LIV Golf to take big step to OWGR status with new Q School format

It looks like Greg Norman’s plan to introduce promotion and relegation to his league is going ahead. Matt Chivers explains how it will work

The players who have joined LIV Golf were excited and raring to go for the new season with new faces, new venues, and new team names.

They have found a fresh lease of life on the Saudi-financed circuit which offers $25 million in prize money at each event, but there is one key thing CEO Greg Norman still hasn’t delivered.

LIV formed an alliance with the little-known MENA Tour from the Middle East and North Africa in 2022, but despite their lofty expectations, the new league still falls short of the Official World Golf Ranking status.

One of the criteria they need to meet is providing a qualification pathway to the main league, similar to the Q-school that many professionals use to access the DP World Tour.

The breakaway league may have signed the likes of Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, and Brooks Koepka, but their world rankings are dropping which could one day affect their eligibility in major championships.

According to various reports, LIV will deploy its new qualification process at the end of the 2023 season which involves relegation and a 72-hole tournament for external candidates to join the tour.

The event, named the LIV Golf Promotions Event, will be staged in November and three spots will be available for hopeful qualifiers.

LIV Golf has a strong relationship with the Asian Tour, a circuit in which it invested $300 million, and a number of LIV players have appeared at events in the International Series.

The winner of each of those gains an automatic spot on the LIV Golf 2024 roster, but the qualifying tournament will begin with a first round of 18 holes.

As we saw last season, LIV Golf has an individual table that was won by Johnson as he earned the most points with one victory and five other top-10 finishes. The two-time major champion also won the team event with 4 Aces GC.

The top 24 in the individual table this time around will confirm their futures for the next season.

Interestingly, the players in places 25-44 can be transferred to other teams. The bottom four players will be relegated, but if they have multi-year contracts, they will be saved and players higher up the rankings would be in jeopardy.

LIV Golf is holding 14 events this year with the season-ending team championship taking place at the Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia.

How will the LIV Golf Promotions Event work?

Here is a full breakdown of the LIV Promotions Event and the eligibility of players in each round. This will determine the 48-man list in 12 months’ time:

Round 1: 18 holes of stroke play

– Players ranked 6-32 in the Asian Tour’s International Series rankings

– Winners of the US Amateur Championship, the British Amateur Championship, the NCAA D1 Individual Stroke-play Championship, the Latin-America Amateur Championship, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the European Amateur Championship, and the Eisenhower Individual Championship

– Entries from the OWGR’s top 200 and the top 20 in the amateur rankings

Round 2: 18 holes of stroke play

– The top 20 players and ties from Round 1

– Players ranked 6-32 in the Asian Tour’s International Series rankings

– The four players relegated from the LIV Golf League in 2023

– Winners of the Open, the US Open, the Masters, and the PGA Championship since 2018

– Members of the 2023 Ryder Cup teams and the 2022 Presidents Cup

– Players ranked 2-5 in the Asian Tour’s International Series rankings

– Winners of the US Amateur Championship, the British Amateur Championship, the NCAA D1 Individual Stroke-play Championship

Rounds 3 and 4: 36 holes of stroke play

– 16 players from round two progress

– The top three players will earn their place in the LIV Golf 2024 season.