If an agreement exists between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the signs have been muted. With both sides of the fence keeping mum, it’s business as usual. In light of that, here’s everything we know about the 2025 LIV Golf season, from participating teams and tournament venues to prizes and more.
The PGA Tour commenced its 2025 calendar in January. As world golf’s biggest tour, it is now well on its way to rolling out another successful season with enhanced incentives for the players and fans alike.
Commencing operations in mid-2022 to signal the biggest disruption in professional golf’s established order, LIV Golf, likewise, is ready to roll out a brand-new season from February 6 onwards.
The colour, noise and high-octane action in the league’s third full regular season will be in sync with its tagline, “Golf but louder”, and the 2025 season promises to raise the tempo manifold with its innovations.
Rolling out with its opening offering of night golf at the Riyadh Golf Club, we explore the possibilities in a season where champions will be made, and dreams will come true. There will be heartbreaks too, but as in life, failures in sport are stepping stones to success.
LIV Golf 2025 Schedule
LIV Golf Riyadh: Riyadh Golf Club, February 6-8
LIV Golf Adelaide: The Grange Golf Club, February 14-16
LIV Golf Hong Kong: Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling, March 7-9
LIV Golf Singapore: Sentosa Golf Club, March 14-16
LIV Golf Miami: Trump National Doral, USA, April 4-6
LIV Golf Mexico City: Club de Golf Chapultepec, April 25-27
LIV Golf Korea: Jack Nicklaus Golf Course, May 2-4
LIV Golf DC: Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Washington DC, June 6-8
LIV Golf Dallas: Maridoe Golf Club, June 27-29
LIV Golf Andalucia: Real Club Valderrama, Spain, July 11-13
LIV Golf UK: JCB Golf and Country Club, July 25-27
LIV Golf Chicago: Bolingbrook Golf Club, August 8-10
LIV Golf Indianapolis: The Club at Chatham Hills, August 15-17
LIV Golf Team Championship, Michigan: The Cardinal at Saint John’s, August 22-24
A change in order
Named the first CEO and Commissioner of the league in October 2021, Greg Norman has steered LIV Golf’s rise through the choppy waters of its founding. Earlier in January, Norman passed the baton to Scott O’ Neil.
True to his epithet, ‘The Great White Shark’, Norman, a former World No 1 who stayed in place for 331 weeks, remained unfazed in the face of the PGA Tour’s offensive. Using his expertise, he guided the fledgling entity in its metamorphosis into a major disruptor with its novel 54-hole format, encompassing an individual and team championship plus a plethora of marquee players vying for glory, many lured away from the PGA Tour with lucrative deals.
Despite handing over the day-to-day running to O’Neil, Norman will stay involved as the league eyes its next phase of growth. Notably, the league aims to reach out to a wider global audience with its signing with Fox Sports.
Norman and his run-ins with the PGA Tour and established order played a part in deepening the rift, but his belief that a league format in golf could be a crowd puller finally came true after years of trying.
Potential gamechanger
Ahead of the 2025 tee-off, LIV announced a critical partnership with Fox Sports. The multi-year agreement will not only help only help to buttress the league’s reach to a wider audience; it also promises more fulfilling content that will showcase the 13 four-man teams, featuring 14 Major champions with 28 Major wins between them.
Players to watch out for
Tyrrell Hatton
Making his LIV debut last season as part of the Jon Rahm-led Legion XIII, the temperamental Englishman made an impact right away. Wrapping a series of top 10s on either side of the maiden win in Nashville, Hatton finished No 4 in the individual championship.
Hatton’s putter was equally potent outside LIV, and he picked up a win at the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship. Maintaining the tempo, the World No 8 announced the ideal preparation for 2025 by capturing the top spot at the DP World Tour’s season opener, Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
Joaquin Niemann
After taking a season to absorb the changes at LIV, Niemann was in full bloom by notching double wins in Mayakoba and Jeddah early in 2024 and never let go of the momentum.
By season’s end, Niemann had finished No 2 in the individual ranking. The captain of Torque GC worked his magic across the globe, securing a top 10 at the Paris Olympics before ending the season on the perfect note. The PIF Saudi International is one of the flagship events on the Asian Tour, and the Chilean was right up there.
