NEW ORLEANS: The LIV Golf League has added a summer tournament in New Orleans for 2026 after Louisiana agreed to pay the Saudi-backed tour $5 million and spend an additional $2.2 million on improvements to the Bayou Oaks course in City Park.
“What an unbelievable opportunity to announce this on the 20th-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” Gov. Jeff Landry said at an announcement alongside LIV Golf officials and LIV player Bubba Watson.
New Orleans already has a long-running PGA Tour stop with the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana. Watson — who grew up about three hours away in Pensacola, Florida — won the Zurich in 2011 and hailed his opportunity to play professionally in New Orleans again.
“I’m from the Gulf Coast and this is part my home,” Watson said, drawing laughs when he joked about attending many New Orleans Pelicans games wanting to see often-injured NBA star Zion Williamson play. “I still hope for that day.”
Watson sounded unconcerned about the tournament dates in late June, when heat adviseries and thunderstorms are common. June also falls within hurricane season, albeit closer to the beginning. The Zurich usually takes place in April.
“This is the first year of it, so the date can always be changed if it does come here multiple years,” Watson said. “It’s going to be hot in a lot of places in the summer. ... I’ve grown up in the South; I know about heat. We just prepare for it.”
This season, a LIV Golf tournament was held in Dallas in late June, when daytime temperatures hovered around 90 degrees.
“We’re going to try it out and then we’ll see,” Landry said. “Whether we’ve got to adjust the dates after this go-around, we’ll see. But my objective is to have this be LIV’s home.”
Louisiana this year provided economic development funding of about $650,000 for marketing and operations to the Zurich Classic. TPC Louisiana also periodically receives state subsidies for course and facility improvements.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil declined to get into specifics about how the $5 million Louisiana is paying to host an event compares to the amount of public funding for events held elsewhere.
“All the markets are unique,” O’Neil said. “They all come with their unique challenges and opportunities.”
Organizers said the event is expected to add about $40 million in economic activity to the local economy.
Landry said the New Orleans agreement “gives us an opportunity to invest” in the course and the over-170-year-old, 1,300-acre City Park — of the largest urban parks in the United States.
“This is a public piece of property,” Landry said. “This area needs revitalization.”
Landry doesn’t play golf and said he generally has not attended professional tournaments, in part because fans often are expected to be quiet. LIV encourages a livelier fan experience at most tournaments than its rival PGA Tour.
“That’s just not me,” Landry said. “That’s why I love LIV Golf. No ‘quiet’ signs. It’s a party.”
Landry dismissed concerns about whether New Orleans, which has a metro-area population of just more than 1 million and few corporate headquarters, could adequately support both a PGA Tour and LIV Golf event.
“I don’t think those events compete against each other,” Landry said. “This is an opportunity to bring a different group of people on another course.”
