LIV Golf poach another PGA Tour winner in Colombian Sebastian Munoz

LIV Golf has signed yet another PGA Tour winner, with Colombian Sebastian Munoz set to be announced as their newest recruit for the Saudi-funded league, which begins in three weeks’ time.

Munoz is hardly the big name that LIV have been chasing – as Greg Norman has sought to strengthen a cast list already including Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau – but he does add to the mix.

It is apt that the first host country in 2023 schedule is Mexico – at Mayakoba, which itself was a regular stop on PGA Tour until last year – because LIV now can claim to have the cream of the Latin America golfing talent.

Telegraph Sport recently revealed that world No 44 Mito Pereira is joining fellow Chilean Joaquin Niemann in Norman’s enterprise, which has been backed by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund to the tune of $2 billion and rising, with top-ranked Mexicans Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz also on the roster.

Munoz will fit straight into Niemann’s team in a move which will further depress Mike Weir, the captain of The Internationals for the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal.

Munoz, 30, was one of away side’s standout performers in last September’s defeat to the US, going undefeated in three games and taking down Scottie Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion and then world No 1, in the singles.

Munoz has struggled for the last year with a back problem and has fallen to 90th in the rankings but his ability was highlighted when he made history last year by becoming the first player on the US circuit to record multiple rounds of 60 or lower in the same season.

The man from Bogota is regarded as one of the game’s more flamboyant players and has unashamedly based his game on Phil Mickelson. “When I won on the PGA Tour, I asked myself 'what would Phil do in this circumstance, how would he take on this shot?’” Munoz said. “I always ask myself that. Phil is my inspiration.”

Mickelson, of course, is already on the LIV payroll, having signed a $200 million upfront deal last year. The left-hander is playing in the Saudi International in Jeddah this week – as are all the LIV-contracted golfers – and was in a characteristically provocative mood in his pre-tournament press interview on Tuesday.

Raving about the Rory McIlroy versus Patrick Reed duel at the Dubai Desert Classic – which went to a Monday finish and saw McIlroy prevailing on the 18th – Mickelson informed the DP World Tour that it should prepare for more such  tussles.

“The final round was incredible,” he said of the Desert Classic. “Both players played some great golf. Patrick played an incredible final round. Rory didn’t really have his best stuff throughout the day, but he fought hard for the last two to win and that shows a lot about the kind of champion and player he is. It was great for the game to have that type of interest throughout the globe.”

Mickelson failed to mention the needle involved, after McIlroy blamed Reed for his lawyer serving him with a subpoena in an ant-trust suit against the PGA Tour. But Mickelson was prepared to make predictions concerning more pressing legal issues.

Next week, an arbitration hearing in London will effectively decide if LIV golfers like Reed can be banned from the circuit.

“I expect that the LIV players will win their case in the UK, and that will  open the doors for all LIV players to play on the [DP World] Tour,” Mickelson said. “There's a very good chance that you'll have more showdowns, more head-to-head competitions like you saw last week in Dubai. And I think that would be a really good thing for the game.”