LIV Golf: All You Need To Know - What Is LIV Golf? List Of LIV Golf Schedule 2022?

Many of you are familiar with the PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association of America) Tour or the big league like the Ryder Cup, where all the best golfers in the world meet and compete to win the nobel PGA Championship.

What is LIV Golf - PGA Tour

For many years, no golf league can compete with PGA, due to the harshness and the top world class level of the tournament. However, there is now. Let AllTimesGolf introduce you: the LIV Golf.

But why is it controversial? What is LIV Golf? What makes it so special that makes the entire golf community, as well as golf lovers go crazy about it? What is the LIV Golf Schedule 2022?

In this article, AllTimesGolf will give you the answer to all LIV Golf related questions, as well as provide other useful information about this interesting tournament. Now let’s begin, shall we?!!

1. About LIV Golf?

What is LIV Golf?

LIV Golf is a brand new professional Golf Tournament. Founded in 2021, this is a tournament backed by Saudi Arabian money.

What is LIV Golf - LIV Golf

LIV Golf has Greg Norman - a former world champion as Managing Director of the league. Many other former managing directors from the PGA Tour and many other leagues also hold important roles in the LIV Golf.

In February 2022, LIV Golf published an enormous investment - up to $300 million for ten years at Saudi International, including a series of 10 golf tournaments, which will be held in Asia, Middle East and Europe.

PGA was known for their dictate in the golf field, and this really bothers many professional golfers. This is one of the biggest reasons why lots of young and even former PGA players want to compete in the LIV Golf.

The very main point of this tournament is the participation of many world class golfers, including former PGA Champions like Dustin Johnson - 2 times Major winner, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Talor Gooch and many others from the world Top 100 Golfers.

When did LIV Golf start?

Started as an idea of having a tournament separated from the PGA, the former world champion - Mr.Greg Norman and the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch had tried to create the “World Golf Tour” in the middle of the 90s.

However, the effort was brought down when the PGA Tour’s commissioner - Tim Finchem smartly alternated the PGA’s rules and managed to retain the PGA’s position as the biggest world class golf tournament.

Things started to get out of hand for the PGA in 2019, to the point that the PGA Tour’s Commissioner had to hand out a warning to ban for life any players that join the opponent’s league.

Despite all that, many golfers still decide to leave the PGA to participate in the LIV Golf Tournament. You can already tell by now the level of interest of many players towards this brand new tournament.

LIV Golf Format

What is LIV Golf - LIV Golf Format

In order to understand LIV Golf further, you will need to know and understand the format of this tournament.

The LIV Golf Tournaments will feature two events: One for individuals and one for teams of four.

The first seven LIV Golf events will be held over the course of LIV’s four-month season. After that, the team event will take place. Teams of four will compete in the matchplay format to win the LIV Golf team trophy.

The letter LIV stands for the number 54 in the Roman numeral system, which represents the standard number of holes in all LIV events.

Golfers will compete individually in the first seven events, in a stroke play format. The winner will be the one with the lowest score after 54 holes, no cuts.

In the events, all players will start at the same time, however, each will start at a different hole. This is called the shotgun start.

According to the LIV Golf format, all players will make their shotgun starts at 14:00 BST on each opening competition day at the Centurion Club. The LIV Golf trophy will be present at 18:30 BST on Sunday.

After finishing the first seven individual events, golfers will move on to the team event, which features 12 four-man teams. Each team will have a name, logo and a captain, pointed by the LIV Golf, to lead the team.

The captains will choose the rest of the members of their team in a snake draft format, as well as select the lineup for each week.

LIV Golf Team Scoring Format

The Team Scoring Format of the LIV Golf Tournaments is quite simple. For the first two rounds, the teams will be ranked based on their best two scores. The number rises to three in the last two rounds.

LIV Golf Prize Pool

What is LIV Golf - LIV Golf Prize Pool

The initial investment for this tournament was $300 million, therefore, it would be non-surprise to see a big LIV Golf Prize Pool.

The prize pool for each regular season event will be $25 million, divided into 2 parts.

$20 million will be split over 48 players participating in the tournament. The winner gets $4 million. As for the players that brought up the rear in the no cut format, they will go home with a consolation of $120 thousand.

$5 million belongs to the top three teams, divided into $3 million, $1.5 million and $500,000 respectively for the top 1, 2 and 3 teams.

At the end of each individual event, any golfers who have played in at least 4 rounds will get a part from a $30 million bonus prize pool. The champion will get $18 million, $8 million is the prize for the second place, and the third will get $4 million.

As for the team event, the winning team after the final season will get $16 million, each member of the team will get $4 million. And the bottom team will still be able to split the $1 million in tournament earnings.

Why Is LIV Golf So Controversial?

LIV Golf is a Golf Tournament backed by the PIF - a Saudi Arabia's organization, which has faced some accusations related to money laundering through sponsoring big sport leagues.

Saudi Arabia recently has held many racing events, football, tennis and many other sports. In October 2021, PIF bought 80% shares of Newcastle United - a Premier League's football team.

