The second season of LIV Golf ends this weekend with the team championship at Trump National Doral in Miami. The individual season ended last week as Talor Gooch took the individual season title in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over stars like Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka.
This week in Miami, the 12 LIV teams will play for the team championship through three days of shotgun start golf — but in an interesting format that combines individual match play, team match play and aggregate stroke golf to eventually decide a winner.
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There’s a lot to understand, so here’s a breakdown.
What is LIV Golf’s team championship format?
The four highest-ranked teams receive a bye in the quarterfinals, while teams Nos. 5-12 compete in head-to-head match play to advance to the next round. Then, the same format repeats itself with the eight semifinal teams.
The twist? The higher-ranked seeds get to hand-pick their opponents in each round. So, for example, the fifth-ranked Stinger GC team of South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmeister and Branden Grace get first choice of any of the remaining teams they think they can beat in the quarterfinals. Then the higher seeds in the semifinals get to do the same.
Each team has four members, and the match play format works with two singles matches and one alternate-shot foursomes match. The rules are the first team to two points wins, with no ties. So all at once, for example, captain Brooks Koepka will be playing a singles match while one Smash GC teammate of his choosing will be playing the other singles match and the remaining two play in foursomes.
After two rounds of match play, the final four teams will play in a round of stroke play with the best combined team scores winning the title.
The confusing part? All 12 teams will be playing Sunday as they compete for the final rankings, but only the top four are playing for the title.
The standings heading into the Team Championship in Miami 📊#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/X2JrVMZlxC
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) October 16, 2023
What is the schedule?
Friday: Teams ranked 5-12 compete in head-to-head match play to determine who advances to the semifinals in a shotgun start beginning at 1:15 p.m. ET. Two singles matches and one foursomes match. First team to win two matches advances.
Saturday: The remaining eight teams compete in the same head-to-head match play format to determine which four teams advance to Sunday. Two singles matches and one foursomes match.
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Sunday: All players play a final shotgun start round of stroke play, with all four scores counting toward the final score. The lowest combined score of the final four teams finishes first. The other eight teams are still playing for their final rankings though. The four teams that lost in the semifinals are competing for spots five through eight, while the teams eliminated Friday are competing for spots nine through 12.
How is LIV’s championship different from the PGA Tour?
On the PGA Tour, there are no season-long teams. Players only play for themselves as individuals, fighting for spots in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the “quarterfinals” at the St. Jude Championship. Then, after the St. Jude Championship, the top 50 players in the points standings advance to the BMW Championship. Then, the top 30 in points after that make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
At the Tour Championship, the field starts with strokes given to the players with the most FedEx Cup points to give them an advantage. For example, No. 1 Scottie Scheffler started this year’s championship at 10-under-par, and the list went down to the bottom five players starting at even par. Then, the tournament unfolds in normal 72-hole fashion and the final scores of the 30 golfers determine where they finish in the overall season-long standings.
Who are the favorites?
Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC (with Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein) are the current No. 1 seed, followed by Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC with Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri. The 4Aces are looking to repeat.
The No. 3 seed is Torque GC, with captain Joaquinn Niemann and fellow Spanish-speaking players Sebastian Munoz, Mito Pereira and David Puig. Rounding out the top four is the individual champion Talor Gooch’s RangeGoats GC, captained by Bubba Watson with Harold Varner III and Thomas Pieters.
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How much money will be won?
The team championship boasts a $50 million overall purse. The winning team takes $14 million, with each player taking home $1.4 million and the remaining $8.4 million going into the team account. Second place takes home $8 million, with the same split — 60 percent to the team pot, 40 percent divided by the four players.
For winning the individual championship Gooch took home $18 million.
How to watch the LIV Golf team championship
Friday’s matches will steam live on on The CW app, free with no login. Then, Saturday and Sunday’s play will be aired on The CW and The CW app.
Play starts all three days at 1:15 p.m. ET.
(Top photo of Sergio Garcia: Fayez Nureldine / AFP via Getty Images)
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