By Matt Hardy
When simply completing the final weekend of the calendar earns you a minimum of $250,000 (£216,300), you know the reason why there’s a certain draw to the extravagant season finale of the LIV Golf Series.
But at the Trump National Doral Golf Club from tomorrow, a solid three rounds of golf, on what’s known as the Blue Monster, could bag you a share of $16m (£13.8m).
The LIV Golf Series has already seen American Dustin Johnson pick up the solo title – bagging £14.4m – but in Miami this weekend it is all about the teams.
The LIV purse
Seedings, singles, foursomes and a $50m (£43.3m) purse; it’s fair to say the Saudi Arabia-backed series is pulling out all of the stops as it concludes its inaugural season. But how does it work?
There are 12 teams on the LIV Golf Series circuit and they have been competing at each of the previous seven events on the calendar to earn seedings for this weekend.
Seeds ranked one through four – Aces, Crushers, Fireballs and Stinger – receive a bye until Saturday. The other eight teams – Smash, Majesticks, Torque, Hy Flyers, Iron Heads, Cleeks, Punch and Niblicks – will compete tomorrow.
The highest ranked team competing tomorrow – Smash GC – will get first pick of who they play in a three-match format – two singles matches and one foursomes match – in which every player on the team is used.
Brooks Koepka’s Smash are able to pick the next best seed – Ian Poulter’s Majesticks – the worst – Bubba Watson’s Niblicks – or any team in between. The next highest ranked side will then pick their opponents and that will continue until there’s four ties.
The three rounds of golf will be played until there is a winner – with play-off holes possible – with the only selection rule being that captains must face one another.
If you win two of the three matches, you’re through to Saturday.
Onwards
On Saturday, the four teams who had round one byes pick their opponents for a day of identically formatted golf, again with the best four going through to Sunday’s Team Championship final.
On Saturday it’s the Aces – Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Taylor Gooch and Pat Perez – who come into play, with captain Johnson having the potential to play the one of the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia or Louis Oosthuizen.
Sunday sees the four remaining teams will head around the Trump National competing in stroke play with all 16 players competing and captains facing off again.
The team with the lowest combined score will win the bulk share of the $50m pot – $16m combined, $4m (£3.5m) each – and be crowned the inaugural champions.
“LIV has revived the sport in record time during our beta-test season,” LIV Golf Series front man Greg Norman said. “Players are celebrating the team format, which is bringing new energy and audiences to golf that the game deserves.
“It’s fitting that we tie a bow on this historic year with a dramatic and innovative team championship that will propel us into a team-focused league from 2023 onward.”
It’s a mega payday for those lucky enough to come out on top as the sun sets on LIV Golf’s first season on Sunday, but how the the league builds on its winners, triumphs and mistakes will be telling as to whether the breakaway, Saudi-backed tour has a place long into the future of golf.
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