LIV Golf
LIV Golf is a professional men's golf tour. The name "LIV" refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events. The first LIV Golf Invitational Series event started on 9 June 2022, at the Centurion Club near St Albans in Hertfordshire, UK. The Invitational Series became the LIV Golf League in 2023.
LIV Golf is financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Some journalists and commentators have said the tour is part of efforts by the Saudi monarchy, which has been criticized for its corruption and human rights abuses, to improve its public image through sports.
LIV Golf Adelaide was awarded the best golf event in the world in 2023 and 2024 and 2025 at the World Golf Awards.
Organization
The early framework for a new golf tour to rival the PGA Tour became public in 2019 with announcement of a league to be known as the Premier Golf League. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan responded by implying that golfers who choose to play in a new league would be barred from PGA Tour events. Later in 2020, the PGA European Tour and the PGA Tour formed a "strategic alliance" to work together on commercial opportunities, scheduling, and prize funds for each tour's membership. The name LIV was chosen because it represents the Roman numeral for 54, referencing both the number of holes played at LIV events and the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied.The Premier Golf League held talks with Saudi investors about a financial partnership, but Golf Saudi instead funded a new entity in 2020 which had its own plan to establish a global professional league, often referred to as the "Super Golf League". This entity formally launched in October 2021 as LIV Golf Investments, with former professional golfer Greg Norman named as CEO.
LIV Golf has often been described as the golfing equivalent to the dormant breakaway European Super League in football. This was not Norman's first attempt at such a breakaway, as Norman had previously partnered with Fox Sports in 1994 on a proposed circuit known as the World Golf Tour, which would have consisted of eight international tournaments open to top players on the Official World Golf Ranking. The announcement had faced a mixed response for the lack of concrete detail in Norman's plans, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission voted against ruling on PGA Tour policies requiring waivers for players to participate in other events that conflict with PGA Tour events.
In July 2022, LIV Golf formally applied to be included in the OWGR, a process which typically takes between a year and two years from application submission to approval and awarding of OWGR points. In October 2022, LIV Golf entered into a "strategic alliance" with the MENA Tour. The arrangement was conceived in order to immediately afford LIV Golf events ranking points; however, it was subsequently confirmed that events in 2022 would not receive points as changes to the MENA Tour would need to be reviewed. In a March 2024 letter to players, the league's CEO, Greg Norman, advised that LIV would no longer pursue its bid for world ranking points.
On 15 January 2025, it was announced that Scott O'Neil would replace Greg Norman as CEO, effective on that day. Norman's contract with LIV Golf, however, continued until August 2025, after which he had no remaining formal duties. In September 2025, he confirmed that he was stepping away from the organization entirely, ending his four-year association with the league since its launch in 2021.
League structure
The inaugural season of the LIV Golf Invitational Series featured eight 54-hole no-cut stroke play tournaments and a final Team Championship, set to be a "seeded four-day, four-round, match play knock-out" event held at Trump National Doral Miami in October 2022.In June 2022, it was reported that LIV Golf would evolve the following year into a league format with a 14-event schedule and 48 contracted players. On 27 July 2022, Norman announced that LIV Golf would implement a promotion and relegation system, featuring a rankings list and a four-player relegation out of the 48 contracted players. The league has a prize fund of $405 million. Its events are scheduled to avoid conflicting with major championships, the PGA Tour's premier tournaments, and international team events.
LIV Golf has 13 team franchises from around the world with their own colours, logo, name and regional identity which gather sponsors and supporter bases.
In November 2025, LIV Golf announced that beginning with the 2026 season its regular-season tournaments would transition from the traditional 54-hole format to 72 holes. The change retains the league's shotgun-start scheduling and concurrent individual-and-team competition, and reflects a broader effort to align tournament structure with established professional golf tours and improve the league's eligibility for Official World Golf Ranking consideration.
