LIV Golf Format, Field and Teams for London

The PGA Tour has not experienced much competition in its existence. However, thanks to the Phil Mickelson drama and lots of money to back it, LIV Golf quickly skyrocketed and pushed itself to the forefront of the golf news. This week is the very first LIV Golf Tournament, taking place in London from June 9-11.

So, what is LIV Golf? Below, we will go over the LIV Golf format, field and teams for the London event this week.

What is LIV Golf? Tour Schedule, Prizes and More

Led by former golf star Greg Norman, LIV Golf International Series is a new golf league that is looking to compete with the PGA. LIV has received criticism due to the Saudi financial backing of the start-up league. The name is LIV because it is the Roman numeral for 54, which is the number of holes in each tournament.

For its first year, LIV Golf will feature seven regular-season tournaments and one team championship.

Credit: bunkered

LIV Golf Prize Money, Purse, Payout

In total, $255 million will be awarded across the eight tournaments. Each regular-season tournament will have a $25 million purse, with $20 million in individual payouts and $5 million to the top three teams. After the seven regular-season tournaments, the top three scoring golfers will share an additional $30 million ($18 million, $8 million and $4 million each). The final $50 million will be awarded at the Team Championship. 

It’s important to note that no golf will leave empty-handed, which is a big selling point. For the regular-season tournaments, $4 million is awarded to the winner and the last-place golfer still earns $120,000.

The LIV payouts are larger than that of the PGA.

LIV Golf Format

The LIV Golf events are all three-round, 54-hole contests. There are 48 players and no cuts. They also feature shotgun starts, meaning every golfer begins at the same time, but at a different hole.

Each tournament will be a three-round, 54-hole contest with 48 players and no cuts. The events feature shotgun starts (every player starts at the same time, but at a different hole) and a team element. Of course, there is also a team event, which has fans intrigued.

The individual scoring is judged by stroke play, like any other golf event you have seen. For the team events, there are 12 four-person groups that are determined by a draft during the week of each event. The best two stroke play scores over the first two rounds will count for each team, then the best three will count in the final round. The team with the lowest overall score after 54 holes will be named the team winner.

The Team Championship will be a four-day, four-round, match-play knock-out event in Miami from October 27-30.

LIV Golf Teams and Draft Results for London

The team names below all have golf connotations and end with "GC" for Golf Club. Captains (bolded) drafted their teams and had 54 seconds to make each pick. Along with 54 holes per tournament, the 54 seconds stick to the overall 54 theme. LIV, of course, is 54 in Roman numerals.

Here are the LIV Golf teams and draft results for London.

4 ACES GC
Dustin Johnson
Shaun Norris
Oliver Bekker
Kevin Yuan

HY FLYERS GC
Phil Mickelson
Justin Harding
TK Chantananuwat (a)
Chase Koepka

PUNCH GC
Wade Ormsby
Matt Jones
Ryosuke Kinoshita
Blake Windred

CLEEKS GC
Martin Kaymer
Pablo Larrazabal
JC Ritchie
Ian Snyman

IRON HEADS GC
Kevin Na
Sadom Kaewkanjana
Hideto Tanihara
Viraj Madappa

SMASH GC
Sihwan Kim
Scott Vincent
Jinichiro Kozuma
Itthipat Buranatanyarat

CRUSHERS GC
Peter Uihlein
Richard Bland
Phachara Khongwatmai
Travis Smyth

MAJESTICKS GC
Ian Poulter
Lee Westwood
Sam Horsfield
Laurie Canter

STINGER GC
Louis Oosthuizen
Hennie du Plessis
Charl Schwartzel
Branden Grace

FIREBALLS GC
Sergio Garcia
David Puig (a)
James Piot (a)
Jediah Morgan

NIBLICKS GC
Graeme McDowell
Bernd Wiesberger
Turk Pettit
Oliver Fisher

TORQUE GC
Talor Gooch
Hudson Swafford
Adrian Otaegui
Andy Ogletree

Following the LIV Golf teams draft, Kevin Na and Peter Uihlein made a trade, exchanging Hideto Tanihara and Richard Bland.