His influence spilling over to global tours, Niemann is the sole LIV Golf member, among 11 others, to receive a special invite to the 2025 Masters Tournament.
Bryson DeChambeau
After a prolific 2023 when he won twice, the former World No 1’s charismatic play may not have been on view on LIV last season. However, the Crushers GC captain was on the money in the Majors, winning the US Open, finishing one off the top spot at the PGA Championship and cinching a tie for sixth at the Masters.
Brooks Koepka
Partnering DeChambeau in the ‘Showdown’ with PGA Tour stars Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, Koepka’s run in 2024 was the opposite to his LIV teammate. While the Smash GC captain was unable to make a mark at the Majors, he redeemed himself by winning twice through the LIV season to finish fifth in the individual standings. When LIV resumes operations in February, Koepka is expected to exert his excellent force once again.
Jon Rahm
The Spaniard’s move from the PGA Tour was among the biggest headlines LIV stoked at the end of 2023. The former World No 1 was the fulcrum of the league’s newest team, Legion XIII, and he proved the ideal skipper, leading from the front by winning twice, in addition to posting a string of strong results through the season.
Sergio Garcia
More than 25 years after making his pro debut, the Spaniard stays as competitive as ever before. Leading his team, Fireballs GC with aplomb, Garcia competed regularly last season by posting one win and three runner-up results among other strong finishes.
Cameron Smith
The Aussie was not at his prolific best in 2024, but the leader of the all-Aussie Ripper GC is too good a player to be kept quiet for long. If wins are a yardstick to gauge greatness, Smith had two in 2023, and came agonizingly close last year by finishing second best thrice.
Standings in 2024
Top 5 Players
Jon Rahm, Legion XIII: 237.17 points
Joaquin Niemann, Torque GC: 219.20
Sergio Garcia, Fireballs GC: 162.49
Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII: 161.49
Brooks Koepka, Smash GC: 138.73
Top 5 Teams
Crushers GC, 208.50
Legion XIII, 200.00
Ripper GC, 151.00
Smash GC, 132.50
Torque GC, 129.00
Format and scoring
Three days; 54 holes; no cut, the 54 players on the LIV roster, including the two wildcards, will battle for glory across 14 venues spread across the globe from February to August.
At stake will be the individual championship, but LIV it isn’t about personal glory alone. Of equal importance is bonding and team spirit. While turning out as part of the 13 teams, the players will also be rooting for each other, and the points accrued by each of them will add to the Team Championship, which will be decided at the end in the season finale.
As is the norm in stroke-play, the player with the lowest score is named champion, but with individual points adding to the team’s tally they represent, the top three players’ scores add up on Days 1 and 2, and on the final day, every performance counts.
After every event, the top 24 names on the leaderboard earn points and corresponding prize money, with 40 points being awarded to the champion, followed by 30 for the runner-up, 20 to the third place, and so on, with places 21 to 24 earning a point each.
In the team competition, the breakup is as follows: 32 points to the champion team, 24 to the runner-up, and 16 to the third place. With points being awarded to the top eight sides, the scoring works in a way that the eighth team gets one point.
Once the individual champion is decided by the 13th event, just ahead of the Team Championship, the players are split into three categories depending on their status on the final points tally.
It’s not just about prize money as the top 24 players get placed in the “lock zone”, which assures them of a guaranteed contract the following season.
Players ranked between 25-48 come under the “open zone” and get to stay in the league, but their respective teams are under no obligation to retain them.
The “drop zone” is a no-go area as players ranked 49th and below can be relegated. However, there is a way to get back on the league on the basis of performance.
To decide the champion team, the Friday and Saturday of the Team Championship follow the match-play format for the quarterfinals and semi-finals. Teams slug it out till one of them takes a decisive lead.
Sunday’s finale reverts to stroke-play and all 52 players tee-off, with every score counting towards the team’s total. The side with the lowest score amongst Nos 1-4 is declared champion.
(Main and featured images: @livgolf_league/Liv Golf/Instagram)
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
