Some of the best male and female golfers in the world will join forces, as the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour announced on Wednesday a new mixed-team event set to debut in December.
The new tournament was first reported by the Associated Press late last year, but now we have confirmation and a few more details.
The inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational will be co-sanctioned and take place Dec. 4-10, 2023, at Tiburón Golf Club and The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón. It will replace the QBE Shootout, which last year included Lexi Thompson and Nelly Korda among its field of men’s competitors. Now, there will be an event with an equal number of men and women.
They’ll compete for equal prize money in the first annual mixed-team competition since 1999, which was the last year of the JCPenney Classic.
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“Golf being such an individual sport, we want more team events but definitely mixed women’s and men’s,” Thompson said last year at the QBE Shootout. “I think it will be great for the game of golf. I think team events bring a lot bigger fan base. I think people absolutely love watching us play and fist pump and just be there for each other.”
The tournament will consist of 32 players — 16 from the PGA Tour and 16 from the LPGA — competing for a $4 million purse. The three-day event will be aired on Golf Channel and NBC. Additional format details are still in development.
Greg Norman founded the RMCC Invitational in 1989, and two years later it was renamed the Shark Shootout. It’s had several name changes since, but before last year’s event Norman — a controversial figure since he signed on as CEO of LIV Golf — said he was asked not to attend. QBE Shootout tournament director Rob Hartman told the Naples Daily News that all parties, including event organizers and Norman, agreed for Norman not to attend.