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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Benjamin Goddard

Axed LIV golfers who teed up at rebel series’ inaugural event and where they are now

Axed golfers who lined up for the inaugural LIV Golf event last June have gone in different directions since playing for huge sums of money at the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire.

Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel won the first LIV Golf event and claimed the first prize of £3.86million. The 48-player restricted field included some golf stars with the likes of Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson joining the rebel series from the outset.

However, other golf stars were more reluctant to face PGA Tour suspension and compete on the lucrative LIV Golf tour so chief executive Greg Norman was forced to recruit some unknown names to fill the field.

The LIV Golf roster looks very different now including the likes of Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka who were recruited during last year.

The expanded 14-event series continues this weekend for its second round at Tucson in Arizona. Here is a look at some of the players who competed at the inaugural event in Hertfordshire last year, but have since been axed from the rebel series.

Ratchanon Chantananuwat

The teenager was thrust into the spotlight when he became the youngest player to win an official ranking tournament last year at the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup.

Then aged 15 years and 37 days, the teenager attracted the attention of LIV Golf after carding 20 under including a final-round of 65. However, the youngster struggled to replicate that form at the Centurion Club finishing joint 38th shooting +11 over, but still winning £111,670.

The youngster played at the Amateur Championship later in the season and now competes on the college golf circuit in America.

Ratchanon Chantananuwat won the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup last year aged 15 (Getty Images)

Hennie du Plessis

The South African impressed on his LIV Golf debut carding six-under par which was good enough for second overall winning £1.8 million in prize money. Plessis had a successful season on the Saudi-back series and was part of last season's £41.5m team championship final.

In total the South African earned £3.7m in winnings, finishing inside the top 20 of the Saudi-backed series' money list for 2022. However, the 26-year-old has been axed for this year's expanded tournament and will return to the Asian and DP World Tour.

Hennie du Plessis finished second in the inaugural LIV Golf event (Getty Images)

Oliver Bekker

The eight-time Sunshine Tour event winner was recruited by LIV Golf after breaking into the top-100 in the Official World Golf Rankings. The decision to join the rebel series resulted in Bekker being fined by the DP World Tour and banned from three events

The 38-year-old did himself proud at the inaugural LIV Golf event finishing joint sixth and picking up a share of £656,880 of the prize fund for his sacrifice. Since being axed, Bekker returned to the DP World Tour finishing joint ninth at the Italian Open. He has also started this season in fine form winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour for the second time.

Oliver Bekker won the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour this year, despite being axed by LIV Golf (Getty Images)

Andy Ogletree

The American amateur was one of those players recruited by LIV Golf as they struggled to fill their 48-player field. The 24-year-old has won two events on the Asian Tour and was the 2019 US Amateur winner.

Ogletree will go down in the record books as the player who finished last at the inaugural LIV Golf event after shooting a score of 24-over par. Ogletree was still rewarded by £98,530 in prize money for his efforts despite being immediately axed.

The American finished his season by winning the International Series Egypt, giving him a two year exemption on the Asian Tour.

Andy Ogletree finished last in the inaugural LIV Golf event and was immediately axed (Getty Images)

Oliver Fisher

The English golfer shot the first ever 59 on the European Tour and was recruited by Norman to kick-start LIV Golf at the inaugural event.

The 34-year-old finished tied 38th at The Centurion Club, earning himself a big payday of more than £116,000. However, his performance failed to impress LIV Golf bosses and as they recruited bigger names the English golfer was axed.

He swiftly returned back to the DP World (European) Tour though and failed to make the cut at the BMW International Open.

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