NZ golfer joins Saudi back LIV league

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Saudi back LIV golf tour have confirmed New Zealander Danny Lee has joined the tour.

Lee is one of three new players to join the team rosters, joining the Iron Heads GC team alongside captain Kevin Na.

The new season gets underway in Mexico next week.

The 32 year old Lee has won just one PGA tour title, the Greenbrier Classic back in 2015 and his world ranking has slipped to 259.

He has career earnings of $24 million and now faces being banned from the rival PGA tour and the DP World tour formerly the European tour as LIV and the PGA are involved in a legal battle in the United States.

LIV Golf position themselves as a player-focused alternative to the PGA Tour, but critics label it a money grab and human rights groups have criticized it as sportswashing by the Saudi regime.

Lee joins the likes of big name signings Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka on the tour backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

He came to prominence in 2008 when he beat Tiger Woods’ mark as the youngest winner of the US Amateur Championship, when he had just turned 18 and turned professional the following year.

-RNZ