Talor Gooch – Syndication Server

LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch hopes his 2024 PGA Championship invite can be ‘beacon of hope for the rest of the game’

“This is the first time that one of the majors have recognized a LIV Golf performance,” Gooch said of his invitation.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Talor Gooch was slightly shocked when he received his special invitation to this week’s 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. How did he react?

“Went to my wife and said, ‘Babe, we’re not going to Vegas next week, we’re going to Kentucky,’” Gooch told Golfweek with a chuckle after his Wednesday practice round.

After Gooch won for the first time on the PGA Tour at the 2021 RSM Classic, he took his talents to LIV Golf six months later and has found a comfortable home on the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit. Last season the 32-year-old won three events en route to an $18 million bonus as the season-long points leader.

When it comes to LIV Golf and major championships, Gooch’s name seems to always populate headlines. First, there was the shorts snafu at the 2022 Masters. Last year he was boxed out of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club after the USGA altered its exemption criteria. Instead of fighting to try to earn his way again and stick it right back to the governing body, Gooch cried foul and decided not to play.

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Earlier this year he made a wild claim that the Masters would have an asterisk due to the lack of LIV players (13) in the field. Earlier this month, Gooch announced in a sour tone that he’d be one of 11 players who wouldn’t be attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open or Open Championship. In contrast, 34 LIV players are currently slated to play a qualifier for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 next month.

Of the 16 LIV players in this week’s field, seven were given special invites from the PGA of America. Four were inside the top 100 of the OWGR. Of the three who were not, Dean Burmester and David Puig both tried to earn their way in by playing on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour, respectively, and both won at least once. The outlier is Gooch, who has only played for LIV since he joined the Saudi-backed circuit.

“This is the first time that one of the majors have recognized a LIV Golf performance,” Gooch claimed on Wednesday. “(Joaquin Niemann) got a special invite to Augusta, but he was chasing after that. I wasn’t going and playing in Dubai and South Africa and Europe to try to get world ranking points and things like that. Great for those guys and I’m glad that play outside of LIV has gotten recognized, but this is the first time that LIV play has been recognized, which I hope is a step in the right direction.”

When asked why he didn’t follow in the footsteps of Niemann, Burmester or Puig, Gooch said he wanted to enjoy his offseason and also added that his wife gave birth to their first child in January, which took priority.

Now that the baby boy has been born, why not try to qualify this year?

“It’s just scheduling,” he explained. “In the last five years I haven’t tried to qualify for the U.S. Open. The last time I tried was in 2017, so just scheduling. It didn’t work out.”

“Same thing with the Open. I’m gonna be in Europe in Spain for LIV in that off week, I already have things scheduled with family,” he added. “The following week we’re gonna be in Birmingham and I would have to go another week prior. It’s just chaos, so it just didn’t work out.”

Gooch didn’t rule out altering his schedule for next season, but a lot will be riding on his performance this week. You could even argue he’s feeling the most pressure out of just about anyone in the field of 156 players.

As for reconciliation in golf, Gooch said he was confident in what the near future of LIV looks like and that those who claim to have knowledge on a deal that would unite the game “is making a guess.”

“I think the majors have a chance to be on the forefront of that,” said Gooch. “That’s why it’s so cool seeing what the PGA of America did, because they were the first to say, ‘You know what, we’re going to rise above all this and we’re going to be hopefully that beacon of hope for the rest of the game.’”

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Lynch: Sixteen LIV guys are playing at the PGA Championship. But only 15 deserve to be here

The PGA of America has flipped the conversation by inviting a player whose presence is at best dubious.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Major championship fields are perennially fertile, at least when it comes to fodder for debate. The Masters is criticized for having too few competitors, and for being oversubscribed with the aged and amateurs. The two Opens get knocked for being, well, too open, as guys with respectable rankings are forced to enter qualifying to earn a berth. The PGA Championship takes its licks for having 20 club professionals among the starters. Since recent debate over field composition has focused on who is absent — some LIV players — the PGA of America has flipped the conversation by inviting a player whose presence is at best dubious.

