LIV Golf teams will be allowed to trade players in mid-season from 2024.
LIV Golf’s unique team and individual format features two season-long leaderboards, with points earned at each tournament. The player with the most points at the conclusion of the final stroke-play event, the Individual Championship, is the season’s individual champion and final team standings determine seeding for the season-ending Team Championship. In 2023, RangeGoats GC’s Talor Gooch won the individual title while Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC claimed the Team Championship.
The individual standings are broken down into three categories, with final positions determining a player’s status in the league:
Lock Zone: Players finishing in the top 24 secure an opportunity with the league next season.
Open Zone: Players finishing 25-44 whose contracts are expiring become free agents.
Drop Zone: Players finishing 45 and below are relegated out of the league and automatically qualify for LIV Golf Promotions for the chance to earn their spot back next season.
There are several phases to offseason player movement as teams prepare for next season:
Phase 1: Top 24 contract extensions offered
Players who finished in the top 24 Lock Zone of the individual standings at the conclusion of the regular season are guaranteed an opportunity to play in the 2024 LIV Golf League.
In Phase 1, currently underway, players in the Top 24 whose contracts expire at the end of 2023 are offered a minimum one-year contract extension by their existing team.
The five players who are extension eligible are Peter Uihlein (12th, 4Aces GC), Anirban Lahiri (13th, Crushers GC), Carlos Ortiz (15th, Fireballs GC), Richard Bland (20th, Cleeks GC) and Scott Vincent (22nd, Iron Heads GC).
If a player in this group decides not to accept the offer from his current team, he will become a free agent and may be signed by another team with an open roster spot.
Phase 2: Free agency
Phase 2 marks the start of free agency. In addition to any Top 24 players who opt to become free agents, players who finished 25th to 44th (Open Zone) whose contracts also expire at the end of 2023 are free agents. These players may be re-signed by their previous team or can negotiate a contract with another team that has an open roster spot.
Players who finished in the Open Zone and are no longer under contract are Pat Perez (28th, 4Aces GC), David Puig (31st, Torque GC), Matt Jones (37th, Ripper GC), Bernd Wiesberger (41st, Cleeks GC), and Graeme McDowell (42nd, Cleeks GC).
Teams are not obligated to re-sign their free agents from the Open Zone and can instead create an open roster spot. Teams with open spots have the option to:
- Sign a top-24 player who opted to enter free agency
- Sign any player in the Open Zone whose contract has expired
- Sign or trade for a player contracted with a different team if agreed upon by both teams (Note: A team may not recruit a player under contract with another team unless it has received permission from that player’s team to do so)
- Sign an external player who was not a regular member of any 2023 LIV Golf team roster (Note: players must meet a minimum criteria determined by LIV Golf to ensure the competitive integrity of the league).
Free agency will conclude when four league roster spots remain. These spots are reserved for the winner of the International Series Rankings and the top three finishers from LIV Golf Promotions.
Phase 3: LIV Golf Promotions
LIV Golf Promotions presents an exciting pathway for the world’s leading amateur and professional golfers to play in the LIV Golf League in 2024. The inaugural tournament will be staged 8-10 December at the iconic Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates, with four rounds of golf played over three days, including 36 holes played on the final day.
LIV Golf Promotions will offer overall prize money of $1.5-million, and the top three finishers will earn a place on one of LIV Golf’s teams next season and exemption into all 14 LIV Golf League events in 2024.
Highlighting the global aspect of the LIV Golf League, leading players from all over the world will be eligible to participate. In addition, relegated players finishing 45th and below in the 2023 LIV Golf League standings (the Drop Zone), and those without a team contract for 2024 who finished in the Open Zone also have the opportunity to regain their playing rights for 2024.
The deadline for players to register is 20 November.
Trades and the draft
Throughout the offseason, teams may trade players from their current rosters, providing the trade is approved by both teams. To support opportunities for teams to strengthen their rosters once the season has begun, a mid-season trading window will take place in 2024 (exact dates to be announced) where teams and players will be free to negotiate trades as well as extensions to their existing contracts if a player is in the last year of his contract.
Following LIV Golf Promotions, the league will host the LIV Golf Draft through which the winner of the International Series Rankings and the top three finishers in LIV Golf Promotions will be drafted onto the remaining teams that have an open spot on their roster. Additional details on timing and format will be released in due course.
