Tag: LIV Golf Promotions

Details announced for 2024 LIV Golf Promotions event, only one spot up for grabs in 2025

Only one spot in the LIV Golf League is up for grabs.

Last year, three players earned their way onto the LIV Golf League thanks to the LIV Golf Promotions event. This year, only one golfer will have the opportunity to do that.

LIV Golf announced details Thursday for its Promotions event, which is set for Dec. 12-14 in Saudi Arabia at Riyadh Golf Club. Four rounds of golf will be contested over three days, with the winner earning a roster spot for the 2025 LIV Golf season.

That one player will have a chance to earn a spot on one of LIV Golf’s 13 teams, but they may also be a wild card player for the 2025 season.

The total purse will be $1.5 million, while the top 10 finishers, including ties, will earn full exemption into all 2025 events on the Asian Tour’s International Series. LIV Golf has continued to invest in the Asian Tour, and this is an effort to continue growing the relationship between the two, with the Asian Tour becoming somewhat of a feeder series for LIV Golf in the future.

There will be four rounds of stroke play. After the first 18 holes, only the top-20 and ties advance to the second round. Scores will be reset, then the top 20 will advance to the final two rounds, with ties to be determined by a playoff. Then the scores will be reset again before the third and final round, where the leader after 36 holes will earn a spot in the LIV Golf League.

Every player who advances to the second round will receive at least $10,000. Those who play in only the first round will get $5,000. Amateurs will get $1,000 regardless of finishing position.

Who’s eligible for the 2024 LIV Golf Promotions event?

It’s a long list, and LIV Golf is giving plenty of spots to the top amateurs in the world, should they choose to play.

The following are eligible to play in the first round: members of the 2023 Walker Cup and 2024 Palmer Cup Teams; winner and runners-up of the latest playing of these amateur events: U.S. Amateur, Amateur Championship, Asia-Pacific Amateur, Latin America Amateur, European Amateur, African Amateur, NCAA Championship (Individual) and the Eisenhower Trophy (Individual); the leading 15 available players from within the top 40 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking as of Nov. 19, (excluding players exempt into the second round); the leading 25 available players from within the top 40 on the final 2024 International Series Rankings (excluding those exempt into the second round); leading five available players from inside the top 10 from each of the following professional Tours as of Nov. 19: Japan Golf Tour, KPGA Korean Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia; the top 30 available players from within the top 300 of The Universal Golf Rankings (TUGR) as of Nov. 19; and invitations as determined by LIV Golf League.

Exemptions into the second round are reserved for more accomplished players: the leading two available players from within the top 15 on the WAGR rankings as of Nov. 19; players ranked 2 to 8 on the final 2024 International Series rankings; the top three players from each of the following professional Tours as of Nov. 19: Japan Golf Tour, KPGA Korean Tour, Sunshine Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia; the leading five available players from within the top 30 of the final 2024 DP World Tour and Korn Ferry Tour rankings; winners of International Series and Asian Tour sanctioned tournaments in 2024; winners of Japan Golf Tour, KPGA Korean Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia sanctioned tournaments in 2024; winners of PGA Tour and DP World Tour sanctioned tournaments in 2023-24; Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup participants from 2019-24; major winners from 2019-24; leading 15 available players from within the top 150 of The Universal Golf Rankings (TUGR) as of Nov. 19; players relegated or without a contract for the following season from the final 2024 LIV Golf standings; and invitations as determined by LIV Golf League.

The tournament will be available to watch on LIV Golf Plus, the LIV Golf YouTube channel and broadcast partners around the world, with live coverage Thursday, Dec. 12-Saturday, Dec. 14.

Will former PGA Tour winner Martin Trainer be suspended for playing in LIV Golf Promotions event? He doesn’t think so

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “They might fine me.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Martin Trainer knew the risk of playing in the recent LIV Golf Promotions events but went for it anyway.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “They might fine me.”

