PGA Tour stop in Mexico moving to the LIV Tour

Mayakoba Golf Course (LubomirSub, Wikimedia Commons)

We know all about the world’s best golfers moving from the PGA Tour to the LIV Tour. Now, the Mayakoba Golf Course in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, is going to the LIV Tour as well. According to Adam Schupak of Golfweek, there are plans for Mayakoba to host the first LIV Tournament of 2023 sometime in February. The projected dates right now are February 24 to 26. That would be the same weekend the PGA Tour would have the Honda Classic, where Austria’s Sepp Straka is the defending champion. 

Mexico already has connections to the LIV Tour. Mexican golfers Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz joined the LIV Tour last year. There had been speculation that the LIV Tour would have a tournament in Mexico in September, but it now appears there will be one in February.

The Mayakoba Golf Course is the first golf course to leave the PGA Tour for the LIV Tour. The Mayakoba Golf Classic took place annually from 2007 to 2022. Viktor Hovland of Norway was the only multiple champion, as he won in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021. Among the LIV Tour golfers who are past champions at the Mayakoba Golf Classic are Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland (2015), and Pat Perez of the United States (2016). McDowell, who won the 2010 United States Open at Pebble Beach, beat American Jason Bohn and Scotland’s Russell Knox in a playoff.

Over the years, the Mayakoba Golf Classic has had two title sponsors. They include the Mexican construction company, Obrascon Huarte Lain (known as OHL) from 2013 to 2017, and World Wide Technology (2021 and 2022). Over the last two years, the champion has shot a tournament record -23. Hovland had the score in 2021, and American Russell Henley won the Mayakoba Golf Classic with a score of -23 in 2022. 

Now it will be interesting if there would be a title sponsor for the Mayakoba Golf Classic in 2023. Do you think there will be one? If you owned a company, would you consider aligning with the LIV Tour?

Tell us what you think in the comments below.