The fourth LIV Golf season tees off under the lights Thursday at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia, with morning tee times for golf fans in the U.S.
The league’s most accomplished golfers, including major champions Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith, are back, although the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit didn’t bring in any high-profile players after raiding the PGA Tour the previous three years.
That’s not the only thing that has changed for the breakaway league. LIV Golf has a new CEO, scoring format, network TV deal and a half-dozen new full-time players.
Here are some storylines to watch as LIV Golf kicks off its fourth season.
Opener under the lights
All three rounds of the LIV Golf season opener will be played under the lights in Saudi Arabia, with the shotgun start taking place at 6:15 p.m. local time (10:15 a.m. ET) on Thursday and Friday and 6:05 p.m. (10:05 ET) on Saturday.
“Obviously, we’re all going to have our shortcomings because we’re not used to it,” Legion XIII captain Rahm told reporters in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. “We’ve never done it. Back home there’s a par-3 course that is lit at night that you can go and play, but there’s a difference between trying to hit a pitching wedge and a driver. It’s a whole different feel. But I think it’s going to be quite special.”
Along with adjusting to the time zone difference, LIV golfers will have to contend with shadows and depth perception challenges with floodlights providing them illumination at Riyadh Golf Club.
“The depth perception is not the same as during the day, so you’ve got to adjust to that,” Torque GC captain JoaquÃn Niemann said. “I feel like everything playing at night is a little bit different. It’s not normal to look up and see a moon instead of the sun. I feel like that has to change a little bit. You can maybe ask Bryson [DeChambeau] if that would change the air density, or …”
New format
For the first time in the circuit’s history, LIV Golf teams will have to count each of their four players’ scores in each of the three rounds in their overall team total. Last season, teams could drop their highest score in each of the first two rounds, but had to include all three in the final one.
“I like it,” Rahm said. “I think it benefits a team like ours. I think we have four really strong players that are really consistent. So I think it’s better for the league in general for everybody to matter every single day because Sunday is usually really, really fun. At least last year it was incredibly fun in that regard.”
Last season, there were 31 non-counting scores of 77 or worse, according to LIV Golf. The league said six tournaments would have had different winners if all four scores had counted in each of the three rounds in 2024, and another one would have been decided in a playoff.
“I think it’s going to bring a lot more pressure into every team,” Niemann said. “I feel like having every guy in their best form and having every shot count is going to bring the best version of every player. I think it’s going to be great. The competition level is going to get higher.”
There’s a new man in charge
New LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil replaced Greg Norman, who launched and oversaw the circuit since its inception in 2021.
O’Neil was previously the CEO at Merlin Entertainment and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which controls the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy, an outspoken critic of Norman the past few years, called his departure a “good move.”
“Greg took a lot of flak the first couple of years,” McIlroy said at last month’s Dubai Desert Classic. “He is probably one of the only guys in golf who could have taken on that role. He got it off the ground, and you have to commend him for that. Now it’s time for someone with a bit more experience to take over.
“I honestly don’t know what the future holds for [LIV], but the move they are making, especially from an executive standpoint, it doesn’t look like they are going to go away anytime soon.”
It has been more than a year since the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund expired Dec. 31, 2023. The sides have continued to negotiate a potential deal in which the PIF would invest about $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises.
Sources have told ESPN that the potential agreement is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division. The sides are continuing to hammer out exactly how LIV Golf players would be allowed to return to PGA Tour competition, and how team golf would fit in the game in the future.
Norman, a two-time Open Championship winner, was expected to continue in some role with LIV Golf. He recently joined the organizing committee for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.
“Yeah, it’s a weird one for me, obviously, getting very close to Greg the last couple years,” Ripper GC captain Smith said Wednesday. “I think he’s done a really great job. He’s taken a lot of bullets for the tour, and I don’t know many other people that could have done that, to be honest.”
There are substitutes
Because teams will have to record four scores in each of the three rounds, LIV Golf has a new substitution policy. If a player withdraws during a round, his team may select one of the available reserve players to complete the round. If a player withdraws before finishing a hole, the reserve will put his ball in play at the same spot as the original player.
If a player withdraws during a round, he can return to competition for subsequent rounds. He will be able to participate in only the team competition, not in the individual one.
New (but not so familiar) faces
LIV Golf didn’t make another splash by poaching a high-profile golfer from the PGA Tour, as it did when it signed Rahm at the end of 2023. There are six new full-time golfers: Denmark’s Frederik Kjettrup (Cleeks GC), Spain’s Luis Masaveu (Fireballs GC), South Korea’s Yubin Jang (Iron Heads GC), Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin (Legion XIII), New Zealand’s Ben Campbell (RangeGoats GC) and Taiwan’s Chieh-Po Lee (wild-card player).
McKibbin, 22, was perhaps LIV Golf’s biggest prize in the offseason. He won on the DP World Tour at the Porsche European Open in June 2023, then earned his PGA Tour card via the Race to Dubai last fall.
McKibbin played at the same course as PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy, Holywood Golf Club in Northern Ireland. But McKibbin ignored McIlroy’s advice by signing with LIV Golf.
