Two additional PGA Tour winners will be making their LIV Golf debuts next week, as Carlos Ortiz and Matthew Wolff will round out the 48-man field at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, according to multiple reports. While both have claimed victory on the PGA Tour, the latest between the two came at the 2020 Houston Open when Ortiz held off the likes of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, who will also be playing next week.
Ortiz’s first season on the PGA Tour came back in 2019, and he has reached as high as 44th in the Official World Golf Rankings. After a prolonged period of middling performances, however, he now finds himself ranked 118th. With his signing with LIV Golf, Ortiz will be following in the footsteps of his fellow countryman, Abraham Ancer, who made his plans to join the rival tour public earlier this week.
Speculation of Wolff’s departure from the PGA Tour has been circulating for quite some time, but initial reports of his signing with LIV Golf were confirmed by Golf Channel. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy becomes the latest young player to sign with the tour, as he joins the second-ranked amateur in the world Eugenio Chacarra, also of Oklahoma State, to recently announce his intentions to play in Portland, Oregon.
While Wolff has struggled on the PGA Tour the last two seasons, he still remains a fresh young talent that eyeballs are drawn to and a captivating addition from LIV Golf’s perspective. Only 23 years old, Wolff exploded onto the professional scene with his dramatic victory at the 2019 3M Open over Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa only weeks after wrapping up his decorated college playing career.
A runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Wolff has since gone on to experience mental distress and has even stepped away from the game on a number of occasions. Despite playing well this past fall, and at one point capturing four straight top-20 finishes (one of which included a runner-up at the Shriners Children’s Open), Wolff’s game has fallen off ever since the calendar flipped over to the new year.
In 2022, he has missed seven cuts and put together only one top-25 performance, which came last month at the Wells Fargo Championship. Wolff wrapped up this week’s Travelers Championship with a 4-under 66 and finished in a tie for 40th in what may potentially be the last start of his short, yet very exciting PGA Tour career given its stance on LIV Golf.
