How will free agency work within LIV Golf?
We’ve seen it in the NFL, NBA and NHL, but what will free agency bring to LIV Golf?
It’s something that has been a part of sports for years, but it is new to golf. What is free agency, and how will it impact LIV Golf?
In total, there were 50 players who featured in at least one LIV Golf event this season. The final standings after LIV Golf Jeddah have seen the players split into three sections.
Prior to the season starting, we already knew the top 24 golfers would be assured of a place in the 2024 season. They are in the ‘Lock Zone’.
We also knew there would be a ‘Drop Zone’, with players at risk of being relegated from the league. The middle section is known as the ‘Open Zone’ and is for those players who finished 25th to 44th in the final standings.
It is this ‘Open Zone’ which is where the free agency talk begins…
How will free agency with LIV Golf work?
It starts with the ‘Open Zone’. Those who finished 25th to 44th in the season-long standings may not be at the same teams for the start of the 2024 campaign.
Some of these players may also be contracted to their respective teams.
The free agency period, which will run to the start of the 2024 LIV Golf campaign, could see players be traded or released. It will be the same as free agency in most American sports leagues, including the NFL, NHL and NBA.
For example, a player who finished 28th could be traded to a team who, in return, trade away the player who finished 37th.
Another example could see a team release the player that finished 41st, with the intentions of trying to sign someone else that finished in the ‘Open Zone’, or potentially even someone who has not played in the LIV Golf league in 2023.
That player released would then become one of the free agents, who could then be signed for any other team.
Who finished in the ‘Open Zone’
These are the players who finished in the ‘Open Zone’, including those that are exempt from the free agency rules.
Those exempt are the captains that finished inside these 20 positions, as they will continue to lead their respective teams next season.
25 – Henrik Stenson (exempt – Majesticks GC co-captain)
26 – Abraham Ancer
27 – Matthew Wolff
28 – Pat Perez
29 – Danny Lee
30 – Kevin Na (exempt – Iron Heads GC captain)
31 – David Puig
32 – Eugenio Chacarra
33 – Thomas Pieters
34 – Ian Poulter (exempt – Majesticks GC co-captain)
35 – Paul Casey
36 – Bubba Watson (exempt – Range Goats GC captain)
37 – Matt Jones
38 – Charl Schwartzel
39 – Phil Mickelson (exempt – HyFlyers GC captain)
40 – Sam Horsfield
41 – Bernd Wiesberger
42 – Graeme McDowell
43 – Andy Ogletree (possibly exempt – International Series Order of Merit leader)
44 – Laurie Canter
Lee Westwood (45 – Majesticks GC co-captain) and Martin Kaymer (49 – Cleeks GC captain) are also exempt from relegation or free agency.
Can those players in the ‘Drop Zone’ still play in LIV Golf in 2024?
Four men have been relegated from LIV Golf following their performances over the 2023 season.
Sihwan Kim failed to score a point across the 13 events, with just one finish where he was not in the bottom six.
Jediah Morgan, James Piot, and Chase Koepka were the other three to end the season in the ‘Drop Zone’ having only scored points in a single event.
However, their LIV Golf careers are not over. They will have a shot at redemption at the end of the year.
There will be a tournament in December which will see the top three players secure places in the LIV Golf league for the 2024 season.
There will then be a draft ahead of the new campaign to determine which teams those golfers will be playing for in 2024.
What are your thoughts on free agency in LIV Golf? Is it something you will be watching closely? Let us know with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
