What is LIV Golf?
Reports of a new breakaway league first emerged in 2019 but gathered pace last year as two-time Open champion Greg Norman became the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series as its chief executive.
With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund financing the series, there is a clear link to the Saudi Arabia government, whose record on human rights has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.
But what for a long time was considered to be a bargaining threat to the traditional PGA and DP World Tours and nothing more, took shape as the LIV Golf Series, which also features new competition rules and what tournament organisers say is an “exciting” new format.
What is the format for the LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami?
The top 36 players from the previous seven events and the Individual Standings qualify for the Team Championship, while league commitments and captains’ selections complete the field.
Friday, 28 October – Quarter Finals
The top four seeded teams will receive a bye. Teams seeded five-12 will battle it out in a head-to-head, Ryder Cup style match-play format.
The highest-ranked teams have selected their opponents. Unlike the Ryder Cup, no player will sit out, so all 32 players in the eight teams will compete in a shotgun start. A point is award for each head-to-head team match and there are three matches: two singles matches and one foursomes match. A team with two points will advance to Saturday’s matches and the matches will play out until a winner is confirmed, meaning to draws or half points.
Saturday, 29 October – Semi Finals
The top four seeded teams will now play the teams that emerged from Friday’s quarter-finals, with the same format and head-to-head team match play deciding who makes the Team Championship.
The highest-ranked teams select their opponents once again and all 32 players in the eight teams will be playing in a shotgun start. Just like Friday, we will see: two singles matches and one foursomes match and a point per match awarded to confirm a winning team with two points overall or more. The four teams winning teams advance to the Team Championship.
Sunday, 30 October – Team Championship
This is where it changes once more, with the four winning teams competing in a shotgun-start round of stroke play.
All 16 players will compete with the field divided up into two-balls. The team captains will play together. All four scores count towards the team’s score and lowest collective stroke-play score will crown the inaugural LIV Golf team champions.
When is the Miami event?
The tournament will begin on Friday 28 October and run through to Sunday 30 October. The first day, which includes the quarter-final matches, starts at 12pm ET (5pm BST) at Trump National Doral in Florida. The same start time will occur on Saturday in the semi-finals, but look for the last day of competition to start earlier UK time when the clocks go back, meaning a 4pm start if tuning in from the UK.
Who is playing?
The biggest names have emerged as captains with 12 teams of four players for the team championship.
The captains and three designated team members are outlined below, with teams 1-4 handed a bye into Saturday’s semi-finals.
Captains include Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter, Joaquin Niemann, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na, Martin Kaymer Cameron Smith and non-playing captain Bubba Watson.
What are the teams and who is in the field?
1
4 Aces
Dustin Johnson
Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch, Pat Perez
2
Crushers
Bryson DeChambeau
Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri
3
Fireballs
Sergio Garcia
Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra
4
Stinger
Louis Oosthuizen
Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Hennie du Plessis
5
Smash
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein, Chase Koepka
6
Majesticks
Ian Poulter
Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Sam Horsfield
7
Torque
Joaquin Niemann
Scott Vincent, Adrian Otaegui, Jediah Morgan
8
Hy Flyers
Phil Mickelson
Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Tringale
9
Iron Heads
Kevin Na
Sadom Kaewkanjana, Phacara Khongwatmai, Sihwan Kim
10
Cleeks
Martin Kaymer
Graeme McDowell, Laurie Canter, Richard Bland
11
Punch
Cameron Smith
Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Wade Ormsby
12
Niblicks
Bubba Watson (non-playing)
Harold Varner III, Hudson Swafford, James Piot, Turk Petit
Is it on TV?
LIV Golf has yet to be picked up by a major broadcaster in the UK.
However, the action is live streamed for free on the LIV Golf YouTube channel and Facebook page.
How much is the prize money?
The eighth and final event of LIV Golf in the 2022 Invitational Series will see players battle it out at the iconic Blue Monster course for an eye-watering $50 million purse. That’s double the prize money for each of the first seven events.
The winning team pockets $16 million, meaning a $4 million payout to each member, while all 12 teams receive prize money.
Regular season standings
1
Dustin Johnson
121
2
Branden Grace
79
3
Patrick Reed
76
4
Cameron Smith
56
5
Charl Schwartzel
55
6
Carlos Ortiz
50
7
Matthew Wolff
50
8
Peter Uihlein
49
9
Louis Oosthuizen
49
10
Talor Gooch
49
11
Sergio Garcia
44
12
Joaquin Niemann
42
13
Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra
41
14
Henrik Stenson
40
15
Paul Casey
40
Recommended
Regular season team standings entering Team Championship Miami
1
4 Aces
140
2
Crushers
80
3
Stinger
72
4
Fireballs
69
5
Majesticks
59
6
Torque
34
7
Iron Heads
32
8
Smash
30
9
Hy Flyers
29
10
Cleeks
20
11
Punch
16
12
Niblicks
13
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