– With the close of the 2025 season, LIV Golf reached exactly fifty tournaments. Those first eight in 2022 and the 42 that have been played in 2023, 2024, and 2025, fourteen per year. If this same calendar of fourteen tournaments per season is maintained, the Saudi league would reach its first hundred tournaments by mid-2029, approximately. After all, it’s just a round number that we project into the future to try to imagine what LIV Golf will be like then, considering the changes that are already happening and others that could come.
– To begin with, let’s say that 26 of the fifty tournaments that have already been played took place on American soil, more than half, including the four team finals that closed each season. This was the initial intention, to play mainly on American soil. But circumstances (the audiences, above all, let’s not kid ourselves) have made the current course of action noticeably different, as the new CEO of the Saudi league, Scott O’Neil, has already hinted, seeking to expand mainly in the rest of the world.
– In 2022, five out of eight tournaments were played on American soil; in 2023, it was eight out of fourteen; in 2024, seven out of fourteen; and in 2025, six out of fourteen. The 2026 calendar is not yet complete, but everything suggests that this downward trend will continue, with five out of fourteen being played on American soil. There are already four (Virginia, Louisiana, Indianapolis, and Michigan) and two dates remain to be confirmed for 2026: it is likely that one of these two tournaments will be played on a links course the week before the Open, probably in Ireland, as Tengolf reported at the time; and the remaining one should indeed be played on American soil.
– Let’s take a leap of faith: if 26 of the first fifty tournaments were played in the United States, perhaps not even fifteen will be played there in the next fifty… And it is possible (even likely) that during this time, until 2029, the team final, the season’s climax, will also be held outside the United States.
– When LIV reaches its hundredth tournament, it will likely do so with a roster of participants around 72 players. In 2025, we had 54 on the field, in 2026 there will be at least 57, and it is certain that the number will increase each season, as well as probably the number of spots granted by the School (this year two were going to enter, but finally, it will be three, and it is not out of the question that it could reach five in future years), or those granted by the International Series of the Asian Tour (this year there were two, and the previous year there was only one).
– It would be logical to think that the increase in players would lead to a proportional increase in the number of teams in the Saudi league, but this is not at all clear. In fact, it seems more likely that it will not be the case. In 2026, for example, the thirteen teams that currently make up LIV Golf will be maintained (there were twelve ‘founding’ squads, and in 2024, Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII was added).
– A conjecture based on what comes from the backstage of the Saudi league: the appearance of a new team would only occur with the arrival of a major star, through a signing, who would indeed act as the captain of a new squad. It is evident that the Saudi PIF, no matter how much money it has, is no longer so keen on spending vast sums on high-profile players, but the possibility cannot be ruled out either, far from it…
This year, for example, the significant signing could have been Si Woo Kim, ultimately frustrated. Be that as it may, it is clear that the Korean’s stature is not the same as previous signings, but a nuance must be introduced: when LIV Golf tournaments start awarding world ranking points, top-tier players will be tempted again by the option of the Saudi league.
– Unless that marquee signing occurs, the players who join (via School or via International Series) would be wild cards and, at the same time, a good breeding ground for the signings of already formed squads, as vacancies arise at the end of each season due to poor performance.
– When LIV reaches a hundred tournaments, it will have been playing for a long time with a cut after the second round. It is a possibility that is on the table, and everything suggests that it will eventually be implemented. Moreover, it is also reasonable to consider that the starts will no longer be shotgun. It is not even out of the question that in this very 2026, the last round will not start as a shotgun and will be played under the classic tee times format…
– Is the team competition even at risk in the future, beyond those hundred tournaments we have set as a reference point? As of today, this is a red line that LIV Golf does not want to cross in any way, but it is another thing to make conjectures over a longer term than that year 2029…
There are many voices predicting a future for the Saudi league as a standard circuit, very much in line with those currently in operation (PGA Tour, DP World Tour).
– Let’s note to conclude a bold and feverish hypothesis that should not be ruled out in the very long term. The merger between LIV and PGA Tour, which at times seemed a real option, is today a chimera. But perhaps, from here to ten years, for example, an agreement between LIV (the PIF, that is) and the DP World Tour is not so far-fetched. It is truly complex to think about it, considering that the issue of fines has not even been resolved yet, but it is also more than evident that the channels of communication between both structures are much more fluid today. Increasingly fluid…
– Finally, the big final question: will Jon Rahm be in LIV Golf when those hundred tournaments are reached? The question is more relevant after Brooks Koepka’s departure, who left LIV even before his contract expired…
By then, the first major contract Jon signed would have already expired. Right now, today, Jon himself would probably lean towards his continued presence in the Saudi league in public, but let’s be honest: not even he is one hundred percent sure. The resolution of DeChambeau’s renewal, for example, will give us some clues, because there are players who renew at a lower rate (Dustin Johnson) and others who probably do so at a higher rate, as might be the case with the Californian or, in due course, Rahm. When making the decision, the fact that LIV tournaments already count for world ranking points will also weigh in, as well as Jon’s performance in the Majors, since a new victory would ensure his presence in all the majors for a longer period.