Player signups
On 1 June 2022, the field was released for the first event, to be played at the Centurion Club. The list included former world number ones Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood, as well as former major champions Sergio García, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, and Charl Schwartzel. One source said Johnson winner of two major championships and a former World No. 1 was paid US$150 million to play in the LIV series. Johnson, who had won 24 PGA events and $74 million since 2008, announced his resignation from the PGA Tour on 7 June 2022, saying, "I chose what's best for me and my family." Ian Poulter was reportedly offered £22 million to join the league. Lee Westwood said that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement relating to the topic.On 4 June 2022, Kevin Na became the first member of the PGA Tour to resign to participate in LIV Golf, saying, "If I exercise my right to choose where and when I play golf, then I cannot remain a PGA Tour player without facing disciplinary proceedings and legal action from the PGA Tour.... I hope the current policies change and I'll be able to play on the PGA Tour again." Reigning U.S. Amateur champion James Piot, who turned professional in May 2022, chose to play in the first LIV Golf tournament without having joined the PGA Tour.
In a Washington Post interview published on 5 June 2022, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said that Tiger Woods had declined to join, turning down a deal that was "mind-blowingly enormous; we're talking about high nine digits."
Before the second event in Portland, LIV Golf announced further signings, including several players in the top-50 of the world rankings, and three more major champions: Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Patrick Reed. During that event, it was announced that Paul Casey would play in the third event in Bedminster. Further signings before Bedminster included European Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson, who was removed from the role before the move was announced. In August 2022, before the fourth event in Boston, LIV Golf announced that six more players had joined, including Open champion and world number two Cameron Smith and Chilean world number 19 Joaquín Niemann.
After 2022, LIV Golf continued recruiting new players for its golf league. Before the 2023 LIV Golf League, Danny Lee, Thomas Pieters, Mito Pereira, Sebastian Munoz were among the players who joined the circuit. No new signings were announced during the 2023 season. In December 2023, reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm signed with LIV Golf and was given ownership in a new expansion team, later named Legion XIII. To fill his team, Rahm signed Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt to LIV Golf, along with adding Kieran Vincent, who gained membership via the 2023 LIV Golf Promotions event.
Reaction
LIV Golf is financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. Some journalists and commentators have said the tour is part of efforts by the Saudi monarchy, which has been criticized for its corruption and human rights abuses, to improve its public image through sports.Human rights groups have criticized LIV Golf as sportswashing, a political strategy by Saudi Arabia to cleanse its repressive global image through sport. Human Rights Watch called the Saudi endeavour "an effort to distract from its serious human rights abuses by taking over events that celebrate human achievement".
Greg Norman has been accused of aiding the repressive Saudi government for his own financial gain. In 2021, Norman denied that he was being used for sportswashing and said he works for LIV because of his passion for the sport. Later, in May 2022, Norman defended the involvement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Jamal Khashoggi's murder, saying, "Look, we've all made mistakes, and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward." His statement drew extensive criticism. Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said it was hurtful that "Jamal's brutal killing is brushed off as a 'mistake' and that we should just move on".
On 22 June 2022, a group of nearly 2,500 survivors of family members killed or injured during the September 11 attacks wrote an open letter to golfers who have remained loyal to the PGA Tour thanking them for not defecting to LIV Golf. The letter read in part, "Thank you for standing up for decency. Thank you for standing up for the 9/11 Families. Thank you for resisting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts to cleanse its reputation by buying off professional athletes...To those of you who have chosen what is right over blood money from a corrupt, destructive sports entity and its Saudi backers, please continue to stand strong." On 17 July 2022, a group of September 11 victims' family members condemned former U.S. president Donald Trump for hosting the LIV Golf tour at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey; the group's letter to Trump noted that he himself had blamed Saudi Arabia for the 9/11 attack during a 2016 interview on Fox News.
Tiger Woods, who turned down an offer of $700 million to $800 million to join LIV Golf, was asked in July 2022 about the golfers who had joined. "I disagree with it. I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position," Woods said at a press conference before the 2022 Open Championship. "I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the tour has given us, the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game."