LIV Golf players unwelcome at prestigious Seminole Pro-Member event 10:16, 27/01/2023

After the first season, the major arenas gradually "opened up" to LIV Golf players and approved them to participate in the event. But that still hasn't stopped the Seminole golf course - which hosts the event many pro golfers affectionately call "the first major of the year", from rejecting professional golfers on the Saudi-backed track. .

Accordingly, Seminole Golf Club will not invite LIV players to participate in this year's prestigious Seminole Pro-Member tournament.

With a history dating back to 2004, the Seminole Pro-Member is a team event held on February 27 at a traditional venue on the Monday, after the PGA Tour's Honda Classic. Over the years, this arena has always gathered the world's top male and female golfers. Last year, grand prize winners Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott and Shane Lowry all attended, along with LPGA stars Nelly and Jessica Korda.

Past winners of the event include Davis Love III, Rickie Fowler (3 times), McIlroy and the defending champion Patrick Cantlay.

Several players currently playing for LIV have competed at Pro-Member 2022, including Johnson, Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Cameron Tringale, Peter Uihlein, Hudson Swafford, Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Harold Varner III and Andy Ogletree.

“We are doing what we have always done,” Dunne told Golfweek on Thursday. “PGA Tour players get the first priority. This event has always been supported by the PGA Tour. We try to make this a special and unique day for Tour players.”

Dunne had competed at the Pro-Member event with Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, but both of his former teammates switched to LIV Golf last season leading to being "dismissed" on the PGA Tour. This year, Dunne will team up with Max Homa.

“Candidly, I have a pretty good relationship with most people,” Dunne said. “These guys had a choice to make, but they’ve made it. That’s it. I’m not going to say something nasty about guys who participated in the past.”

In November 2022, Jimmy Dunne was appointed to the position of Director of the Policy Department of the Tour and is assessed to have a positive impact on the current world golf situation. Two other Seminole members, Ed Herlihy and Mark Flaherty, are also PGA Tour board members (Herlihy is chairman; Flaherty is a member who won the title with Cantlay in 2022). The PGA Tour has banned any player competing at LIV Golf from competing in its events and is in the midst of a long-running lawsuit against the fledgling tournament system.

Before that, Dunne was also in the sights of LIV Golf as a member of Augusta National. Dunne, along with nearly 20 other club members, including Chairman Fred Ridley, were summoned by LIV Golf during an investigation into an antitrust lawsuit filed last year in US District Court.