LIV just called her school Q. Here’s what that might mean

LIV Golf has just published the details for the second edition of its “Promotions” event. One difference is noted: there is only one seat available for the 2025 LIV season, compared to three last year.

The three-day, four-round tournament will take place at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia and will culminate in a 36-hole final on Saturday, December 14, when a qualifier will be crowned. The rest of the top 10 will earn full exemptions to the International Series, the LIV-backed segment of the Asian Tour. The field will also compete for a $1.5 million purse, with $200,000 going to the winner.

The relegated LIV pros can compete for a place, as can those who finished outside the top 24 this season and therefore have no guaranteed places for 2025.

So why the change? And what does this mean for LIV? Here are five foods buried in the league’s release. (Full details at bottom.)

1. Year 1 of the “Promotions” experiment didn’t really work.

Last year’s qualifying event was a two-day shootout that was high drama but also high variance; there was no guarantee that players who passed would thrive in the year-long LIV competition. And they didn’t. Kalle Samooja, Kieran Vincent and Jinichiro Kozuma won last year’s spots; Samooja and Vincent finished outside the top 48 and were dropped, while Kozuma finished 45th and thus has no guarantee of being re-signed for 2025.

So if the goal was to add elite talent and bolster the strength of LIV’s fields, it didn’t work. The main targets for LIV are unlikely to put themselves through such a precarious test as this event; someone like Tyrrell Hatton was a no splash agent and got a huge signing bonus when he joined LIV but wouldn’t have competed in Promotions.

2. LIV’s team structure still has issues to work out.

How do LIV players end up on teams in the offseason? It’s free agency… PRINCIPALLY. But when players are guaranteed LIV spots, but specific captains haven’t claimed those specific players, that’s where things get weird. Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team assigned Vincent last year, for example, but he’d probably prefer to have the freedom to sign whoever he wants. This is a constant tension. An anonymous LIV executive said SI that “the league’s ability to impose players on teams is something we want to move on from.” This checks.

3. LIV’s pursuit of OWGR points is ancient history.

One of the initial drivers behind the creation of the Promotions event was to appease the official world golf rankings, which had taken into account the fact that LIV was a relatively closed shop. This bare-bones approach to the league serves as a reminder that LIV has abandoned all research for OWGR points, choosing instead to undermine the previous system, especially as his player rankings continue to decline.

Instead, the league is standing by, for the second year in a row TUGR startup ranking to help determine eligibility for its Promotions field.

4. Free agency is vision.

If the goal was to get more proven players from within its system, there is a world where LIV could have taken some spots from the Promotions and replaced them with year-long qualifiers from the affiliated International Series, the LIV-sponsored segment of the tournament asian But he didn’t do that; instead there is still only one spot available for the International Series season champion—a spot currently held by American John Catlin. (Last year’s International Series ouster, Andy Ogletree, finished 34th in the 2024 LIV standings as part of Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers.)

That means only two golfers will need homes, and Catlin would be a welcome addition to many rosters; this should be easy. Promotions Winner? It depends on who passes it…

However, in general, LIV would prefer to let its captains choose their own players. They determined it would be best for business, especially for a league whose ultimate goal is to sell its franchises. (The captains of most of the 13 franchises own a 25% stake in their teams, while LIV owns the other 75%). commercial value.” This means the freedom to hunt players from any tournament, anywhere.

5. LIV remains keen to realize Saudi golf.

Last year’s Promotions event was in Abu Dhabi; this year he went to Saudi Arabia, to Riyadh Golf Club. This is not shocking, given the Saudi backing of LIV. But it’s a reminder that a central component of LIV’s vision involves growing Saudi Arabia as a cultural center — and ultimately a golf destination.

LIV will also kick off its 2025 season in Riyadh in February.

What does all of the above mean for the future of pro golf in general? Mostly it’s a reminder that, ongoing negotiations or not, LIV is moving forward with its business and preparing for a full 2025 season.

You can find full details of the Promotions below.

LIV GOLF PROMOTIONS

When: 12-14 December 2024

Where: Riyadh Golf Club, Saudi Arabia

format: Four rounds of 18-hole play, but with a few twists. Those who finish in the top 20 and are tied from the first round (on December 12) will advance to Friday’s second round. The results will then be reset and the other banned players will be added. The top 20 players after the second round will advance to Saturday, where the results will be reset BACK. Saturday brings a 36-hole shootout for the exempt spot at LIV, with the top 10 earning International Series exemptions.

Who is entitled: There are different levels of exclusion, as follows.

Category A: Qualifiers for round 1

Category B: Exceptions in round 2
The following players are excluded from round 1 and are automatically eligible to participate in round 2:

Dylan Dethier

Editor of Golf.com

Dylan Dethier is a senior writer for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. Resident of Williamstown, Mass. joined GOLF in 2017 after two years of struggling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, where he majored in English, and he is the author of 18 in Americawhich details the year he spent as an 18-year-old living out of his car and golfing in every state.