Eligibility criteria for the PGA Championship include a provision allowing invitations to players not otherwise exempt. Traditionally that category has been used to admit players within the top 100 in the world ranking. This year, however, it is being used as a back door means to indulge the entitlement of LIV’s most vocal gripe.

Since LIV opted not to meet the standards for world ranking points — the most accessible path into majors — its players have taken to routinely denouncing the ranking as unfit for purpose, and have repeatedly suggested that majors are diminished (or even co-conspirators) by not carving out an alternative direct path for them. Sixteen LIV golfers are in the field at Valhalla, and even vehement critics would have to concede that most are justified in being invited.

Most. But not all.

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About half of LIV’s contingent is covered by long-established criteria (recent wins, past glories) rather than by dint of invitation, including Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Martin Kaymer. Tyrrell Hatton is still No. 18 in the world ranking, Adrian Meronk 65th, Lucas Herbert 90th and Patrick Reed 93rd (close enough to the top 100 line that he might want to start plotting a litigation strategy for 2025). Some lesser-knowns are deserving if one brushes the surface of recent performances. Dean Burmester won twice on the DP World Tour late last year, including the South African Open. Joaquin Niemann won the Australian Open. Andy Ogletree and David Puig have notched wins on the Asian Tour.

That’s 15 of 16. Which leaves Talor Gooch as the asterisk.

“We have the most flexibility of any of the majors,” said Seth Waugh, the PGA of America’s CEO when addressing a question about Gooch’s presence without actually mentioning Gooch’s presence. “We have the ability to kind of lean in and really pick the best field in golf, and that’s never been, frankly, more important than it is right now.”

“It’s going to be a bit more of an art form than a math problem,” he added.

Membership of the LIV tour is not a barrier to playing in a major championship. Those who compete elsewhere and demonstrate form are acknowledged. Witness Niemann receiving a Masters invitation. Playing only LIV events and making no effort to meet any championship qualification criteria should be a barrier. Yet the PGA of America chose instead to reward that.

Gooch is 668th in the world ranking. He has entered only two tournaments outside LIV since the Open last July and he withdrew from one of them. He declared that a Rory McIlroy victory at the Masters would have had an asterisk because worthy LIV guys (presumably himself) weren’t there. More recently, he said he would not enter qualifying for the U.S Open. Gooch the mooch isn’t interested in earning a spot in majors. He just thinks he’s entitled to it. And the PGA Championship gave it to him.

So why?

Always alert for an opportunity to distinguish itself from the other majors — and increasingly now from top-tier Tour events — the PGA Championship is perhaps signaling its future as being the first to create a pathway for LIV. Gooch is here because he topped that circuit’s points list in 2023. The only member of the top 5 on LIV’s ’24 list not here is Louis Oosthuizen. He was also invited but declined.

Gooch being gifted a tee time at Valhalla is also a warning shot at the PGA Tour. Having stood with the Tour through the maelstrom, the PGA of America is weary and eager to see a resolution. Waugh said the division has an economic impact and that the professional game isn’t healthy. Left unsaid was the obvious threat: if a deal doesn’t sort this out, the PGA Championship will formally admit LIV members, thereby removing a key reason why others might hesitate to jump to the Saudi league.

If LIV guys meet the criteria for majors, there’s no valid basis for excluding them. If their case is borderline, LIV status shouldn’t count as a strike against. But rewriting that criteria to accommodate players who refuse to make an effort to comply with requirements — or wordsmithing cute carveouts — is just timorous. Entitled demands for free passes should be stiff-armed, not indulged. If the decision to invite Gooch is an attempt by the PGA Championship to distinguish itself, it worked. But not in the way it was hoped.

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At the turn: Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Talor Gooch, more at midway point of LIV Golf’s 2024 season

The Saudi-backed league continues to show no signs of slowing,

LIV Golf has reached the midway point of its 2024 season and the Saudi-backed league continues to show no signs of slowing,

As talks between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV, continue to drag on, LIV continues to grow, adding players, as it did last offseason with Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, and growing its business side, as it has this year by adding a chief financial officer and chief marketing officer, among others.

