Pair of Spaniards entered into LIV Golf’s qualifying tournament
Two DP World Tour winners have confirmed that they’ve entered next month’s LIV Golf Promotions event.
Spaniards Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alvaro Quiros, who in their careers have won seven DP World Tour events apiece, are slated to tee it up in the qualifying event, LIV’s take on Q-School, on Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
Fernandez-Castano revealed his plans on his podcast, Golf sin Etiquetas, while Quiros wrote a blog discussing his decision for the outlet Ten Golf.
The 43-year-old Fernandez-Castano’s last DPWT victory came in 2013 while Quiros, 40, has not won on the European circuit since 2017. Neither player has full status on the DP World Tour or Challenge Tour for the upcoming year. Fernandez-Castano played four DP World Tour events this year, missing two cuts but also finishing T-20 at Qatar Masters. Quiros logged three DP World tour starts but played mostly on the Challenge Tour, where he missed 15 of his last 17 cuts.
The Promotions tournament is a three-day, 72-hole competition in which scores reset after the first and second rounds. The top 20 players and ties who advance to Round 2 will be joined by players already exempt through the first 18 holes of play. From there, the top 20 will move onto the 36-hole final day, where the top three finishers will receive spots on LIV in 2024 and finishers Nos. 4-10 will get tickets into next year’s International Series on the Asian Tour, another gateway to the lucrative, Saudi-backed league. A first-place check of $200,000 also is up for grabs at the qualifying event.
The full field for the inaugural Promotions event has yet to be released, though a list of entrants could be unveiled as soon as this week – or potentially once the final two second-stage sites for PGA Tour Q-School wrap up on Friday, the thought being that there could be at least one player, maybe more, who is competing at second stage this week and committed to the Promotions event, and if a player in that scenario got through to final stage, he may wish to withdraw from LIV’s qualifier and save himself any unnecessary public criticism.
Entries officially closed just over a week ago.
Monday Q Info reported last week on Twitter that the current Promotions field included a major champion, multi-time PGA Tour winner, top-100 player in the Official World Golf Ranking and former decorated amateur players. Sports Illustrated said that around 10 players with PGA Tour status or who have played in Tour events in past are schedule to compete.
The PGA Tour, which has suspended players for joining LIV and competing in LIV events, previously said via statement that it would not penalize players for teeing it up in the qualifying event:
“Based on the information publicly available regarding the LIV Golf Promotion event, it is determined to be a qualifying event only and not a part of an unauthorized series. Therefore, the LIV Golf Promotion event is not categorized as an ‘unauthorized tournament.’ This classification is subject to change should the details of the event change.”
However, SI also reported that PGA Tour members would still need to be granted media releases to compete in the Promotions event without potential penalty – and those releases would need to have been filed 45 days prior to the event; LIV announced the Promotions dates 48 days out.
It’s unclear how many releases, if any, the PGA Tour has granted.
LIV’s eligibility criteria for the first round of the Promotions tournament includes top players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, International Series rankings, and select international tours such as the Sunshine and Japan tours, plus most recent winners and runners-up from elite amateur events such as the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur and NCAA Championship. LIV’s exemptions into the second round of qualifying include the top two players in WAGR, Nos. 2-8 of the International Series, top five players from the Korn Ferry Tour and DP World Tour points lists, winners of PGA Tour and DP World Tour events since the start of 2022, major winners and Ryder Cuppers since 2019, and the top 15 available players inside the top 150 of the Universal Golf Rankings.