Top Korean tour player Jang Yu-bin to join Saudi-backed LIV Golf; others trying to qualify

This photo provided by the KPGA Tour, shows Golf Player Jang Yu-bin, Korea, Nov. 3. Yonhap

After reigning supreme on the Korean men's golf tour in 2024, Jang Yu-bin is set to join a Saudi Arabia-backed renegade circuit offering giant purses.

Jang will compete in LIV Golf, financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, starting in 2025, according to industry sources familiar with the development. They confirmed an earlier Korean media report that claimed Jang would join Iron Heads GC, one of 13 teams that competed in the 2024 season. It features two players of Korean descent, Kevin Na of the United States and Danny Lee of New Zealand.

Jang's Seoul-based agency, All That Sports, is expected to make the move official early Wednesday. It would make Jang the first Korean player to join the much-criticized LIV tour.

LIV Golf, which had its inaugural season in 2022, has been accused of being a vehicle for Saudi Arabia's "sportswashing," referring to an effort by the country criticized for human rights abuses to cleanse its public image through sports.

Jang, 22, swept up the Player of the Year award, the money title and the scoring title on the KPGA Tour this year. He won two tournaments and recorded nine other top-10 finishes, including five runner-ups, in 21 starts. Jang was also the tour's longest hitter, with an average driving distance of 311.4 yards, and made more birdies than anyone with 335.

Jang had been scheduled to compete in the PGA Tour's qualifying tournament, the Q-School, starting Thursday in Florida, where the top five players and ties will earn their cards to the world's biggest golf circuit.

Na is believed to have persuaded Jang to change his mind when they played together at the PIF Saudi International, an Asian Tour event, last week.

LIV Golf offers huge purses at its 54-hole, no-cut tournaments. In 2024, each regular LIV Golf tournament had a purse of $25 million — bigger than any PGA Tour event this year except The Players Championship, which also had a $25 million purse —with $20 million distributed among the 54 players in each field and the remaining $5 million split among the top three teams.

LIV Golf has lured some of the biggest PGA Tour stars, such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm, who have won 89 PGA Tour titles and 15 majors combined.

LIV Golf Promotions, LIV's own qualifying tournament, is scheduled to begin Thursday for a three-day, four-round run at Riyadh Golf Club in Riyadh.

Five of the top 10 money winners on the KPGA Tour this year will be in the 93-man field, which also includes winners on the PGA Tour, tjhe DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) and the Asian Tour, plus Ryder Cup veterans and former U.S. collegiate champions.

The top finisher will earn $200,000 and a spot in the LIV Golf League next year, and the top 10 players and ties will earn full exemption into the International Series, which is made up of 10 Asian Tour tournaments with elevated prize money.

Kim Hong-taek, who finished third in money on the KPGA Tour this year, headlines the Korean contingent. He is a two-time KPGA winner who led the circuit in greens in regulation in each of the past three years.

Golf Player Cho Woo-young celebrates after winning The Charity Classic on the Legend Course at Seolhaeone in Yangyang, in this photo provided by the KPGA Tour, Gangwon Province, Oct. 20. Yonhap

Cho Woo-young (fourth on the KPGA money list), Hur In-hoi (fifth), Lee Jung-hwan (eighth) and Lee Dai-han (ninth) will also tee off. The four players have won a combined 11 KPGA titles. Wang Jeung-hun, a three-time European Tour winner, will take his crack, too.

According to LIV Golf, 64 players will compete in the first round on Thursday. The top 20 and ties will advance to Friday's second round, where they will be joined by 29 players who automatically qualified for that stage. Most of the Koreans will begin their quest in the second round.

Scores will be reset for the second round and the top 20 players, after tiebreakers if necessary, will stay alive for the final day.

On Saturday, scores will be reset for a 36-hole finish. (Yonhap)