LIV Golf’s Third Season Looms, With Questions Still Unanswered

Adding a 13th team for Jon Rahm will require adjusting the league's purse and points structures.

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The first LIV Golf League event of 2024 is now 11 days away, but several aspects of the competition have yet to be officially announced.

For instance, will there be 12 or 13 teams? That’s a pretty big distinction, even just from a logistical standpoint.

There have been hints galore—even from LIV Golf itself during its Teams Week two weeks ago in Miami—that Rahm is getting his own team, that it is being called Legion VIII and that he has added a college player from Tennessee, Caleb Surratt, who is a sophomore and has apparently already left school.

But none of this has been officially confirmed by LIV.

The only thing the league has acknowledged is that Matt Jones is returning to the all-Australian Ripper GC team with captain Cam Smith and Marc Leishman. Lucas Herbert is reportedly also joining that team, but again it has not been confirmed.

LIV Golf will likely have a 13th team this year, which will require some logistical solutions :: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf

The move to a 13th team means 52 players, which does not add up for LIV’s shotgun starts. Hence, the league will add two players who will compete as individuals and bring the roster to 54 players during each tournament—meaning 18 threesomes.

Apparently those two players will play in every tournament or be part of a reserve list due to injuries, which seems an opportunity missed. LIV Golf could institute weekly qualifying or use the Asian Tour Order of Merit—which it has a relationship with through funding International Series events—to fill those two spots.

It also has apparently punted on a draft of its three Promotions players who qualified last month in Abu Dhabi. Kalle Samooja is said to be going to the Cleeks, the team captained by Martin Kaymer and that would still be missing a player. Kieran Vincent is said to be going to Rahm’s team, which still leaves him short a player. And Jinichiro Kozuma is headed for Kevin Na’s Ironheads, filling that team.

That means two team spots are open as are the two additional individual players.

Also to be worked out is the purse structure and points structure. The $20 million individual purse has been distributed over 48 players and will now need to be stretched over 54 players—or increased.

The point system saw players receive points based on their finish through the top 24—not ties. Is that extended to 27 to include half the field? LIV uses its points list to determine the top three players who receive bonus money as well as the top half who are assured of a spot in the following year’s league.