South Africa’s top-ranked golfers Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel have resigned their membership from the PGA Tour to play in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf International Series.

Oosthuizen confirmed on Tuesday morning that he had given up his PGA Tour membership card ahead of this week’s inaugural LIV event at Centurion Club, which starts on Thursday.

He said his reasoning for abandoning the PGA Tour had to do with his family.

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“For me, where I am at in my career, it would’ve probably been the last year on the PGA Tour,” Oosthuizen told reporters. “I always said, when I get to the stage around 40, I want to do something else and not just golf. I wanted to try something else.

“Everyone knows I love being on a farm and being outside, so I was almost done. And along came this opportunity, where I can do four years of this quickly and be able to spend more time with my family after this.

“The format and the way this is all set up is so exciting and it reminded me of being part of the Presidents Cup and I just said, ‘Why not give it a shot?’

“I made the decision with my wife and what’s the best for where I am right now and I’m going to grab it and play. I’m a professional golfer and this is a decent amount of money that we play for, so why not?”

Watch: Louis and co on joining LIV Golf

There will be eight South Africans in this week’s inaugural event at Centurion as Oosthuizen, Grace and Schwartzel join Oliver Bekker, Justin Harding, JC Ritchie, Hennie du Plessis and Shaun Norris.

This decision casts doubt on the eight South Africans’ future involvement in Majors and the Presidents Cup.

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Photo: Aitor Alcalde/LIV Golf/Getty Images