LIV Golf is bursting into 2025 with a curtain-raiser in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – the homeland of the sovereign wealth fund that so heavily backs it.
LIV has endeavoured to be unique since its birth in 2022 and its efforts will be on show in Riyadh when the sun goes down and the lights come on for the first round at 6.15 pm local time.
That’s right – the 54-man roster will be playing night golf. Given that sunset is about 5.30 pm in this part of Saudi in February, the players will compete under cover of the night and will for the second and third rounds as well.
The first round will be live in the United States at 10.15 am. The rebel league might’ve made an adjustment to suit their new broadcast medium Fox Sports.
The stars of the show will be back. Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Patrick Reed will all tee it up in the Kingdom.
On February 3, Phil Mickelson announced he would miss the first event of 2025. He suffered a minor shoulder injury in the off-season and was replaced by recent Asian Tour winner Ollie Schneiderjans.
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Rahm was the winner of the LIV Golf individual standings in 2024, pocketing $18 million for his troubles on top of his reported $500 million sign-up fee which he signed for just before Christmas in 2023.
He is the favourite to hoist the first LIV Golf trophy of the year, making his first competitive start since the Hero Dubai Desert Classic where he missed the cut.
His LIV and European Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton both played impressively in 2024. Hatton won LIV’s event in Nashville and it very much looks like young DP World Tour star Tom McKibbin will add some more quality and fire-power to their four-man squad that also features Caleb Surratt.
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Hatton started 2025 in style of winning the Dubai Desert Classic. That was his eighth win on the DP World Tour.
Crushers captain DeChambeau was LIV’s major champion in 2024. He overcame Rory McIlroy in a titanic tussle at Pinehurst to win his second US Open title. He roared home a clutch par on the 72nd hole to beat his Northern Irish opponent who missed shorts putts on 16 and 18 in dramatic fashion.
There are a few new faces on the LIV Golf roster in 2025. Luis Masaveu, Tom KcKibbin, Ben Campbell, Yubin Jang and Frederik Kjettrup are on the new raft of players heading to the league now headed by new CEO Scott O’Neil.
O’Neil was announced as the league’s new chief executive in January, as Greg Norman retreats into the shadows. What was also announced at the start of 2025 was LIV Golf’s huge deal with US TV giant Fox Sports.
Let’s get into the event itself, explaining some details on LIV Golf Riyadh 2025.
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LIV Golf Riyadh 2025 Preview
Venue: Riyadh Golf Club, Saudi Arabia
Date: February 6-8, 2025
Course stats: Par 72; 7434 yards
Course summary: Riyadh Golf Club was first opened in 2005, so it is a relatively new addition to the golf landscape of the Kingdom. The par-72 championship course has undulating terrain, wide fairways, testing and fast greens. There are various lakes and streams to keep players alert as well as a monstrous 689-yard par 5.
Purse: $25 million
Defending champion: LIV Golf Jeddah (the Saudi Arabian-hosted event in 2024) was won by Joaquin Niemann
How to watch LIV Golf
LIV Golf has signed a deal with FOX Sports in the USA, so US fans will be able to watch the action across all FOX channels from 2025. LIV Golf+ App subscribers in the UK will still be able to watch the action. The LIV Golf website also says UK viewers can watch on LIV’s YouTube channel.
How does LIV Golf work?
LIV Golf features 54 players competing in an individual tournament for a lot of money. Those 54 players are also split into 13 teams of four who also compete for even more money.
The spare two players who are not in teams can score points in the individual standings, but they aren’t part of a team unless they are signed by a team.
There are 14 events at a range of locations around the world and there are two titles at stake: the individual championship and the team championship. If you finish in the top 24 at an event, you earn points towards your end-of-season total. If you earn the most points based on how well you finish, you will win the individual title.
At each event, the top eight teams of the 13 on the leaderboard will earn points in the team standings. In the first two days of the three-day events, three of the four players’ stroke play scores count towards the team total. On day three, every score counts.
Breaking from the conventional formats seen on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, LIV Golf events are played over 54 holes, with shotgun starts and no cuts.
ALSO: LIV Golf strike HUGE deal with US TV giant after finding Greg Norman’s replacement as Chief Exec
ALSO: Who plays where? Here is every LIV Golf team
What are the LIV Golf payouts?
The first seven tournaments of LIV Golf’s existence each carried a prize pot of $25 million – $20 million for the individual competition and $5 million for the team side of things. And this structure has remained consistent into 2025.
The maximum you can win at an event is $4.75 million – $4 million for winning the individual competition, and $750,000 for the winning team’s share per player – as Schwartzel did in the first event at Centurion. That works out to more than $23,000 per shot. Not bad for three days’ work.
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If you win the individual championship at the end of the season, you will also bank an eight-figure sum. Rahm, Johnson and Talor Gooch have respectively won the individual titles and reached banked $18 million.
NOW READ: Show me the money! How much has each LIV player made since signing up?
NOW READ: Which LIV golfers can play in the majors in 2025?
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