Facts: The LIV Tour’s structure and sub-competitions
The LIV tour, Saudi Arabia’s golf investment, is decided by eight competitions under the name LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Each competition is played over 54 holes over three days, with no qualifying limit and with shotgun starts.
48 players are divided into teams of 12 players who settle for a prize pool of approximately SEK 310 million per competition.
+ June 9-11, Centurion Club, Hertfordshire, England.
+ July 1-3, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Portland, Oregon, USA.
+ July 29-31, Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey, USA.
+ September 2-4, The International Golf Club, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
+ September 16-18, Rich Harvest Farms, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
+ October 7-9, Stonehill, Bangkok, Thailand.
+ October 14-16, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
+ October 27-30, Trump National Golf Club Doral, Miami, Florida, USA (Tour Championship Final).
Last week it became clear that the Swedish golf star Henrik Stenson is changing his playing on the American PGA Tour and the European Tour to playing on the newly started LIV Tour, which is financed by Saudi Arabia’s state investment fund PIF.
This week, Stenson, who won The Open in 2016 and made history as Sweden’s first male major winner, makes his debut on the controversial tour that has been accused of being part of so-called sportswashing, a way for Saudi Arabia to wash its reputation through sports for example human rights.
Stripped of captaincy
After Stenson was questioned for several days and had to withstand criticism for his choice, which, among other things, cost him the captaincy of Europe’s Ryder Cup team, the 46-year-old impressed during the first round of three on Donald Trump’s course in Bedminster, New Jersey, USA.
The Swede, who started on hole 16, went four under par during his opening nine holes (holes 16–18 and 1–6) and was then the only leader in the competition where all players started at the same time but on different holes, a so-called shotgun start . During Stenson’s final nine holes (holes 7–15), he went three under par.
After a 64 round, seven under par, the Swede shares the lead in the competition with American Patrick Reed ahead of Saturday’s second round of three. Phachara Khongwatmai, Thailand, is in third place, five under par.
More than double the prize money
The LIV Tour competitions differ from the PGA and European Tour competitions in several ways. In part, there are only three competition days per week, instead of four, and in part the players represent teams and do not just compete individually. Stenson plays in the team Majesticks with Englishmen Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield.
The prize money is also clearly higher. An individual victory in the LIV tour’s sub-competition in Bedminster brings 4 million dollars, equivalent to about 40.4 million kroner, according to Golf Digest. A victory for the team brings another $3 million.
By comparison, the winner of this week’s PGA Tour event, the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, gets $1.5 million, according to Sports Illustrated.