LIV Golf Format
The grand old game – supercharged
The LIV Golf League is serving up even more high-octane action through 2025, with the sport’s biggest personalities showcasing their skills on the world stage. Here’s how it works.
An Innovative Approach
The LIV Golf League features 54 players and 13 teams which compete throughout a 14-event season for the Individual Championship and Team Championship.
Three-day Events
The 14 events will be competed from February to August and will take place Friday-Sunday. The action 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 all 54 players are in the game from the first drive right up to the final putt.
While 52 of those players will be attached to one of LIV Golf’s 13 teams, there are also two places for Wild Card players who will have the chance to impress during the year.
The player with the lowest score after 54 holes wins, but everybody has something to play for as their individual performance contributes to their team’s success.
Beginning in 2025, all four scores count in each round for every team. The scoring adjustment for the 2025 season will increase the drama and volatility on the team leaderboard throughout the three tournament days, putting added pressure on every player.
As with the individual competition, the team with the lowest total score wins the event's team title.
After three days, one winning player and one triumphant team will be celebrated on the podium.
Getting To The Point
At each event, the top 24 golfers on the leaderboard from the field of 54 players will earn points.
The winner earns 40 points. Second place claims 30 points and third place earns 24 points. For the remainder, there is a sliding scale of points down to places 21st to 24th, who earn one point each.
For the team competition, the top eight teams earn points: 32 points go to the winning team; 24 points go to the runner-up and 16 points will go to the third-place team.
There is a sliding scale of points awarded down to 8th place, which gets one point.
The Individual Championship
The Individual Championship standings are finalized after the 13th event of the year, just ahead of the Team Championship’s end-of-season showdown.
The player with the most points earned through the first 13 events wins the Individual Championship.
Each place in the final individual standings is important as it not only allocates prize money, it will also determine each player’s status for the following season.
The players are divided into the following three categories based on their final placing:
The Lock Zone (top 24 places)
These players are guaranteed a contract offer for the following season. If their old contract is expiring, their team will automatically offer an extension.
The Open Zone (25-48)
These players can stay in the league, but their current team is under no obligation to extend their contract if it’s expiring.
The Drop Zone (49 and below)
These players are vulnerable to relegation from the league but do have the opportunity to win their place back.
Deciding the Team Championship winner
At the Team Championship event, the highest-seeded teams get to choose their opponents for Friday's quaterfinals from the lower-seeded clubs.
The format for the quarterfinals is match play. For each quarterfinal, the teams play their opponent on a hole-by-hole basis until one team can’t be caught.
For example, if a team establishes a lead of two holes by the time they have finished on the 16th green, that team will win that specific match as there are only two holes remaining and their score can’t be matched or overtaken.
Each quarterfinal match involves three competitive games featuring players from both teams; two singles matches and one foursome.
The format is the same for Saturday’s semifinals, but on Sunday the format reverts to the more traditional stroke play, where a player’s cumulative score for the round is measured against par for the course.
All 52 team players will tee off on Sunday in a shotgun start, with every member’s score counting toward his team’s overall total.
The team with the lowest score among the clubs competing in the top tier (No. 1 through No. 4) will be crowned the Team Champions of the LIV Golf League.