Harold Varner III has called out his fellow LIV Golf players in an explosive attack before this week’s Masters tournament at Augusta National. The American is one of 18 players from Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed competition competing at the Masters, which has opted against enforcing the PGA Tour’s ban on players from the breakaway circuit.
Augusta National, like other major sanctioning bodies, has allowed LIV players to compete at the Masters this year based on their qualification process. It means the likes of Australia’s British Open champion Cameron Smith will take to iconic course alongside other major winners to have defected to the rebel circuit such as Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka. LIV’s former Masters champions Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel all have exemptions to compete at Augusta National.
Varner III – currently ranked No.60 in the world – initially rejected overtures from Norman’s rebel competition to join the cashed-up LIV Golf, before signing for a reported $20 million fee. Unlike some of his rival players though, the 32-year-old admitted that LIV Golf’s eye-watering offer was “simply too good of a financial breakthrough” to pass up.
