[PHOTO: Cliff Hawkins]
LIV Golf is moving to a more internationally diverse schedule for the 2024 season.
The Saudi-backed circuit announced eight different countries will host 12 regular-season events for next year’s campaign. Oddly, two spots on the calendar—the third and fifth events of the itinerary—remain open. Sources close to the LIV discussions say one of the venues in discussions is a spot outside Chicago. Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove has hosted a LIV event the past two years in the Chicago area, although the course was not listed in LIV’s overnight announcement.
Dates set and ticket-release details revealed for LIV Golf’s return to Adelaide
As for the events that have been announced, the Mayakoba venue in Mexico is returning as LIV’s season opener. Other returning venues are the Grange in Adelaide, Valderrama in Spain, Sentosa in Singapore, and the Greenbrier in West Virginia. This year’s event at Grange was noted for its crowd turnout, particularly around a stadium-like structure on a par 3 that went viral after a hole-in-one from Chase Koepka. Saudi Arabia will also host a LIV stop. Earlier this month LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman said the stadium venue will return and could possibly be expanded. The Greenbrier site provided perhaps LIV’s most memorable moment, with Bryson DeChambeau shooting 58 in the final round to grab the tournament title.
The #LIVGolf 2024 Schedule pic.twitter.com/EV0pFfjw1O
— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) November 22, 2023
New venues for 2024: Las Vegas during Super Bowl week, Hong Kong in March, Houston and Nashville in July, and a stop in Staffordshire in the United Kingdom in July. South Korea had also been in discussions for a LIV Golf stop; however, it appears those conversations have stalled, sources tell Golf Digest.
Most notably, after hosting three different tournaments in 2023, there are no Trump golf properties on the 2024 schedule. Both the Trump Bedminster and Trump Doral venues were part of the first two LIV seasons, with another Trump property outside Washington D.C. filling in this year. The development comes as former US president Donald Trump is campaigning for the 2024 United States presidency while facing 91 federal and state felony charges across four different trials.
Adam Scott unsure if PGA Tour/Public Investment Fund deal will get done
The 2024 season will be LIV Golf’s third season of its existence, and comes as LIV’s backer, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, continues talks with the PGA Tour to form a new entity. It is no secret that several companies are vying to provide financial backing to the tour, calling into question if the PIF deal will ultimately come to fruition. Moreover, should a partnership between the tour and PIF happen, there is no guarantee LIV will continue. The new entity formed by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF will, however, “undertake a full and objective empirical data-driven evaluation of LIV and its prospects and potential and will make a good faith assessment of the benefits of team golf in general, and PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour will work together in an effort to determine how best to integrate team golf into PGA Tour and DP World Tour events going forward”.
The framework between the tour and PIF calls for a new agreement to be completed by the end of the year, although both sides can agree to extend the deadline.
