NEW ORLEANS — The LIV Golf League has added a summer time match in New Orleans for 2026 after Louisiana agreed to pay the Saudi-backed tour $5 million and spend a further $2.2 million on enhancements to the Bayou Oaks course in Metropolis Park.
“What an unbelievable alternative to announce this on the Twentieth-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” Gov. Jeff Landry mentioned at an announcement alongside LIV Golf officers and LIV participant Bubba Watson.
New Orleans already has a long-running PGA Tour cease with the Zurich Traditional at TPC Louisiana. Watson — who grew up about three hours away in Pensacola, Florida — gained the Zurich in 2011 and hailed his alternative to play professionally in New Orleans once more.
“I am from the Gulf Coast and that is half my residence,” Watson mentioned.
Watson sounded unconcerned concerning the match dates in late June, when warmth advisories and thunderstorms are widespread. June additionally falls inside hurricane season, albeit nearer to the start. The Zurich often takes place in April.
“That is the primary yr of it, so the date can at all times be modified if it does come right here a number of years,” Watson mentioned. “It is going to be scorching in a number of locations in the summertime. … I’ve grown up within the South; I learn about warmth. We simply put together for it.”
This season, a LIV Golf match was held in Dallas in late June, when daytime temperatures hovered round 90 levels.
“We’ll strive it out after which we’ll see,” Landry mentioned. “Whether or not we have to regulate the dates after this go-around, we’ll see. However my goal is to have this be LIV’s residence.”
Louisiana this yr offered financial improvement funding of about $650,000 for advertising and operations to the Zurich Traditional. TPC Louisiana additionally periodically receives state subsidies for course and facility enhancements.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil declined to get into specifics about how the $5 million Louisiana is paying to host an occasion compares to the quantity of public funding for occasions held elsewhere.
“All of the markets are distinctive,” O’Neil mentioned. “All of them include their distinctive challenges and alternatives.”
Organizers mentioned the occasion is anticipated so as to add about $40 million in financial exercise to the native economic system.
Landry mentioned the New Orleans settlement “provides us a chance to speculate” within the course and the over-170-year-old, 1,300-acre Metropolis Park — of the biggest city parks in the USA.
“It is a public piece of property,” Landry mentioned. “This space wants revitalization.”
Landry does not play golf and mentioned he usually has not attended skilled tournaments, partly as a result of followers usually are anticipated to be quiet. LIV encourages a livelier fan expertise at most tournaments than its rival PGA Tour.
“That is simply not me,” Landry mentioned. “That is why I like LIV Golf. No ‘quiet’ indicators. It is a social gathering.”
Landry dismissed issues about whether or not New Orleans may adequately assist each a PGA Tour and LIV Golf occasion.
“I do not assume these occasions compete towards one another,” Landry mentioned. “This is a chance to carry a distinct group of individuals on one other course.”