By ‘they,’ he meant the PGA Tour. Initially, the Tour confirmed it didn’t view LIV Golf Promotions as an “unauthorized tournament” due to its status as a qualifying event. But there was a wrinkle that led many players to pass on the opportunity – namely the need for a media release from the Tour. Members still needed to apply for and be granted media releases by the proper deadlines: 15 days in advance for Korn Ferry Tour players and 45 days in advance for PGA Tour players. Despite the LIV Golf Promotions having been announced in February, it wasn’t officially announced until Oct. 26, less than 45 days before the first round on Dec. 8.

“It was a strange situation because I was trying to keep my card and then I didn’t and weighing options, and so that’s how I got stuck in that pickle,” Trainer said. “I don’t think it will be a suspension, probably a fine.”

So, why do it?

“It was just an opportunity,” said Trainer, the winner of the 2019 Puerto Rico Open. The 32-year-old pro finished 178th this season in the FedEx Cup and is competing this week at PGA Tour Q-School. “I have a little status on Korn Ferry, I’ll get into some PGA Tour events, I can play a few European Tour events. Between that and this week, it was two chances to try and have full status on a major tour.”

Trainer failed to earn one of the three spots available to join LIV Golf in Abu Dhabi, and he’ll need an incredible final round at Q-School to finish in the top five and ties. He shot 72 on Saturday and is T-54 at even-par 210.

Trainer, who once missed 23 cuts in 28 starts on Tour, said he feels as if he’s starting to turn a corner with his game and still wants to chase the Tour, but he has already contemplated life without golf.

“I don’t want to struggle on the mini tours,” he told NCGA Golf in its fall issue. “If I can’t make it on Tour, I want to go back to school and become a therapist.” Not sports psychology but the real deal. “I find the human condition and human challenges much more fascinating,” Trainer said. With a nod to his checkered career, he lets out a little laugh and said, “Obviously there is plenty to analyze in myself.”

Q&A: Why this USGA champion and top college golfer played in the LIV Golf Promotions event

One of the top amateurs speaks about his experience at the LIV Golf Promotions event.

Sampson Zheng was one of four amateurs to tee it up last week in the 2023 LIV Golf Promotions event, but his resume was the deepest of them all.

He won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Kiawah Island last summer and finished as a co-medalist at the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills. A senior at Cal, Zheng is also in the PGA Tour University rankings for 2024, which gives top college seniors a chance at PGA Tour membership as well as eligibility and starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas.

However, last week Zheng traveled to Abu Dhabi and played in the LIV Golf Promotions event. He was exempt into the second round and was one of 20 players – and the only amateur – to make the 36-hole final. He finished T-11, one shot out of earning status on the Asian tour.

Zheng spoke with Golfweek about his decision to play in the LIV Golf Promotions event, his experience last week and more.

Meet the three players who earned 2024 status via the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi

The league welcomes three new players, including it’s first-ever from Japan.

Three new players have punched their LIV Golf tickets for 2024.

After three days of play and 72 holes of competition – including 36 on Sunday – Kalle Samooja, Kieran Vincent and Jinichiro Kozuma have advanced from the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and will have a spot on a team for the 2024 season.

Samooja, 35, has been a journeyman in professional golf and earned his first DP World Tour win in 2022 at the Porsche European Open. Vincent, 26, has primarily played on the Asian Tour and PGA Tour Canada in his young career. His lone professional win came back in April at the 2023 International Series Vietnam. Kozuma, 29, has played on the Japan Golf Tour since 2012 and has two wins under his belt, the 2020 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters and 2022 Token Homemate Cup.

The following players who finished Nos. 4-10 have earned exemptions into the 2024 International Series on the Asian Tour: Laurie Canter, Jaco Ahlers, Zach Bauchou, Poom Saksansin, Kevin Chappell, Martin Trainer, Suradit Yongcharoenchai.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=451198867]

Meet the 20 golfers vying for three spots Sunday at the LIV Golf Promotions event

These 20 players have a shot at LIV.

