There are only two LIV Golf League events left in the 2024 individual season and - for a handful of players - their opportunity to secure a card in the 54-hole league next year is running out.
LIV Golf Greenbrier (August 16-18) is the penultimate event this term, and after that, it's over to Bolingbrook Golf Club for LIV Golf Chicago and the Individual Championship round.
Should players lose their LIV status, they have one final chance to regain it via the LIV Golf Promotions event in the winter. If not, starts on the Asian Tour are the most likely path forward as a result of the two tours' mutual agreement.
Players earn points in the individual competition for finishing inside the top-24 while they can also pick up points in the team event if their quartet ends eighth or higher after three rounds.
After the introduction of two wildcard spots and Jon Rahm's Legion XIII in the days before the season began, the number of players who can be relegated from the LIV Golf League has increased from four to possibly six.
As it stands, Anthony Kim and Hudson Swafford are the bottom two and have yet to record a single point from seven and 10 starts, respectively. Yet, due to their roles as Wildcards, they appear to be exempt from losing status via relegation. Details of the duo's respective contracts are extremely limited, although they are both believed to have only agreed initial one-year deals.
James Piot, Chase Koepka, Sihwan Kim, and Jediah Morgan all departed the circuit in 2023 despite Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer ending in the Drop Zone. The latter pair were exempt as a result of their status as team captains.
This season, names such as Harold Varner III, Pat Perez, and Branden Grace must achieve a successful finish if they are to avoid being in the mix as LIV waves goodbye to the lowest handful. Varner's current position is a particular surprise given he finished seventh in 2023 after winning the DC event.
Four players who are certainly in real danger of being relegated are Kieran Vincent, Branden Grace, Kalle Samooja, and Scott Vincent. Those four are the lowest-placed golfers who are part of a team but not in a captaincy role and must land a top-half finish if they are to have any hope of moving up the standings and living to fight another season.
Bubba Watson is the RangeGoats' captain, so - despite his lowly position (50th) - the two-time Masters champion will be back in 2025, should he choose to and the rule on exemptions for captains remain unchanged. Although, Watson has previously said that moving on is an option if he and his team no longer feels he is able to compete.
Speaking last season, the two-time Masters champion said: "I told my team if they don’t think I am good enough to play, they can kick me out and we will put another good golfer in my place. I am going to play until they kick me out.
"I love helping the young guys. They are all trying to be better and also better at golf. I get to influence three golfers in life, they are all parents and young dads. I want to be there for them and if they have a problem, I want to be able to help them."
Above Watson is Laurie Canter, but the former stand-in has effectively relinquished his LIV Golf status already in order to pursue opportunities with the DP World Tour again, therefore he will almost certainly accrue one of the relegation places. Since leaving the 54-hole league, Canter has claimed his first European Tour victory at the European Open.
The final three players who are in realistic danger of losing their LIV status are Varner III, Perez - both of whom belong to 4Aces - and the Iron Heads' Jinichiro Kozuma.
Perez, the lowest ranked of the aforementioned trio but still the final safe golfer, is on 7.76 and is within just two points of Scott Vincent below.
Below is the bottom part of the LIV Golf Individual standings ahead of LIV Golf Greenbrier.
* Likely exempt from relegation