And LIV’s chief pot stirrer, at least among the players, Phil Mickelson, continues to drop hints about more raids on the PGA Tour.

Mickelson responded to a tweet about the lack of LIV golfers in the major championships – that did not age well with the PGA of America announcing Tuesday it invited seven more to play in the PGA Championship, bringing the number to 16 – by responding: “What about next year when more great players join? Or the following year?”

Mickelson and LIV’s chief executive officer and commissioner Greg Norman made the same promise following the 2022 and 2023 seasons. It didn’t go so well two years ago, but the league made up for that last offseason by signing Rahm and Hatton.

With seven events down and seven remaining in LIV’s third season – next up Houston June 7-9 – some observations on the league that has its headquarters in West Palm Beach:

Koepka ramping up for another major

Brooks Koepka’s win last weekend at Singapore makes him the first LIV golfer with four career titles on that circuit. But the number he really cares about is five, as in his number of major championships.

The Jupiter, Florida, resident will chase his sixth major at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of the 2024 PGA Championship. Three of his major wins are the PGA Championship, including last year at Oak Hill outside of Rochester, New York.

Brooks Koepka celebrates on the podium after winning the 2024 LIV Golf Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club. (Photo: Lionel Ng/Getty Images)

“Everything was really solid,” Koepka said following his win at Singapore. “I didn’t really think I made too many mistakes. It’s a great feeling when it kind of feels easy, if you get what I’m saying.

“I like the way things are trending.”

Niemann leads points race

Joaquin Niemann is carrying his strong offseason that got him invites to the Masters and PGA Championship into the LIV season.

Niemann leads the individual standings with 134.4 points. Rahm is second at 98.17. Niemann has two wins and has been in the top 10 in all but one event.

Crushers, with captain Bryson DeChambeau, Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey and Charles Howell III, lead the team standings.

Money, money, money, money

Niemann also leads the money list thanks to those two titles that earned him $4 million each. With $10,888,000 in prize money, he leads Dean Burmester ($7,258,013) and Koepka ($6,080,500).

Niemann has earned $19.2 million in less than two years on LIV (he joined in August 2022). He made $15.1 million in prize money in 122 events on the PGA Tour dating back to his first event in 2017.

At times, Rahm misses PGA Tour

Rahm boosted LIV’s profile after leaving the PGA Tour in December. He is off to a strong start in his new league with top-10 finishes in all seven events, including twice tying for third.

And while Rahm has never mentioned regretting the decision that will net him a reported $550 million over three years including bonuses – plus prize money of which he already has topped $5 million this season – he did admit to being “emotional” when thinking about what he has given up.

Rahm said driving by TPC Scottsdale in his hometown, and knowing he is ineligible for events like the WM Phoenix Open and those in Palm Springs and at Torrey Pines in California is difficult.

Then he thinks about a half billion dollars and all that goes away.

Anthony Kim return not going well on course

Although results are the least important part of Anthony Kim joining LIV and getting his life back in order, it can’t be ignored that the one-time world No. 6 continues to struggle on the course.

Kim has played five events as a wild card and has not finished better than 50th in the 54-man fields, placing 52nd, 54th, 53rd, 50th and 52nd. Still, his combined 52-over par has earned him $260,000.

“As important as golf is, I just want to be in the right mental place,” Kim said at the LIV event at Doral. “I would get upset if I played a bad round of golf for two weeks, and it would bother me, eat at me.

“(Now) I could care less what I shot. I know that the next day, I’m going to lace up any shoes or not lace up my shoes and go try my best again.”

Gooch gets his wish

Talor Gooch enjoyed playing the martyr this season for being left out of the majors. But LIV’s 2023 individual champion finally got his wish.

Gooch announced on social media Monday he will be headed to Valhalla next week, thanking the PGA of America for the invite. The PGA of America confirmed that invite on Tuesday, along with six more LIV golfers.

