Observations from thrilling start to 2025 LIV Golf season

The season runs from February to August, with 13 regular season events followed by a Team Championship finale. 

Each event begins with a shotgun start – meaning there will be 18 groups of players spread around the course at each hole, all teeing off at the same time.

Over three days of fast-paced competition there are no cuts, so every player is in the game from the first drive right up to the final putt.

There are 54 players altogether, 52 attached to one of LIV Golf’s 13 teams plus two Wildcards.

The top 24 golfers on the leaderboard after three days will earn points.

The winner takes a 40-point haul, second place gets 30 and third 24. For the remainder it’s a sliding scale of scores down to the 21^st to 24^th places, who earn one point each.

For the team competition, the top eight ranked out of the 13 earn points, with 32 for first place, 24 for the runners up and 16 for third.

Again, there’s a sliding scale of points awarded down to 8^th place which gets one point.

The Individual Championship standings are finalised after the 13^th event of the year, just ahead of the Team Championship’s end-of-season showdown.

It’s a straightforward process where the player with the most points earned through the regular season’s 13 events is crowned champion.

Every place in the final standings is important as it not only allocates prize money, it will also determine each player’s status with the league for the following season.

Players are divided into the Lock Zone (top 24 places), the Open Zone (25-48) and the Drop Zone (49 and below).

During the first two days of each event, only the top three players’ scores from each team will count towards the team’s round.

On day three all scores will be combined to help determine the overall team score for the event. The team with the lowest total wins.

The regular season ends at the 13^th event of the year, at which point the individual champion is named.

However, the regular season team standings determine their seeding for a winner-takes-all Team Championship finale which is the 14^th and final event of the year.

The quarterfinals on Friday feature the 10 teams seeded 4^th to 13^th. 

Saturday sees the top three seeded teams contest the semifinals with the five winners from Friday. 

These games are decided using matchplay golf. On Sunday the format reverts to strokeplay. 

All 52 team players tee off on Sunday in a shotgun start, with every score counting towards each team’s overall total.

The four team winners of Saturday’s semifinals vie for the top 4 positions in the final standings. 

The one with the lowest score will be crowned LIV Golf Team Champions.