LIV Golf 2025: Five big changes to the tour as new season starts

Thursday 06 February 2025 5:48 pm

LIV Golf returns for its fourth season this weekend in Riyadh on arguably its strongest footing ever, having outlasted three British prime ministers, the reign of our longest-serving monarch and the Biden administration.

There could not have been any blockbuster signings like that of Main winner Jon Rahm 12 months in the past, however there may be a lot new in LIV Golf in 2025 after a busy off season of hiring, scheduling and deal-making.

And whereas discussions a couple of merger of pursuits with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour drag on previous the 18-month mark, the Saudi-backed big-money circuit has been consolidating its place as a critical challenger.

What’s new in LIV Golf 2025?

New boss

After kicking down the doorways of the institution, Greg Norman has been changed as CEO of LIV Golf by the extra conciliatory Scott O’Neil. The seasoned sports activities and leisure trade exec has moved from Merlin, the place his obligations included Alton Towers and Legoland, and has already presided over some huge wins, together with securing an additional place on the US Open for LIV Golf gamers based mostly on the present season standings.

New gamers

There are new faces on the course as effectively, most notably Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, who ignored the entreaties of his idol Rory McIlroy and signed with LIV Golf regardless of having secured his PGA Tour card via outcomes on the European circuit final 12 months. McKibbin, 22, has joined Englishman Tyrrell Hatton on Rahm’s workforce, Legion XIII, whereas different signings embrace Korean Yubin Jang, Kiwi Ben Campbell and Europeans Luis Masaveu and Frederik Kjettrup.

New calendar

Riyadh Golf Membership, the place the primary match is being held this weekend, is one among six new venues on the 14-date calendar. Additionally making their LIV debuts are Chapultepec Golf Membership in Mexico Metropolis, Incheon in South Korea, Indianapolis, Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership in Washington, and Michigan, which is internet hosting the Workforce Championship. In a change from earlier years, six LIV Golf tournaments will go up towards huge occasions on the PGA Tour.

New offers

LIV Golf’s C suite hasn’t let the fescue develop below its ft through the off season. After three years within the margins, the league now has a US community TV cope with Fox Sports activities, has additional expanded its attain via a content material partnership with British YouTuber Rick Shiels, and launched a brand new model marketing campaign entitled Lengthy LIV Golf. Groups have additionally been busy signing up new clothes companions, from Reebok with Bryson DeChambeau and Crushers GC to Castore and Majesticks, whose quantity embrace Brits Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

Play Video

New guidelines

LIV Golf’s three-round, shotgun-start format stays singular nevertheless it has been tweaked a bit. Each single shot will now rely in direction of workforce scores on all three days – reasonably than simply the ultimate spherical – which ought to make it extra aggressive. And in a rowing again of its golf punk ethos, shorts have been quietly banned, bringing it into line with the opposite foremost males’s excursions.