LIV Golf set to announce European star in ‘next few days’ amid Hatton and Fleetwood talks

A number of the PGA Tour’s biggest names have been linked with a move to LIV Golf in recent weeks, and Martin Kaymer has confirmed he is about to add a star to his Cleeks GC team.

Former world No. 1 Martin Kaymer has confirmed that LIV Golf is set to add another European star to their roster, with the yet-to-be-named player joining him at Cleeks GC for the 2024 season.

Kaymer became one of Europe’s biggest names to join LIV, and was assigned as one of the 12 team captains, taking control of the Cleeks. His four-man team endured a tough season in 2023, finishing 10th out of 12 in the team standings.

After a challenging season, Bernd Wiesberger and Graeme McDowell both left the all-European team, leaving Kaymer to captain a revamped Cleeks for the 2024 campaign.

Wiesberger chose to end his relationship with LIV completely and rejoin the DP World Tour, while McDowell moved to Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC. According to Kaymer, who was speaking with National Club Golfer, Kalle Samooja, the winner of LIV Promotions, has been signed for 2024, and another European name will be revealed soon.

Following Samooja’s addition, Kaymer stated: “We’re still searching for the fourth, which we will most likely make public in the coming days. We’ll see who joins the Cleeks because there are a few names in the hat; however, we know that we’ll have a good team and a nice environment with friendly guys.”

Confirming that the new signing would be European, he added: “It’s going to be a European team. From the get-go, that was the goal to have a European Cleeks team. That is the route that we want to go, but it’s tricky because so many things need to be considered, especially for the people who join, a lot less than we had to consider back in the day when we had the chance to join LIV.

“But there are still a lot of uncertainties for most of the guys and I would like to give them as much information as possible to make their decision as easy as possible.” It remains to be seen who the fourth and final player will be, but Kaymer’s comments come after two of Europe’s biggest names had been linked with a move.

The Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood was contacted by the breakaway league, but he chose to turn down the offer, according to the Telegraph. LIV then focused on Tyrrell Hatton, another Englishman, who acknowledged that conversations had taken place at the Dubai Desert Classic the previous week.

“Several people, I’d say, have had conversations,” Hatton remarked. “I believe that’s just a part of golf right now.” But for the time being, it seems the European is happy enough to play golf where he is. He went on, “I’m quite happy playing on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour.”