A vision for the future of LIV Golf

LIV Golf is basking in the afterglow of its most successful ever event, which delivered record tv audience numbers and social media interactions, record on-site crowds and set the bar for all future events on the league. Since LIV Golf Adelaide the league has announced a new partnership with the R&A and USGA to manage the agronomy across its 14-event schedule, further deepening LIV Golf's relationships with two of the most important organisations in the game. All this after they were formally accepted into the global golf ecosystem by being approved for Official World Golf Ranking points, and signing a series of important broadcast partnerships in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Anticipation for its next event in Hong Kong has never been greater, and its debut in South Africa is set to showcase its growing popularity across the world, even if in the United States of America LIV Golf is still sneered at.

LIV Golf has now outlasted many breakaway leagues and alternative platforms of the past, with it being set to play its third event of its fifth season in Hong Kong. It is now 1350 days since Dustin Johnson hit the first tee shot ever at LIV Golf Invitational London at the Centurion Club.

Super League in Australia lasted from 1 March 1997 to 20 September 1997 (203 days), World Series Cricket lasted from 2 December 1977 to 10 April 1979 (494 days), the original USFL lasted from 6 March 1983 to 24 June 1985 (841 days), and A1GP lasted from 23 September 2005 to 3 May 2009 (1318 days). LIV Golf is now on a path to become an embedded part of the sports world, in much the same way that the Indian Premier League has in Cricket, and UFC has in Mixed Martial Arts.

For the 2026 season each of the 13 regular season LIV Golf events will be contested over 72 holes, a decision was has clearly been made with the hope of persuading the OWGR to award LIV Golf points, but a decision which has divided opinion among players and fans. Many will point towards the events of Sunday, and Anthony Kim's dramatic victory over Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm to justify why LIV Golf should remain as a 72-hole circuit, but for many 54 holes is crucial to the identity of LIV Golf.

After all, LIV is the roman numeral for 54. LIV Golf's premier hospitality offering is known as CLUB 54.

There are many tours which receive OWGR points, but play over 54 holes, including Scotland's Tartan Pro Tour, and it appears to more important to the OWGR that the fields for LIV Golf have more ways to qualify to ensure it is not a 'closed shop'. Ahead of LIV Golf launching in 2022 it was rumoured it would be called, or was known as the 'Super Golf League', but I do think that naming the competition after the number of holes played was fit for purpose at the start of its history. Now as the fifth season progresses I think LIV Golf needs to undergo a series of alterations to fit its mission and fulfil the potential of franchise-based golf around the world.

LIV Golf needs to look and feel more like SAIL GP and MotoGP. Both the sailing and motorcycle series are truly global, and franchise, team-based competitions, and LIV Golf needs to use them both as inspiration for the future.

Ripper GC's victory in Adelaide was massively overshadowed by Anthony Kim's individual win, and LIV needs to enhance the team element of the circuit if it is to be successful in its mission moving forward. Below is a summary of the changes I would make, followed by greater detail:

• Expand to 16 events

• 54-hole stroke play individual tournament, also determines teem seedings

• 18-hole matches between teams on the fourth and final day, including 2 singles and 1 foursomes match

• Discontinue the standalone team championship

• Fields expanded to 72 players, the maximum for a shotgun start

• Add 3 teams

• 16 teams of 4, plus 8 others

• Creation of the LIV Golf Access List, combining points from International Series, Asian Tour and other tour events to determine promotion to the league and reserve players for teams

• Southern Guards GC form a partnership with the Sunshine Tour, recruiting players based upon their ranking among South African Golfers

• Korean Golf Club form a partnership with the KPGA, recruiting players based upon their ranking among KPGA golfers

• Ripper GC could expand its partnerships across Australia with the PGA Tour of Australasia, and recruit players from that tour based on their ranking

• Expand the Promotions event to a two-stage event with stage 1 featuring regional qualifying events in UK, Continental Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australasia, Africa, South America and North America

• LIV Golf Collegiate rankings would create a pathway from College golf around the world, not just the USA, to the league

I am all for a schedule which features a big off-season and allows fans to build anticipation, but I would add two more weeks to the schedule. The Formula 1 World Championship included 16 Grand Prix every season from 1984 to 1994, and for a total of 18 seasons during a golden period for F1 which included the likes of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill. A 16-tournament schedule would enable LIV Golf to play 3 times in the USA (around the 3 American Majors) and 13 times around the world.

