LIV Golf Player Profile: Peter Uihlein

Peter Uihlein, 33, a Massachusetts native formerly played on the PGA Tour and European Tour and now plays LIV Golf, won the 2010 U.S. Amateur and is a former No. 1 ranked amateur golfer in the world. (NEG)

BOLTON, Mass – When Peter Uihlein tees off Friday in the LIV Invitational Boston event at The International in Bolton, he’ll play in a professional golf tournament in his home state of Massachusetts for only the second time.

Obviously, he’s looking forward to it.

In the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Uihlein tied for 12th in the opening event of the FedExCup playoffs to earn the right to advance to the second round.

“It was the first time in my whole career,” he said after playing 14 holes and spending one hour on the driving range at The International, “where people were actually rooting me on. It was nice to have that.”

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Peter Uihlein spent time on the driving range after playing 14 holes with his LIV Golf team called SMASH GC consisting of captain Brooks Koepka, Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak. (NEG)

Uihlein was born in New Bedford and he grew up in Mattapoisett. He hopes to have the same enthusiastic fan support at the International that he experienced at TPC Boston.

In 2018, he commuted to TPC Boston from his family’s home. His father, Wally Uihlein, used to be CEO of the Acushnet Company, the golf equipment and apparel brand headquartered in Fairhaven.

The leaderboard for the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship was filled with golfers who left the PGA Tour this year to play on the LIV Golf series. Bryson DeChambeau placed first at TPC Boston in 2018, Cameron Smith finished third, Dustin Johnson, Abraham Ancer and Bubba Watson shared seventh and Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka joined Uihlein in a group that tied for 12th. All of the aforementioned golfers will tee off at The International on Friday except for Watson who is nursing a knee injury, but will be on hand. Smith will make his LIV debut.

A total of 48 golfers will take part in a 1 p.m. shotgun start in the fourth of the eight events in the inaugural LIV Golf season. The tournament will consist of 54 holes with no cut.

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At the first LIV Golf Invitational LONDON held June 9-11, Peter Uihlein finished T-3 with Brendan Grace, earning a check for $1.5 million (Getty Images)

LIV Golf has drawn criticism because it’s financed by Saudi Arabia, but that controversy hasn’t prevented several high-profile PGA Tour golfers from accepting lucrative guaranteed money up front to join the new league.

Peter Uilhein isn’t one of those big-name golfers, but he’s happy to be playing on the LIV Golf series and he’ll do his best to pocket the first-place check of $4 million from the $25 million purse.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “You’ve got to remember it’s a business start up and they’re operating at about 50 percent of what they want it to become. There’s going to be some nooks and crannies that are going to come up and you just deal with it. So far, they’ve been really, really approachable, great with the players and asking our input.”

Music blares during LIV Golf events and Uihlein said LIV Golf is going after a different fan base than the “khaki pants, blazer kind of crew” that follows the PGA Tour.

LIV Golf also has a team competition that Uilhein expects will take time to catch on. He will play for Smash GC with Brooks and Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak. The winning team will split $3 million.

Uihlein, who turned 33 on Monday, moved to Florida at age 14 to attend a golf academy. He played golf at Oklahoma State and finished second in the NCAA Division 1 championships. On his 21st birthday, he won the 2010 U.S. Amateur and in 2011, just prior to turning pro, he won the Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett CC in Rhode Island.

At the inaugural LIV Golf event in London, Uihlein finished fourth in individual points while captaining Crushers GC to a second-place finish. He pocketed a check for $1.5 million.

Uihlein has posted four pro victories, two on the Korn Ferry Tour and one each on the European Tour and the Challenge Tour in Europe. His top finish on the PGA Tour was third in the 2021 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a team event he played with Richy Werenski of South Hadley.

On the web: LIV Golf Boston

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Bill Doyle brings 45 years of professional sports writing experience to New England dot Golf. His resume includes 40 years as a sports writer for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette where he wrote a Sunday golf column and covered professional and amateur golf. He also wrote about all four of the major professional sports teams in the Boston area, mostly about the Boston Celtics, as well as college and local sports. Working for the newspaper in the city where Worcester Country Club hosted the inaugural Ryder Cup in 1927, Doyle covered the improbable comeback of the U.S. team at the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline. He also covered the 1988 U.S. Open at TCC, the 2001 and 2017 U.S. Senior Open championships at Salem Country Club, the U.S. Women’s Open championships at The Orchards in South Hadley in 2004 and at Newport Country Club in 2006, the PGA Tour stops at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton for nearly 20 years and at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, for several years; and every PGA Tour event at TPC Boston in Norton from the inaugural event in 2003. He will provide regular contributions ranging from interviews, travel, lifestyle, real estate, commentary and special assignments. Bill can be reached at bcdoyle15@charter.net.

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