LIV now has 16 golfers in the PGA Championship, three more than in the recent Masters. Next up is the U.S. Open in June at Pinehurst. Of LIV’s 46 non-exempt players for the U.S. Open, 35 are scheduled to compete in qualifying including Niemann, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Harold Varner III.

Gooch said he was not joining them. Perhaps he knows that may not be necessary.

Westwood fading fast

Lee Westwood, 51, is the poster child for the fading star who decided to cash in one last time by joining LIV. A former world No. 1, Westwood was one of LIV’s original golfers. He did so midway through a season (2021-22) in which he had one top-25 finish in 10 events.

Westwood is one of just three LIV golfers who have yet to earn a point this season, along with Kim and Hudson Swafford. His best finish is T-32 in LIV’s season opener at Mayakoba. Only the top 24 finishers in each event earn points. If it weren’t for Westwood being a team captain he would be in danger of facing relegation.

LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch announces invitation to 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla

The 106th PGA Championship is set for May 16-19.

LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch made some headlines recently when he made it clear he doesn’t intend to go through qualifying in an effort to make it in the field at the 2024 U.S. Open.

For the upcoming PGA Championship, Gooch won’t have to figure out a way in any longer, as he announced on social media Monday afternoon that he was extended an invitation to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the second men’s major of the year by the PGA of America.

Fellow LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann, who said he will try to make the USGA’s national championship via qualifying, also received a PGA invite for 2024.

Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press reported that the PGA of America likely won’t release the 2024 field until Tuesday but Gooch will be among the 156 golfers in the field.

Looking forward to Valhalla next week!
Thank you for the invitation @PGA 🙏🏼 See y'all there. pic.twitter.com/0Rcm652KMP

— Talor Gooch (@TalorGooch) May 6, 2024

The 106th PGA Championship is set for May 16-19.

Meet the LIV Golf players trying to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Open (and the 11 who aren’t)

There are 11 LIV players who won’t try to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

U.S. Open qualifying is just around the corner, and LIV Golf players were asked about their plans ahead of this week’s event in Singapore.

During a Smash GC press conference featuring captain Brooks Koepka and his teammates Jason Kokrak, Graeme McDowell and Talor Gooch, both McDowell and Kokrak revealed they were playing in qualifiers for both the U.S. Open at Pinehurst (June 13-16) and Open Championship at Royal Troon (July 18-21).

“I personally am. Doing the U.S. Open in Columbus and then the Open in Manchester,” said Kokrak. “I plan on playing both of them.”

“Yeah, I’m the same. I’ve entered for both qualifiers. I think I’m in Florida Monday of Houston and then just south of London the Tuesday of the International Series Morocco, which I’ll go and play right after the Open qualifying series,” added McDowell. “Obviously I’ll be pulling hard (Koepka) in a couple weeks’ time (at the PGA Championship) but obviously trying to get into a couple majors myself.”

Gooch was short and sour with his response: “I’m not.”

After he was denied a spot in last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club after the USGA altered its exemption criteria, instead of fighting to try to earn his way again, Gooch tucked tail and decided to play the martyr instead of a qualifier. He’s doing the same again this year.

As of Thursday, 36 LIV players have entered U.S. Open qualifying while 11 have not. Eight players are already exempt into the third men’s major of the year: Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Martin Kaymer and Tyrrell Hatton.

Players like Mickelson and DeChambeau have called for the majors to create special exemption categories for LIV players, who have been fighting an uphill battle with regard to access to majors seeing as LIV events don’t receive Official World Golf Ranking points. The league has since pulled its application from consideration, all but closing that door as a way into the biggest tournaments on the calendar. Past champions of the Masters and the PGA have at least two set in stone, but the pair of Opens may require some effort from here on out.

While some players like Joaquin Niemann have continued to fight to play their way in, others expect to be given handouts. Golf has always been a meritocracy, you receive what you earn. The U.S. Open qualifier number shows the majority of LIV players understand that fact, but a handful still need a reminder.