Furthermore, eversince 2019, Saudi Arabia held the Saudi International - an event that was held once by the European Tour, which attracted many famous golfers to attend, all of whom were paid just to showed up.

2. LIV Golf Schedule 2022

The LIV Golf Tournament will be held in many countries around the world. This is a full list of the LIV Golf Schedule 2022:

Course: Centurion Club

Location: Hertfordshire, England

Occurring Date: June 9-11

Course: Pumpkin Ridge

Location: Portland, Oregon

Occurring Date: June 30 - July 2

Course: Trump National Golf Club Bedminster

Location: Bedminster, New Jersey

Occurring Date: July 29-31

Course: The International

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Occurring Date: September 2-4

Course: Rich Harvest Farms

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Occurring Date: September 16-18

Course: Stonehill

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Occurring Date: October 7-9

Course: Royal Greens Golf & Country Club

Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Occurring Date: October 14-16

Course: Trump National Golf Club Doral

Location: Miami, Florida

Occurring Date: October 27-30

3. LIV Golf Player List

Which players are fascinated by the LIV Golf Tournament? Check out this latest updated list to find your favorite players:

Dustin Johnson (USA)
Abraham Ancer (ESP)
Brooks Koepka (USA) 23
Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
Kevin Na (USA)
Jason Kokrak (USA)
Talor Gooch (USA)
Patrick Reed (USA)
Sergio Garcia (ESP)
Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)
Matthew Wolff (USA)
Matt Jones (AUS)
Richard Bland (ENG)
Bubba Watson (USA)
Shaun Norris (RSA)
Sam Horsfield (ENG)
Lee Westwood (ENG)
Phil Mickelson (USA)
Scott Vincent (ZIM)
Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA)
Oliver Bekker (RSA)
Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN)
Ian Poulter (ENG)
Hudson Swafford (USA)
Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN)
Justin Harding (RSA)
Charl Schwartzel (RSA)
Carlos Ortiz (ESP)
Branden Grace (RSA)
Laurie Canter (ENG)
Hennie Du Plessis (RSA)
Phachara Khongwatmai (THA)
Sihwan Kim (USA)
Henrik Stenson (SWE)
Charles Howell III (USA)
Adrian Otaegui (ESP)
JC Ritchie (RSA)
Hideto Tanihara (JPN)
Martin Kaymer (GER)
Jediah Morgan (AUS)
Ratchanaon "TK" Chantananuwat* (THA)
Blake Windred (AUS)
Wade Ormsby (AUS)
Peter Uihlein (USA)
Graeme McDowell (NIR)
Ian Snyman (RSA)
Travis Smyth (AUS)
Viraj Madappa (IND)
Itthipat Burana Tanyarat (THA)
Turk Pettit (USA)
Kevin Yuan (AUS)
Oliver Fisher (ENG)
Andy Ogletree (USA)
Chase Koepka (USA)
James Piot* (USA)
David Puig* (ESP)
Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (ESP)

4. LIV Golf FAQ

What is the LIV Golf Invitational Series?

It is the name of the league or tour that has been commonly referred to as the Saudi Golf League, for which Norman was named commissioner in October.

Who is playing?

Many golfers from the world’s Top 100, including golfers from the PGA claimed that they will participate in this tournament.

Norman said in mid-April that pros will play on a per-event basis, with none committing to a full schedule as members for 2022. Top amateurs will also be invited.

On May 31, the first 42 of 48 names for the inaugural event were announced, with Dustin Johnson being the highest-ranked player. Sixteen of the top 100 players in the world are in the field.

Has the PGA Tour made any statements on the series?

The PGA Tour's stance became more clear with the denial of releases to players on May 10.

“We have notified those who have applied that their request has been declined in according with the PGA Tour Tournament regulations,’’ said Tyler Dennis, PGA Tour senior vice president, in a memo to players. “As such, Tour members are not authorized to participate in the Saudi Golf League’s London event under our Regulations. As a membership organization, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the PGA Tour and its players.’’

How many events are in the series?

There will be eight events in 2022, with five in the United States, one in London, one in Thailand and another in Saudi Arabia. The season-ending team championship slated for Oct. 27-30 will be held at Trump National Doral.

Norman has said the plan is for 10 events next year and the league format to begin in 2024

When is the first event?

June 9-11 at the Centurion Club in London. That is the same week as the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour and a week prior to the U.S. Open.

How many players will compete?

The plan is to have 48 players competing for a $20 million purse. Those 48 players will also make up 12 teams, with those four-man teams playing for an additional $5 million per week. The top two scores for the first two rounds count toward the team competition with three of the four counting on the final day.

Is the tour sanctioned?

Yes, by the Asian Tour.

What is the relationship between LIV Golf Investments and the Asian Tour?

LIV Golf has invested $300 million in the Asian Tour over the next 10 years to help it fund a series of events called the International Series. Those events are separate from regular Asian Tour events, offering purses in the $2 million range. The original idea was to use that series as a feeder system into the LIV Golf Invitational Series, with relegation being part of the process. That does not appear to be in play at this time.