The season would begin with its biggest event - the 54 holes of Adelaide. The North Adelaide Golf Course is adjacent to the Adelaide Oval, which would become host to LIV Golf's concerts all week, including a season-launch event at the start of tournament week. From Australia LIV Golf would travel across the Tasman sea to New Zealand, for the 54 holes of New Zealand, played at one of New Zealand's iconic golfing destinations, possibly Te Arai, Tara Iti, Cape Kidnappers, Kauri Cliffs, or the Hills.

Completing a triple-header to start the season, the 54 holes of the Pacific would take LIV Golf to courses in Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Panama, Colombia or Chile.

LIV Golf would then take a two-week break before heading to Johannesburg for the 54 holes of South Africa, and then cross the Atlantic to the host of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and the 54 holes of Brasil. After another rest week the league would play its first American event, ideally within a close radius of Augusta National. Pinehurst has not held an annual professional event since the demise of the North and South Open in the 1950's, but it has of course hosted 4 US Open's and 2 editions of the TOUR Championship. The 54 holes of Pinehurst could showcase the other courses around the resort, potentially Pinehurst Number 4, Pinehurst Number 8, 9, 10 or the new Pinehurst Number 11.

After a break for the first Major of the Year at The Masters, LIV Golf would return with two tournaments in Asia - the 54 holes of India and the 54 holes of Korea. The 54 holes of Akron would take place at the storied Firestone Country Club, a venue which was a mainstay of the PGA TOUR calendar for five decades, with the PGA Championship following.

Following the PGA Championship and preceding the US Open, LIV Golf needs to visit part of the USA which is not a staple venue of the past or present of the PGA TOUR, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming would fit the bill. The schedule needs a variety of venues which showcase history, tradition, modern architecture and beauty, and it needs to go to places which are not golfing hotbeds. This will inspire new golfers to take up the game, and to follow LIV Golf. The 54 holes of Jackson Hole would be played at 3Creek Ranch, a stunning Rees Jones designed course on the valley floor is framed by the majestic Teton mountains, and would be a must watch event. I have no doubt it would be well supported by the Jackson Hole community.

After the US Open LIV Golf would head to Europe and three events either side of The Open Championship. So far LIV Golf has not played a tournament on a links course, and it is imperative that they do so in the future. England only gets the chance to showcase its brilliant links when The Open or AIG Women's Open visits the likes of Birkdale, Hoylake and Sandwich, I think LIV Golf needs to visit South West England, a completely golf-starved region in terms of the professional game, but a region with truly outstanding Links. The 54 holes of England would be played at Trevose, near Padstow and Newquay in Cornwall, and is ideal in terms of being an ambitious resort and destination, and Cornwall is a place which does not get many significant sports events outside of Surfing.

LIV Golf's concerts and festival-like atmosphere would appeal to the youth of the south west of England, much in the same way as Boardmasters has done with the surfing and music festival each August.

Following The Open LIV Golf would stay in the UK with the 54 holes of Scotland, and play on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles. The iconic Perthshire resort has staged the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, but has been without an annual event on the golfing calendar since the 2013 Johnnie Walker Championship. It is an ideal venue in terms of access by public transport, and has the infrastructure to hold the LIV Golf concerts and in a truly unrivalled area of natural beauty.

PGA Centenary Course, Gleneagles / Matt Hooper

After an off-week LIV Golf's event in Andalucía, at Valderrama would be relaunched as the 54 holes of Europe. This event would be part of closer ties with the DP World Tour, and would visit former European Tour venues across the continent, as well as course in the European Golf Design portfolio. Valderrama would stage the event every five years, with visits to Celtic Manor in Wales, the K Club in Ireland, Marco Simone Country Club in Italy, St Nom La Breteche in France, Gut Larchenhof in Germany, and Bro Hof Slott in Sweden.

