First Look: LIV Golf Miami

BASIC INFO

When: April 4-6, 2025

Where: Trump National Doral, Doral, Florida

Competition: Three rounds/54 holes of stroke play

Field: 54 players – 13 teams of four players each, and two wild cards

Shotgun Start local time (ET):
Rd. 1, 12:15 p.m.
Rd. 2, 11:15 a.m.
Rd. 3, 12:05 p.m.

Defending champions: Dean Burmester (individual), Legion XIII (team)

KEY STORYLINES

LIV Golf returns to Miami for the fourth consecutive year and second time as a regular-season tournament

Doral’s famed Blue Monster becomes the first golf course to host LIV Golf tournaments in each of the first four seasons

Miami marks the first of six LIV Golf tournaments to be held in the U.S. this season

Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC enter Miami atop the team points standings and seeking a fourth consecutive LIV Golf team title

The Fireballs’ three-tournament win streak is the longest by either a team or individual player since LIV Golf expanded to its full 14-event schedule in 2023

Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann moved to No. 1 in the individual points standings after winning in Singapore for his second title of 2025

Niemann now has four career LIV Golf wins and can tie Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka’s record of five career wins

Niemann leads Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm by nearly 18 points in a showdown reminiscent of their battle much of last season

Three of the top nine players in points are in the Fireballs’ lineup – Sergio Garcia (3), David Puig (6) and Abraham Ancer (9)

Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester enters as defending Miami individual champion after beating Garcia in a playoff

Rahm’s Legion XIII are the defending Miami team champions after their one-stroke victory last year over RangeGoats GC

LIV Golf Miami’s strong local appeal resulted in 70% of the fans attending last year’s event coming from within 50 miles of Trump National Doral

FROM MIAMI TO MAJORS

LIV Golf Miami represents the all-important final stop on the 2025 LIV Golf schedule before this year’s major season begins.

Nearly a quarter of the field competing at Trump National Doral will be heading to Augusta National the following week for the Masters.

Of the 54 full-time LIV Golf players this season, seven are past Masters champions – three-time winner Phil Mickelson; two-time winner Bubba Watson; Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel.

“Miami is good preparation for Augusta,” said Garcia, whose Fireballs GC have won three consecutive LIV Golf team titles. “There’s nothing better than competition to get ready for a major.”

In addition, reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2023 PGA champion Brooks Koepka and 2022 Open winner Cameron Smith are in the Masters, along with special invite Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton, a top-10 finisher last year.

Those 12 players are among the 21 LIV Golf regulars who are currently exempt into at least one major this year.

The most recent exemptions came last week at the Asian Tour’s International Series Macau presented by Wynn, part of the Open Qualifying Series that rewarded three spots to the top qualifiers in Macau.

Carlos Ortiz won the tournament and was joined by Patrick Reed and Jason Kokrak as the three qualifiers heading to Royal Portrush in July.

Numerous LIV Golf players are scheduled to participate in qualifying tournaments this summer for the U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Meanwhile, in a key recognition of LIV Golf’s involvement in golf’s ecosystem, two major organizations will recognize LIV Golf performance as part of their exemption process starting this season.

The U.S. Open will reward an exemption to the leading LIV Golf player not already exempt among the top three of the individual standings as of May 19. The Open will provide a similar exemption for the leading player among the top five in the standings after LIV Golf Dallas.

Those pathways are important as LIV Golf players continue to make their presence known in the majors.

Koepka and DeChambeau have won their most recent majors after joining LIV Golf, while Richard Bland won two senior majors in 2024 that earned him exemptions into this season’s PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

Garcia is making his 100th career major start when he tees off at the Masters.

Phil Mickelson will end the 2025 major season having made 129 career major starts, which will put him fifth on the all-time list behind Jack Nicklaus (164), Gary Player (150), Tom Watson (145) and Arnold Palmer (142).

Mickelson has more major titles (six) than any other LIV Golf player. A total of 14 LIV Golf players – representing 11 different teams – have won a combined 28 majors.

ABOUT THE COURSE

TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL
Doral, Florida

Par: 72
Yardage: 7,701

• The Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral is hosting its fourth LIV Golf tournament and second in the regular season after hosting the Team Championships in 2022 and 2023
• Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester is the defending LIV Golf Miami individual champion while Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed tamed the Blue Monster prior to joining LIV Golf
• Says Burmester about Doral: “Any time you can shoot under par around this place, you’ve played pretty well. It’s not called the Blue Monster for nothing. It’s tough. There’s not one golf shot you stand there and think, ‘Man, I’ve actually got a chance, it’s quite easy.’
• Doral hosted elite-level professional tournaments starting in 1962
• The course was lengthened and made more dramatic during a complete redesign by famed golf architect Gil Hanse in 2014
• The course features a series of strategically placed deep bunkers, long flowing fairways, interesting undulating greens, deep Bermuda rough and a challenging assortment of water hazards
• The famous 468-yard par-4 18th is traditionally considered one of the most difficult in golf
• Last year, the 18th ranked as the most difficult hole at LIV Golf Miami, playing to a stroke average of 4.253
• The easiest hole last year was the 590-yard par-5 eighth, playing to a stroke average of 4.605
• The field stroke average last year was just over par – 72.136

TEAM SCORING

Through 4 events

STROKES GAINED LEADERS

Minimum 9 rounds