Player	Status
Abraham Ancer	Final qualifying
Dean Burmester	Final qualifying
Laurie Canter	Final qualifying
Eugenio Chacarra	Final qualifying
Sergio Garcia	Final qualifying
Branden Grace	Final qualifying
Lucas Herbert	Final qualifying
Sam Horsfield	Final qualifying
Matt Jones	Final qualifying
Jason Kokrak	Final qualifying
Jinichiro Kozuma	Final qualifying
Anirban Lahiri	Final qualifying
Danny Lee	Final qualifying
Marc Leishman	Final qualifying
Graeme McDowell	Final qualifying
Adrian Meronk	Final qualifying
Sebastian Munoz	Final qualifying
Kevin Na	Final qualifying
Joaquin Niemann	Final qualifying
Andy Ogletree	Final qualifying
Carlos Ortiz	Final qualifying
Mito Pereira	Final qualifying
David Puig	Final qualifying
Patrick Reed	Final qualifying
Kalle Samooja	Final qualifying
Charl Schwartzel	Final qualifying
Brendan Steele	Final qualifying
Henrik Stenson	Final qualifying
Caleb Surratt	Final qualifying
Hudson Swafford	Final qualifying
Cameron Tringale	Final qualifying
Peter Uihlein	Final qualifying
Harold Varner III	Final qualifying
Kieran Vincent	Final qualifying
Scott Vincent	Final qualifying
Lee Westwood	Final qualifying
Richard Bland	Did not enter
Paul Casey	Did not enter
Talor Gooch	Did not enter
Charles Howell III	Did not enter
Anthony Kim	Did not enter
Louis Oosthuizen	Did not enter
Pat Perez	Did not enter
Thomas Pieters	Did not enter
Ian Poulter	Did not enter
Bubba Watson	Did not enter
Matthew Wolff	Did not enter

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LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch launches Oklahoma Wildcatters, an expansion PBR team

Talor Gooch is a RangeGoat during his day job. At night, he runs with the bulls.

Gooch’s FJS Ventures and Professional Bull Riders announced Friday the Oklahoma Wildcatters will join PBR Teams, a league featuring the world’s top bull riders. Gooch, the 2023 LIV Golf Player of the Year and Oklahoma native, alongside Preston Lyon, CEO/President of Lyon Sports Group, formed FJS Ventures to invest, operate and/or own sports properties. The Oklahoma Wildcatters is the company’s first business venture.

“Bringing a bull riding team back to Oklahoma where we intend to build a championship-caliber team in the state I love is a dream come true,” Gooch said in a release. “I’ve always been a PBR fan. Team competition makes the sport even more exciting, generates coverage, and creates rabid local fan bases. I’m very excited to join a successful and experienced ownership group working toward growing a sport with vast potential.”

The Wildcatters’ roster will take shape when up to six riders will be selected in the 2024 Expansion Draft, which is scheduled for early April in New York. Unrestricted free agency will open following the expansion draft. Additional riders will fill out the roster when the 2024 New Rider Draft takes place.

Oklahoma’s previous PBR team, the Freedom, moved to Florida after the 2023 season.

“When the Freedom relocated to Florida, our priority as a league was to make sure we would be able to serve the incredible fans in Oklahoma with a team,” said Sean Gleason, CEO and commissioner of PBR. “We’re fortunate that Oklahoma royalty in Talor Gooch stepped in to launch a local team for the long haul. Talor is a proven winner set to build something special for fans.”

The 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series’ 12-event regular season begins on July 12 in Oklahoma City, hosted by the Oklahoma Wildcatters, and culminates with its championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Oct. 17-20).

‘Discussions will be had’: Talor Gooch hints at potential LIV Golf format change in wake of Jon Rahm signing

Rahm’s biggest criticism of the league was LIV’s main selling point, its format.

Jon Rahm had a lot to say about LIV Golf in the two years leading up to his shocking departure from the PGA Tour.