It all comes down to this.

On Saturday at Abi Dhabi Golf Club, 42 golfers teed it up over 18 holes vying for 20 spots come Sunday at the LIV Golf Promotions event. It took a playoff to settle the final spots, but the 20 players are set.

After Sunday’s 36-hole final, the top-three finishers will earn spots in the LIV Golf League for the 2024 season. Included in the 20-player field on Sunday include a former NCAA individual champion, a 2023 USGA champion and multiple former PGA Tour pros.

Here’s a look at the 20 players battling it out for three spots Sunday at the LIV Golf Promotions event.

Former NCAA champ, PGA Tour pro among 29 players to advance into second round of LIV Golf Promotions event

The inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event is underway.

As if there hasn’t been enough LIV Golf news the past 24 hours, the LIV Golf Promotions event teed off Friday in Abu Dhabi, where three spots are up for grabs for the 2024 season.

And after the first round, there are 42 players battling it out for those spots.

Twenty-nine players advanced after the first 18-hole round, with Kerry Mountcastle leading the pack after an 8-under 64 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The cut, which was top-20 and ties, came at 2-under 70, and included players like Braden Thornberry, the 2017 NCAA individual champion, and Martin Trainer, who has 131 starts on the PGA Tour.

In addition to the 29 players who advanced from the first round, the 13 exempt players into the second round will join the competition come Saturday, where scores will reset. The top 20 players (no ties) after Saturday’s 18-hole round will advance to Sunday’s 36-hole final, with the top three earning status for the 2024 LIV Golf season.

Some of those golfers to miss the cut include Chris Stroud, who voiced his displeasure with the PGA Tour last week. He bogeyed two of his last three holes to miss by one. Jeff Overton, Turk Pettit and Jazz Jannewattananond are others who are also heading home empty handed.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=451198867]

Woodard: Middling veteran pro calling out PGA Tour after entering LIV Golf event sure seems out of touch

To make that kind of money for those performances, and then to call foul on the Tour is quite the bold move.

Chris Stroud voiced his displeasure with the PGA Tour this week after the veteran player entered the field for the upcoming LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi, Dec. 8-10, that will grant three players access to the upstart circuit in 2024.

“I’ve been frustrated with what the Tour’s done for years, since I was on the (Player Advisory Council). The Tour doesn’t care about you if you’re not in the top 30 and I learned quickly that I needed to take care of myself,” Stroud told Golf Channel on Thursday. “The Tour has built this bad culture. I love (commissioner Jay Monahan), but the Tour has never tried to give back to the players, we’ve never had a voice. So, Jay has had a free hand to do whatever he wants.”

“I believe (Monahan) and a lot of people at the Tour genuinely care about us,” Stroud continued by contradicting himself, “but the system has never been set up to help the players. The Tour has taken all this extra money and not spread it out properly. I’ve talked to so many players about this and the answer is always, we need to be unionized.”

“Never been set up to help the players?”

“Never tried to give back to the players?”

Stroud played the 2022-23 PGA Tour season on a major medical extension and missed 14 cuts, made just eight and still took home $449,238 in prize money. He’s finished inside the top 100 in FedEx Cup standings just four times (most recently in 2017) and over 402 starts and 15 seasons has missed 44 percent of hits cuts (175).

In the process, he has earned $13,360,657.

Even before an ailing back hampered his last few seasons, Stroud has been, by the numbers, an average-at-best PGA Tour player and still was given a chance to compete for millions of dollars year in and year out against the game’s best. Sure, some expenses must be paid, but to make that kind of money for those kinds of performances, and then to turn and call foul on the Tour is quite the bold move.

Stroud is also unhappy with the Tour’s 2024 schedule and signature-event format that will reward the game’s best players from the previous season, as the top 50 from 2023’s FedEx Cup standings are all guaranteed spots in the big-money events. It’s worth noting Stroud’s lone win on Tour came at the 2017 Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field event for players who didn’t qualify for that week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. And he still doesn’t think the Tour helps players.

