LIV Golf announced Tuesday it will increase its regular field size from 54 to 57 in the upcoming season with the addition of three wild card spots, which will be up for grabs at next month’s LIV Golf Promotions event at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida.
Eighty-three players will enter the event, with the first round taking place Jan. 8. The top-20 finishers from the first day move on to Friday’s second round, at which point the scores will reset and players who automatically qualified for the second day will be added to the field. The top 20 after Friday then advance to a 36-hole shootout over the weekend. After play concludes Sunday, Jan. 11, the top three on the leaderboard will be awarded the final wild card spots on the 2026 LIV Golf roster.
Anyone who finishes inside the top 10 at LIV Golf Promotions next week will be granted full exempt status into the 2026 International Series — a set of ten events throughout the year staged by the Asian Tour and financially bolstered by LIV Golf.
The top two in the International Series standings at the end of the year earn a spot on LIV Golf for the following season. This year, those two players were Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent and Japan’s Yosuke Asaji.
The increase in field size is just the latest in a series of major changes for LIV Golf in recent months. The league got its namesake from 54-hole events and then increased to 54 players in the field (LIV is 54 in Roman numerals), but now, after just four seasons, the league has ditched both of those elements that made it unique. In November, LIV Golf announced each event would be 72 holes moving forward.
It stands to reason that all these moves are part of LIV Golf’s attempt to appeal to the Official World Golf Ranking brass, which has denied the league points-earning eligibility since its inception.
Getting to the point where players are awarded OWGR points for their performance in LIV Golf events figures to play a crucial role in the league’s ability to attract and retain big-time stars, and those efforts likely became more urgent with last week’s departure of five-time major champion Brooks Koepka.
On Tuesday, OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman provided an update on LIV Golf’s status in its quest to gain approval for world ranking points.
“Since the end of June, the Governing Board has endeavored to thoroughly evaluate the LIV Golf application,” Immelman said in a statement. “We remain committed to the OWGR’s mission, which requires honoring the meritocracy woven into the professional game. As such, discussions have been regular and remain ongoing. To be clear, progress has been made, but there is no decision to share at this time. We will continue to work closely with LIV Golf as it continues to evolve to ensure its application is handled with fairness, integrity and consistency, as stated previously.”
LIV Golf kicks off its 2026 season Feb. 4-7 at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia.