His biggest criticism of the Saudi Arabian-backed league was LIV’s main selling point – aside from the astronomical money offered – its format.

“To be honest, part of the (LIV) format is not really appealing to me. Shotgun three days to me is not a golf tournament, no cut. It’s that simple,” Rahm said at the 2022 U.S. Open. “I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years. That’s what I want to see.”

While speaking to reporters ahead of last Thursday’s announcement, Rahm said he was “hopeful that the leaders of LIV Golf might listen to some of my advice and maybe see some changes in the future for the better of the game.”

The 29-year-old Spaniard was rather coy during the Zoom conference talking about the league’s future and hinted at potential changes in the works. But how would a switch to 72 holes and the addition of a cut sit with LIV players? Depends on who you ask.

“(Rahm) has been vocal about some stuff he didn’t love but he wouldn’t have come to LIV if he thought he was going to win 10 tournaments a year and have no competition,” Talor Gooch told Golf Digest. “He’s a true competitor. It’s beyond exciting [to have Rahm].”

“We haven’t had an open forum discussion with all the players,” said Gooch, LIV’s 2023 individual champion who was recently traded from Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC to Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC for Matthew Wolff. “But you get both sides … guys who would welcome (changing to 72 holes) and some guys who are opposed to it. Discussions will be had and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it.

“I think LIV Golf was meant to be something different; I think it’s not supposed to be a carbon copy of the rest of professional golf. I lean towards keeping it at 54 holes. Part of it, too, from my experience on the PGA Tour, was Thursdays are just irrelevant from a fan perspective (except for) only a couple times a year.”

If you’ve been to a LIV event, the same can be said for Friday and even some Saturday rounds.

Over its first two years, LIV officials often used the analogy that the league was building the plane while it was in the air. The league prides itself on being player-friendly with its fan-free pro-am rounds, press conferences with upwards of four players and a day’s less work for even more pay compared to the Tour. Unlike the PGA Tour, LIV can pivot and be flexible with how it operates.

The issue is, the players in the league now signed up for 54 holes and no cut. If its format is the price to pay for a star like Rahm, that may be enough. Time will tell.

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Pair of LIV Golf trades ends teammate feud between Brooks Koepka, Matthew Wolff

Bubba Watson also traded away his two best players after the entire roster was set to return in 2024.

If the relationship between former LIV Golf teammates Brooks Koepka and Matthew Wolff was a marriage, the two had been separated for months with a divorce in the works. On Thursday morning the Smash GC split was finalized.

Koepka traded Wolff to Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC for 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, who will play for his third team in three years. Watson also traded Harold Varner III to Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC for Peter Uihlein. That means the RangeGoats, who finished runner-up at the 2023 team championship, have now traded their top two players from last season, who finished first (Gooch) and seventh (Varner) in the season-long standings. Uihlein was 12th and Wolff 27th.

After Pat Perez was re-signed last month, the trio of Johnson, Varner and Patrick Reed will make the 4Aces a favorite once again in 2024. The one-two punch of Koepka and Gooch on Smash might be the best in the league. Jason Kokrak is a solid third and the team still has a spot to fill after Chase Koepka was relegated. The RangeGoats were one of four teams set to return their entire squad for 2024 before Watson traded away his two best players. A foursome of Watson, Uihlein, Wolff and Thomas Pieters is, on paper at least, a step-down.

This week also marks the beginning of the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event, held Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club which will see the top three players earn status on a team for the 2024 season.

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Who earned the most money in 2023: PGA Tour or LIV Golf players?

The final PGA Tour money list for 2023 is a direct result of LIV forcing the Tour to increase purses.

Whatever the future of LIV Golf, whether an agreement is reached to partner with the PGA Tour or the Saudi-backed league remains separate and continues to play nemesis and antagonist to the tour, the mark has been made.

The final numbers on the PGA Tour money list for 2023 are a direct result of LIV forcing the Tour to increase purses and find more avenues for its players to boost income. Those increases across the board have the tour’s top earners surpassing their LIV counterparts when it comes to prize money.