Maybe Stroud is right and the Tour has dropped the ball over the last few years with regard to elevated events and how they handled the challenge posed by LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Maybe Nate Lashley was also right for recently calling out the Player Impact Program payments.

Or maybe they can meet in the middle and realize being a professional golfer is an earned privilege, not a right, and if they want to reap the rewards the game provides, they just need to play better.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]

Inside the LIV Golf Promotions field: Why more PGA Tour pros aren’t competing in Abu Dhabi

LIV Golf released the players competing in its first promotions event and the field included some interesting names.

LIV Golf released the list of players competing in its first-ever LIV Golf Promotions event on Thursday and the field included some interesting names.

A handful of rising amateurs will be at Abu Dhabi Golf Club Dec. 8-10, as will a pair of former Ryder Cup players and a major champion. The best of the four amateurs – China’s Sampson-Yunhe Zheng – is ranked No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The Ryder Cuppers were one-time members of Team Europe (Victor Dubuisson in 2014) and Team USA (Jeff Overton in 2010) at least a decade ago. The major champion? That’d be 46-year-old Jason Dufner, who claimed the 2013 PGA Championship but went on to win just two more Tour events over his professional career, the last coming at the 2017 Memorial.

LIV officials and fans alike had to be expecting a better turnout, especially after the PGA Tour confirmed last month that it didn’t view LIV Golf Promotions as an “unauthorized tournament” due to its status as a qualifying event. That, however, doesn’t mean players could just automatically tee it up, no questions asked.

So why aren’t more PGA Tour players featured in the LIV Golf Promotions event? For a player to be able to play the promotions tournament, they still needed to apply for and be granted media releases by the proper deadlines: 15 days in advance for Korn Ferry Tour players and 45 days in advance for PGA Tour players. While LIV Golf Promotions has been discussed since February, it wasn’t officially announced until Oct. 26, less than 45 days before the first round on Dec. 8.

Players who compete without a release from the Tour will most likely face the same punishments as those who initially left for LIV, but don’t expect the Tour to publicize which players received releases and which did not. It’s also not customary for the Tour to publicize disciplinary measures, but similar to past situations, a player wouldn’t be subject to punishment until they actually compete in an event without a proper release from the Tour.

While the names in the promotions field may leave something to be desired, the event in the Middle East isn’t the only avenue to join the upstart circuit.  LIV still has the ultimate flexibility to sign new players at their discretion, meaning if Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm wanted to leave the Tour, they could be signed to lucrative deals just like other notable players before them. There are only a handful of open positions on the 12 current teams, but officials hinted throughout 2023 that the league could operate its shotgun start format with as many as 15 teams.

If you’re unfamiliar with the LIV Golf Promotions setup, four rounds will be played over the three days, with 36 holes on the final day. The purse is $1.5 million and players must pay a “nominal” entry fee (when LIV opened entries for its first event in London in 2022, “Tiger Woods” entered 216 times). A total of 73 players will compete for three spots in the 2024 LIV Golf League. The promotions event is the same week as the PGA Tour/LPGA mixed team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. It’s also the same week as the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=451198867]

Inaugural LIV Golf Promotions field features former Ryder Cup players, amateurs on the rise

The big names are few and far between at the first-ever promotions event.

The field is set for the first ever LIV Golf Promotions event.

Three spots are available at the inaugural event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Dec. 8-10, that will feature a field of 73 players. The top-three finishers from the three-day, four-round event will be drafted onto a LIV Golf League team ahead of the first event of the season at LIV Golf Mayakoba in Mexico, Feb. 2-4, 2024.

Fifty-nine players will compete in the first round Dec. 8, and the top 20 and ties will advance to the second round, where scores will reset. The advancing players will be joined by 14 players who are exempt into the second round. Another cut will be made after 36 holes to just the top 20 players. Scores will once again reset and the advancing 20 will compete for the top three over 36 holes on the final day. Players who finish Nos. 4-10 will be exempt for all 2024 events on The International Series sanctioned by the Asian Tour.

