LIV Golf Invites Major Winners, Top Amateurs to Compete in Promotions Event in Abu Dhabi

LIV Golf has announced the format, entry criteria and purse breakdown for its promotions event that will determine three new members of the league for 2024. The event will take place from Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club with 72 holes played over three days. Major championship winners, Ryder Cup participants and top amateurs are among those whom LIV has invited to enter the event. 

During the opening round of the tournament, players who qualify through LIV’s first category of criteria will compete to make a cut to the top 20 players and ties. On Day 2, the scores will reset and another category of exempt players will join the top 20 and ties from the first round. The field will then be reduced to just 20 players for the final 36-hole shootout. 

Three players will land in LIV Golf in 2024 through a tournament in December.

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Three players will earn LIV Golf membership in the end, with first, second and third place also earning $200,000, $150,000 and $100,000 from a $1.5 million purse. All professional players are guaranteed at least $5,000 in prize money, including those who do not make the Day 1 cut. Amateurs will receive $1000 regardless of how they finish. But if an amateur were to place in the top 20, their allotted prize money would be donated to a “LIV charity of choice,” according to the tournament registration. 

The top player on the 2023 International Series Rankings will become the fourth player to gain LIV membership in 2024. Andy Ogletree, winner of the 2019 U.S. Amateur, is all but assured to finish in that position. 

LIV exemption criteria for the open qualifying event is broken down into two categories. Some of the players exempt through “Category A” include the winner and runner-up of the U.S. Amateur and the NCAA Championship. LIV Golf has also tapped The Universal Golf Rankings (TUGR) to help shape the field rather than the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). TUGR is a new ranking system that leverages player-to-player matchups. The 30 available players within the top 300 on TUGR will be exempt into the LIV promotions event. 

Some “Category B” exemptions include the major championship winners from 2019 to 2023 and participants in Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups from 2019 to 2023. Winners of PGA Tour and DP World Tour events in 2022 and 2023 will also be exempt into the second round, in addition to the top two players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. 

But the categories are not necessarily restrictive. According to the league, special “event invitations” will be available for both categories. 

The four players to advance from the promotions event and the International Series Rankings will replace four players who will be dropped from LIV Golf in 2024: James Piot, Chase Koepka, Sihwan Kim and Jed Morgan. 

The promotions event will be streamed on LIV Golf’s YouTube channel.