The Minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie is on a quest to bring a LIV Golf tournament to South Africa following a meeting with the Saudi-backed tour’s bosses in South Korea.
LIV Golf has a heavy South African presence, with an all-South African team – Stingers GC. The team is captained by 2010 Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen and also features former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Brandon Grace and Dean Burmester.
LIV Golf officially launched in June 2021, luring some of the best golfers on the planet with substantial financial reward to leave marquee tours such as the PGA Tour in the United States as well as the DP World Tour in Europe.
LIV Golf is now in its third year after starting in 2022 and is now played in many countries around the world.
We are very close to bringing the worlds most excited golf tournament @LIVGolfNation to South Africa, 54 of the worlds top golfers will descend on South African soil in very near future, I wanna thank @stingergc_ crew, we nearly there boys 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/nFf0D0F13Y
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) May 5, 2025
McKenzie was invited to the LIV tournament in Korea, where he met up with some of the tour’s bosses. He then took to social media to confirm that they are looking into bringing a tournament to South Africa in the not too distant future.
“I met with the brilliant CEO, Scott O’Neil, and the rest of his bright executive team at golf’s freshest new globe-spanning tournament, LIV Golf, which has an all-South African team, Stingers GC. We are full of hope about bringing this festival of sport and culture to SA soon,” McKenzie posted on X.
LIV and the Stingers confirmed the meetings, and it seems that the tour is also keen to bring the roadshow to South Africa.
“The minister was in Korea as a guest of LIV Golf and Stinger GC. While in Korea he received a behind-the-scenes tour of the event, spent time with the Stinger GC players and met with LIV Golf CEO, Scott O’Neil,” general manager Richard Glover said in a statement.
I met with the brilliant CEO, Scott O’Neil, and the rest of his bright executive team at golf’s freshest new globe-spanning tournament, LIV Golf, which has an all-South African team, Stingers GC. We are full of hope about bringing this festival of sport and culture to SA soon. pic.twitter.com/bu1CU7whM9
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) May 5, 2025
“This meeting was to discuss bringing an event to South Africa. There is still some detail to be worked through but it is looking increasingly positive that we will be hosting a LIV event in South Africa in the near future.
“As a proudly South African team, Stingers GC is actively driving conversations with key stakeholders to help bring this world-class event to home soil.”
@JohnGoliasth82
