The incredible prize money LIV Golf hands out at each of its tournaments is well documented, but there’s even more at stake than the $25m offered at each of its regular events and $50m available at season finale the Team Championship.
Players are also immersed in a season-long battle to be crowned Individual Champion, and the winner receives the biggest one-off payment of all.
In the inaugural season, 4 Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson took the Individual Championship honors after he lived up to his billing as a marquee signing, while in 2023, Talor Gooch was crowned Individual Champion after a glorious season that included three wins.
Both Johnson and Gooch claimed a staggering $18m for their victories in the Individual Championship, and this year’s winner will earn the same amount.
Following LIV Golf Greenbrier, we now know that only two players are in the running for that enormous payday.
LIV Golf awards 40 individual standings points for a victory, and with just one regular tournament left to play, neither Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm nor Torque GC leader Joaquin Niemann, who occupy the top two places, can be caught by the player in third.
With fewer than three points separating the pair at the top of the standings, that will add plenty of drama to the LIV Golf Chicago tournament that will ultimately decide who takes the $18m. However, finishing second or third is not to be dismissed either.
That’s because the player who finishes second will be handed a bonus payout of $8m, with the player finishing third boosting his bank balance by $4m.
Currently, the third-placed player is Rahm’s teammate Tyrrell Hatton, but fewer than 17 points separate the Englishman and seventh, with Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka all still in the running for the $4m bonus payout.
Beneath third, as with the 2023 season, the battle is on to secure places in the top 24 for the Lock Zone, which guarantees a place for the 2025 season. Beyond that, players finishing between 25th and 48th will be in the Open Zone, where players with expiring contracts can either be re-signed by their team or picked up by another.
Finally, there is the Drop Zone, which affects players who finish 49th or lower. Unless their contract states otherwise, those players will be relegated and qualify for the 2024 LIV Golf Promotions tournament for a final chance to retain their status.