Of course, the biggest payday for most of those who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV was the initial contract, or signing bonus. This includes a handful of players such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith whose contracts exceeded $100 million.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour handed out more than $560 million in prize money in 2023, including $100 million for the Player Impact Program and $75 million for the Tour Championship. The PIP money goes to the top 20 players who boosted engagement and publicity for the tour.

LIV’s total purse increased to $405 million in Year 2 of its existence. LIV’s purse includes $115 million in team prize money and $30 million split between the top three in the seasonlong individual race.

The LIV schedule includes 14 events compared to 38 on the PGA Tour. Still, the top earners on Tour play around 20 events, some as few as 18, others 23. LIV golfers who qualify for the four majors play at least 18 events. And every golfer enters a handful of tournaments on other tours.

LIV certainly got the attention of the PGA Tour with its massive contracts and increased purses, forcing the tour to dramatically up its prize money game. The Tour’s total prize money has risen substantially since 2021 when it was just under $400 million.

While the threat of more players defecting to LIV certainly played a factor, that money had to come from somewhere. Besides leaning on sponsors to help with the eight signature events with $20 million purses, the Tour received an infusion of money with nine-year media deals with CBS, NBC and ESPN that started in 2022.

The 2023 money list was finalized after distributing the PIP money. The top 10 made about $220 million combined compared with LIV’s top 10, who earned approximately $147 million in prize money.

LIV’s totals include each individual’s slice from the season-ending $50 million team event at Doral, but not the $5 million awarded to the top three teams in each of the other 13 events. The captains of each team determine how much of that money goes to the four players and how much goes into the team pot for operating fees.

PGA Tour (led by Hovland) vs. LIV Golf (led by Gooch)

Viktor Hovland celebrates with the FedEx Cup after winning the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Viktor Hovland topped the PGA Tour money list this year, bringing in $37.1 million, about $1 million more than LIV’s biggest earner, Talor Gooch.

Hovland’s breakdown was $14.1 from tournament winnings, $18 million for winning the FedEx Cup and $5 million for the PIP.

Gooch won $17.3 million over 14 events, plus $18 million for capturing the individual title and $800,000 for his share from the team competition at Doral. Gooch was a member of RangeGoats, which finished second.

Hovland was followed by Rory McIlroy, who earned $32.9 million, $15 million coming from winning the PIP’s top prize; Scottie Scheffler, who made a tour-record $21 million before bonuses brought his total to $29 million; Jon Rahm at $26.2 million, including $16.2 million on tour and $9 million from the PIP; and Xander Schauffele at $17.9 million.

The top five earners on LIV this year were Gooch, Smith ($23.2 million), Koepka ($17.7 million), DeChambeau ($14.7 million) and Harold Varner III ($9.9 million).

Smith pocketed $8 million as runner-up in the individual race behind Gooch. Koepka placed third, taking home the $4 million bonus.

Hovland, Scheffler and Schauffele each made 23 starts on the PGA Tour, Rahm played in 20 tour events and McIlroy 18.

Smith, Koepka and DeChambeau played 14 LIV events and four majors each. Gooch qualified for three majors and Varner was in two.

Koepka was LIV’s top earner among those who played in the majors, making $5.1 million, including $3.15 million for winning the PGA Championship.

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Fans, Donald Trump, the players and more winners and losers from LIV Golf’s second year

In 2023 the players and fans were both winners and losers.

Ask anyone who works for LIV Golf and they’ll tell you all eyes are on 2024 and beyond now that another season is in the books.

Following its inaugural eight-event series in 2022, this year marked the debut of the rebranded LIV Golf League, which saw the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund host 14 events around the world, from Mayakoba to Jeddah. The league didn’t quite dominate as much of the conversation in 2023 as it did last year, but still held down (and even expanded in some places) its footing in golf’s larger ecosystem.

As the league transitions into what could make for a busy offseason, let’s take a look back at the biggest winners and losers from LIV Golf’s second season.