma News Tribune. The Washington course played host to the 2015 US Open which was won by Jordan Spieth, as he pipped Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen to the title.
The setup of Chambers Bay was criticised by many that week, and since the tournament nine years ago, the venue has failed to be added back to the US Open rota. And looking ahead it appears there are no plans to return any time soon, with all venues over the next two decades already confirmed.
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Jordan Spieth at Chambers Bay
This has since seen course bosses, Pierce County move elsewhere in the hunt to host professional events, with talks expected to take place with LIV. Don Anderson, executive counsel to Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier, told the report: "LIV has its own issues though, golf politics, world politics-wise.
"You have to be careful there. They throw a great party, though. 54 golfers, 54 holes, shotgun start. You generate $5 million or so in concession and merchandise sales. From that aspect, they’re very attractive. If they follow up with their indirect inquiry, we’ll listen.”
Much of the criticism posed towards the golf course in 2015 was regarding the putting surface, and in an effort to iron this out Chambers Bay bosses worked between 2017 and 2019 in replacing the fescue greens with native poa annua, a move that has since been praised by the USGA.
And whilst the course is clearly not in the USGA's plans currently, Pierce County are still keen to uphold their relationship with the governing body. "I would say while we’re disappointed the opportunity won’t be here, we have an excellent relationship with the USGA that’s mutually beneficial,” Anderson said. “We don’t want to discount that.”
Anderson also revealed that there was interest in reaching out to the PGA of America in a bid to host a PGA Championship at some point. This however does come with added work, with the Pierce Country representative admitting the acquisition of a title sponsor to help fund the event.