Chieh-po Lee won the LIV Golf Promotions event on Saturday to claim the lone spot from the qualifying tournament in the LIV Golf League for 2025.
A member of the Asian Tour who goes by the English name of Max Lee, the 30-year-old golfer from Chinese Taipei shot 10 under par in the 36-hole format at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia to win by two shots over another Asian Tour player, Taichi Ko, and relegated LIV player Branden Grace.
The event saw 20 players qualify for the final day, with the top 10 players earnings spots on the International Series in 2025, a group of 10 elevated events that is part of the Asian Tour. Lee won his first professional event earlier this year at the International Series Thailand.
Unlike last year when three players joined LIV after the qualifier, Lee is the only player to advance to the league after LIV changed its format for this year. Lee's victory also paid him $200,000 from a $1.5 million purse. The three-day event saw two 18-hole rounds on Thursday and Friday with the scores reset for the final day. A total of 92 players entered the competition.
Six players on the final leaderboard did not previously have International Series status including American Ollie Schniederjans, who has battled injuries in recent years and now has the option of competing in Asia in 2025. Those exempt for the International Series can get invites to regular Asian Tour events. Schniederjans has conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Grace, who in 2022 won LIV Golf’s second event in Portland, Oregon, and is the first player to ever shoot 62 in a major championship when he did so at the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale.
Grace had played for the all-South African team Stringer GC that is captained by Louis Oosthuizen and includes Charl Schwartzel and Dean Burmester. Grace finished outside of the top 48 players in the season-long points race, which meant he was relegated out of the league and why he was in the Promotions event to try to earn his way back.
But his team can make a business case for him to return and thus it is possible he is back in the league again in 2025.
Lee could join one of LIV’s teams that is in need of a player, or he could be one of two wild card members who compete as individuals throughout the year.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LIV Golf Will Have First Taiwanese Player in 2025.
