LIV reportedly looking at current KFT stop as future tournament host

Reports indicate that LIV Golf is eyeing another tournament, this time at a golf course with ties to the PGA Tour.

Sports Business Journal first reported that The Grove in College Grove, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, is in discussions to host a LIV Golf event next year. Designed by LIV CEO Greg Norman, the course is also the home of the Korn Ferry Tour playoff event, the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation, and already scheduled for Sept. 12-15, 2024, having hosted the event for the past two seasons.

According to a source close to LIV, GolfChannel.com has received similar information. The source indicated a few days ago that LIV was considering The Grove as a potential host site.

The Grove was recently acquired by Escalante Golf, which also owns other courses that have hosted LIV events. The source informed GolfChannel.com that the sale of The Grove was completed in mid-October and that Escalante was expected to make a decision by mid-November on whether to proceed with the KFT contract or sign on for a LIV event, suggesting that it was one or the other.

Although LIV did not provide a comment on next year’s schedule, it wouldn’t be the first time the organization held a tournament on a former PGA Tour venue. This year, the season opener took place at Mayakoba Resort’s El Camaleon Golf Course, a long-time PGA Tour fall stop. In response to Mayakoba’s collaboration with LIV, the PGA Tour moved the event to the Tiger Woods-designed course in Los Cabos, Mexico, this year.

As of Wednesday afternoon, The Grove was still listed as the host course for the Simmons Bank Open, and The Grove’s website still proudly displayed, “Proud home of the Simmons Bank Open,” on its welcome page.

A spokesperson for the KFT provided GolfChannel.com with the following statement, although they did not confirm whether a potential relationship with LIV would result in The Grove losing the Simmons Bank Open:

“We are fortunate to have top-tier partners in Simmons Bank, Brandt and Mandy Snedeker and the Tennessee Golf Foundation. The Nashville community has shown its support for the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation since day one and we are confident we will find the best long-term solution for the tournament and the Korn Ferry Tour.”