All four players who were relegated after the 2023 LIV Golf season – Sihwan Kim, Chase Koepka, Jed Morgan and James Piot – are in the field and automatically through to the second round.

MORE: Everything you need to know about LIV Golf Promotions

The biggest names in the field are 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner, former Ryder Cuppers Victor Dubuisson and Jeff Overton, as well as amateurs Max Kennedy, Ryan Griffin and Sampson-Yunhe Zheng, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship runner-up.

First round field

Player OWGR rank
Jaco Ahlers 288
Bobby Bai 1184
Lachlan Barker 1258
Zach Bauchou 620
Austin Bautista 796
Lucas Bjerregaard 801
Miguel Carballo 866
Luis Carrera 2153
Lee Chieh-po 440
Chonlatit Chuenboonngam 669
Andrew Dodt 568
Victor Dubuisson 1013
Jaewoong Eom 381
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 1232
Ryan Griffin (a) NR
Jeongwoo Ham 352
Seungsu Han 459
Scott Hend 739
Berry Henson 514
Jazz Janewattananond 345
Brendan Jones 615
Chanmin Jung 437
Sadom Kaewkanjana 218
Kyungnam Kang 349
Max Kennedy (a) 4113
Taichi Kho 385
Phachara Khongwatmai 224
Bio Kim 302
Ronan Kleu 2368
Karandeep Kochhar 474
Guntaek Koh 323
Jinichiro Kozuma 528
Junghwan Lee 408
Richard T. Lee 320
Taehee Lee 490
Steve Lewton 346
Luis Masaveu (a) 2360
Kyongjun Moon 471
Kerry Mountcastle 1390
Zach Murray 789
Jeff Overton 1733
Turk Petit 819
Settee Prakongvech 566
Tapio Pulkkanen 357
Alvaro Quiros 992
Ryan Ruffels 1708
Poom Saksansin 363
Micah Lauren Shin 686
Travis Smyth 269
Joel Stalter 1048
Kyle Stanley 1272
Chris Stroud 627
Sarit Suwannarut 390
Miguel Tabuena 360
Nitithorn Thippong 407
Braden Thornberry 2029
Martin Trainer 604
Suradit Yongcharoenchai 762
Kevin Yuan 672

Players exempt for second round

Player OWGR rank
Gaganjeet Bhullar 210
Ben Campbell 247
Laurie Canter 299
Kevin Chappell 560
Gunn Charoenkul 559
Jason Dufner 543
Sihwan Kim 496
Chase Koepka 1,437
Jed Morgan 982
Wade Ormsby 504
James Piot 1,104
Kalle Samooja 285
Kieran Vincent 412
Sampson-Yunhe Zheng (a) NR

For players exempt into the second round, it’s important to note many have spent the last year-and-a-half with LIV and haven’t received Official World Golf Ranking points for their performances, which has negatively impacted their standing. Their play with LIV, however, also wasn’t good enough to earn another contract.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=451198867]

First LIV Golf Promotions event is set for December in Abu Dhabi, but who will play?

Everything you need to know for LIV Golf’s first promotion event as it attempts to open pathways to its league.

When LIV Golf’s application for Official World Golf Ranking points was rejected, the reason given was due to its closed-door shop. Come December, the upstart circuit will take its first step to provide a pathway for players.

The inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event – initially reported by Golfweek in February – will be held Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and will see three players punch their ticket for the league in 2024. Four rounds will be played over the three days, with 36 holes on the final day. The purse is $1.5 million and players must pay a “nominal” entry fee (when LIV opened entries for its first event in London in 2022, “Tiger Woods” entered 216 times).

The promotions event is the same week as the PGA Tour/LPGA mixed team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. It’s also the same week as the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa.

Here’s how the event will work: