LIV Golf has confirmed that captains are not exempt from relegation ahead of the circuit's final regular season event this week.
The individual portion of the 2024 LIV Golf season concludes this week with the LIV Golf Individual Championship at Bolingbrook Golf Club, with players battling for the top prize and to keep their spots in the league next year.
Players that finish outside of the top 48, in what is called the “Drop Zone”, will be relegated from the league for the 2025 season – even team captains – although they will have an opportunity to earn their way back into next year’s lineup. Wildcards Anthony Kim and Hudson Swafford are not in line for relegation despite sitting in the Drop Zone due to their annual status as players not assigned to teams.
It means RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson – the only skipper currently in the seven-man Drop Zone – risks losing his spot in the league for next year as he currently sits 52nd in the standings.
HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson (44th) and both of Majesticks co-captains, Ian Poulter (46th) and Henrik Stenson (41st), are also mathematically vulnerable to relegation.
Reports of the news first emerged on social media, and LIV Golf has confirmed to Golf Monthly that no players are exempt from relegation this season and that captains can indeed be relegated.
⛳️🚨 NEWS:Captains on #LIVGolf ARE NOT exempt from relegation this season. Bubba currently sits outside the safe zone and is subject to relegation.The league has a board that can decide to bring captains back based on, among other factors, commercial viability of the team.September 12, 2024
However, there are pathways back to the league through the International Series and LIV Golf Promotions, with details for the Promotions event scheduled for the end of this year still to be announced.
Relegated players can be re-signed, Golf Monthly understands, if there is a business case for keeping the player.
Several other big names are facing the prospect of relegation this season include 2022 PGA Championship runner-up Mito Pereira (43rd) and Harold Varner III (47th).
Wildcard Anthony Kim sits 56th and in the drop zone but will become a free agent following the end of the season, with next year's wildcards still to be decided.
Based on LIV Golf’s season format, only the top 24 players on the end-of-season standings are guaranteed a place in their current team for 2025. Players with expiring contracts who finish between 25th and 48th place in the standings, in what is called the “Open Zone”, will become free agents with the opportunity to be re-signed by their team or picked up by another.
LIV Golf's individual race comes to a conclusion this week in Chicago, where Jon Rahm will look to hold off Joaquin Niemann in the race for the $18m bonus and a unique champion ring.