“I said to him, ‘If I were in your shoes, I would make a different choice than the one you’re thinking of making,'” McIlroy told reporters at the Dubai Desert Classic. “Working so hard to get your tour card in the States, to achieve that goal last year was a big achievement. I think what he potentially is sacrificing and giving up with access to majors, potential Ryder Cup spot depending on how he would play … if I were in his position and I had his potential, which I think I have been before, I wouldn’t make that decision.”
McKibbin, who is ranked 109th in the world, said missing the majors and Ryder Cup wasn’t much of a factor in his decision because he hadn’t yet qualified for any of them.
“It was definitely in my mind, but to me, I wasn’t in any of those anyway,” McKibbin said. “Again, the opportunity to get to play with guys out here more often, more consistently was definitely a huge factor. I’m not in those majors anyway at the minute, so it really didn’t bother me too much.”
McKibbin replaced Spanish golfer Eugenio Chacarra, who wasn’t retained by Legion XIII.
Mickelson on the mend
One of the reserve players available in Saudi Arabia, Ollie Schniederjans, will replace HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson, who won’t play because of a shoulder injury.
In a statement on X, Mickelson said he suffered a minor injury while working out in the gym. He expects to compete in the second LIV Golf tournament in Australia on Feb. 14-16.
On Sunday, Schniederjans, who has battled myriad injuries the past few seasons, captured his first victory in nine years when he won an International Series tournament in India on the Asian Tour. With a four-stroke victory over DeChambeau, the former Georgia Tech star climbed from No. 734 in the Official World Golf Ranking to 265th.
Other reserves available in Saudi Arabia are John Catlin, Wade Ormsby, Max Rottluff and Khaled Attieh.
LIV Golf teams
4 Aces: Dustin Johnson (captain), Patrick Reed, Harold Varner III, Thomas Pieters
2024 finish: T2nd
Cleeks Golf Club: Martin Kaymer (captain), Richard Bland, Adrian Meronk, Frederik Kjettrup
2024 finish: 11th
Crushers GC: Bryson DeChambeau (captain), Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri
2024 finish: T7th
Fireballs GC: Sergio Garcia (captain), Abraham Ancer, Luis Masaveu, David Puig
2024 finish: 6th
HyFlyers GC: Phil Mickelson (captain), Andy Ogletree, Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale
2024 finish: T7th
Iron Heads GC: Kevin Na (captain), Yubin Jang, Jinichiro Kozuma, Danny Lee
2024 finish: T2nd
Legion XIII: Jon Rahm (captain), Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt
2024 finish: 4th
Majestics GC: Ian Poulter (co-captain), Henrik Stenson (co-captain), Lee Westwood (co-captain), Sam Horsfield
2024 finish: 9th
RangeGoats GC: Bubba Watson (captain), Ben Campbell, Peter Uihlein, Matthew Wolff
2024 finish: 12th
Ripper GC: Cameron Smith (captain), Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman
2024 finish: 1st
Smash GC: Brooks Koepka (captain), Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Graeme McDowell
2024 finish: 13th
Stinger GC: Louis Oosthuizen (captain), Dean Burmester, Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel
2024 finish: 5th
Torque GC: Joaquin Niemann (captain), Sebastián Muñoz, Carlos Ortiz, Mito Pereira
2024 finish: 10th
Wildcard players: Anthony Kim, Chieh-Po Lee
2025 schedule
LIV Golf Riyadh
Where: Riyadh Golf Club, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
When: Thursday-Saturday
LIV Golf Adelaide
Where: The Grange Golf Club, Adelaide, Australia
When: Feb. 14-16
Defending champion: Brendan Steele
LIV Golf Hong Kong
Where: Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong
When: March 7-9
Defending champion: Abraham Ancer
LIV Golf Singapore
Where: Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Course), Singapore
When: March 14-16
Defending champion: Brooks Koepka
LIV Golf Miami
Where: Trump National Doral Golf Course, Miami
When: April 4-6
Defending champion: Dean Burmester
LIV Golf Mexico City
Where: Club De Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico
When: April 25-27
LIV Golf Korea
Where: Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, Incheon, South Korea
When: May 2-4
LIV Golf Washington DC
Where: Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Gainesville, Virginia
When: June 6-8
Defending champion: Harold Varner III
LIV Golf Dallas
Where: Maridoe Golf Club, Carrollton, Texas
When: June 27-29
LIV Golf Andalucia
Where: Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande, Spain
When: July 11-13
Defending champion: Sergio Garcia
LIV Golf United Kingdom
Where: JCB Golf and Country Club, Rocester, England
When: July 25-27
Defending champion: Jon Rahm
LIV Golf Chicago
Where: Bolingbrook Golf Club, Bolingbrook, Illinois
When: Aug. 8-10
Defending champion: Jon Rahm
LIV Golf Indianapolis
Where: The Club at Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indiana
When: Aug. 15-17
LIV Golf Michigan – Match Play
Where: The Cardinal at Saint John’s, Plymouth, Michigan
When: Aug. 22-23
LIV Golf Michigan – Stroke Play
Where: The Cardinal at Saint John’s, Plymouth, Michigan
When: Aug. 24