Just four events remain in the LIV Golf individual season and the threat of relegation is looming for numerous players at the wrong end of the standings.
The breakaway tour is yet to publicly confirm the exact details of its plans for relegation for this season, but last year four players – Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim – lost their place in the league last year.
If the same model is followed, the top 24 players in the standings at the end of the individual championship at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Illinois in September will finish in the Lock Zone and will be offered contract extensions if their deal with the league is expiring, or they have the option to decline and become a free agent.
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Players finishing between 25th and 44th will find themselves in the Open Zone, if their contracts are expiring, meaning their future with the tour is uncertain. Five of the six players in this situation in 2023 re-signed with their teams or joined new ones, with Bernd Wiesberger the only player who did not get a deal. The Austrian has since returned to the DP World Tour.
Players who finished in 45th or below were in the Drop Zone and at risk of relegation unless they were team captains. Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood benefited from this rule to escape relegation, but Morgan, Piot, Koepka and Kim were forced to compete in the LIV Golf Promotions qualifying event in Abu Dhabi in December to keep their place. All four were eliminated and were ineligible to play on LIV in 2024.
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Team captains Ian Poulter, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson are hovering around the Drop Zone, but they cannot be relegated regardless of where they finish in the standings. However, several others do not have the same kind of security to rely on.
Anthony Kim, once a rising star before spending more than a decade out of the game due to injuries, made a surprise return this season after years of anonymity and is dead last with zero points so far, alongside fellow wildcard Hudson Swafford.
Brothers Scott and Kieran Vincent are in 53rd and 54th, respectively, after poor starts to the campaign. Stinger GC's Branden Grace finished in the top 10 last season but is languishing in 52nd this year. Finland's Kalle Samooja is in 51st.
Further up the standings, some big names find themselves in uncomfortable territory. Pat Perez, Harold Varner III, Mito Pereira and Danny Lee are between 48th and 42nd and will need strong ends to the campaign to improve their chances of prolonging their LIV Golf futures.
The season resumes in Spain at the iconic Valderrama on July 12, followed by LIV Golf United Kingdom at JCB Golf and Country Club on July 26. The individual season concludes with two events in the United States at The Greenbrier and Bolingbrook, followed by the team championship in Dallas in September.
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