The LIV Golf League would then make its final trans-Atlantic trip of the year, to Alberta, Canada for the 54 holes of Canada, played at the iconic Fairmont Banff Springs. If any golf course can inspire a new generation of golfers then this is it, and it has barely been seen on the calendar since the demise of the World Skins Game. The Stanley Thompson-designed course hosted the event in 2006 and 2011, and featured Greg Norman, Segio Garcia, Jack Nicklaus, Stephen Ames, John Daly, Jhonattan Vegas, Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, and Lucas Glover.

The final two events of the season would be in Asia, firstly the 54 holes of China at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China and finally the 54 holes of Saudi Arabia at the Nick Faldo-designed Qiddiya Golf Club in Qiddiya City, near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

This 16-tournament schedule would take in the entire globe in terms of continents, and would give LIV Golf as many as 5 tournaments in Asia, depending on where the Pacific event was played each year. Asia accounts for the vast majority of growth in golf course construction and golf participation, and as the world's most populous continent it is vital golf takes advantage of this.

LIV Golf needs to lean into the team element much more than it has done so far, and yes there have been other distractions, but the true value in the league is the team concept. The fourth and final day of a LIV Golf event would now be pure team competition, featuring 3 head-to-head matches between teams, with matches determined by the stroke play results over 54 holes.

Each match would include two singles contests, and one foursomes matchup, all over 18 holes.

Matches would determine the placings for each week, with 1st playing 2nd, 3rd playing 4th, 5th playing 6th and so on, with each of the winners claiming the high spot on the end of tournament rankings. This would undoubtedly create rivalries over the course of a season, and these are the matches we would have seen over the first two weeks of the 2026 LIV Golf season based on the stroke play results:

Riyadh - Ripper GC v Torque GC / 4 Aces GC v Fireballs GC / Legion XIII v Smash GC / Crushers v Southern Guards / Korean Golf Club v Majesticks GC and RangeGoats GC v Cleeks GC

Adelaide - Ripper GC v Legion XIII / 4 Aces GC v Southern Guards / Torque GC v RangeGoats GC / Smash GC v Korean Golf Club / Cleeks GC v Crushers GC and HyFlyers GC v Fireballs GC

This format would also give us match play 16 times per season, which would be golfing entertainment gold, and build a true team narrative week after week, with every match counting towards the season-long rankings, and without a standalone team championship at the end.

LIV Golf needs to create a platform which potential interested investors will see their team brand front and centre, and making these changes to the format does that. Red Bull have experience of developing franchises across multiple sports including Football, Motor sport and Rugby, and have signed athletes across a wide range of sports, and LIV Golf would be a great entry point into the sport of golf. Red Bull could buy Legion XIII and relaunch it as the Golfing Bulls.

India is the greatest challenge and opportunity for golf in the next two decades, and LIV Golf can be at the forefront of that. India has become the most populous country on earth, with 1.4 billion residents, and is the world's largest democracy, it is a country and a market which has immense potential in this sport.

An Indian-based Franchise would present the opportunity to attract investment from owners of IPL teams

Currently Japan has an on-course golf participation rate of 9.2% of its 122million population, imagine if India saw that sort of rate of participation, we could see approaching 100 million people playing golf in India alone. As of 2023 there were 350,000 golfers in India, according to the R&A Global Golf Participation Report, showing the incredible opportunity there is to grow the game and the industry in this remarkable country.

McLaren has just announced McLaren Golf, a venture into golf club manufacturing, which launches on 29 April. Majesticks GC are the UK-based franchise on LIV Golf, and to date share some similarities in their sponsorship portfolio with McLaren F1, including former partners Castore and OKX. McLaren's venture into golf club manufacturing could see them sign at the very least an OEM deal with Majesticks GC with each of the team playing their golf clubs in the future. Ideally McLaren could buy the team and relaunch it as McLaren Golf in the LIV Golf League.

These changes make LIV Golf truly stand out from the crowd in professional golf, they make the league truly global, much more open and competitive, and enhance the team element significantly. Until the teams actually go head to head on a regular basis the team element will never fulfil its potential, and if that doesn't reach its potential then LIV Golf never will.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper

matt@shankmedia.co.uk