One of the main innovations of LIV Golf in 2026 will be that the tournaments, starting this week with the debut in Riyadh, will be played over 72 holes instead of 54. Thirteen more days of competition in the year. The measure has generated a significant division of opinions among the players of the Saudi league. In fact, the two main heavyweights of LIV at the moment, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, think differently.
Rahm has always defended the change, practically from the moment he joined LIV back in 2024. This Monday, in fact, he emerged as the leader of the proposal. “I am happy with the modification. I would say I was one of the people who pushed for it to happen. So, obviously, I am happy. I think the more golf we play, the better for the strong teams and the strong players,” he stated.
Many players have aligned with Jon. Sergio García has said he has no problem playing 72 holes, Lee Westwood considers that the measure has many more good things than bad, McDowell has also supported the motion from the beginning, and Dean Burmester believes it will be beneficial for preparing for the Majors.
DeChambeau, on the other hand, preferred the 54-hole format. He said so in statements to Today’s Golfer made a couple of weeks ago during the LIV media session in Florida. “Undoubtedly, this measure moves away from what we were initially told it was going to be. There is a certain movement that, I would say, has interested all of us, and we wonder: ‘why that movement?’. Because we were told it was going to be this. So that definitely has made us have different thoughts about it,” he stated. In other words, what DeChambeau is saying is that one of the reasons for signing with LIV Golf was because it was played over 54 holes and now, suddenly, they have changed it…
In this regard, concerning his future in the league, he remained quite enigmatic, leaning towards evasive. “I have a contract for this year, and we will fulfil it. We’ll see what happens after. Look, it’s 72 holes, it has changed, but we are still excited to play as professionals and play for what we are doing and travel around the world. I think it’s going to be great for our team. Is it what we ultimately signed up for? No. We were supposed to be different, so right now I’m a bit indifferent about it. Hopefully, over time it will weigh positively, but you never know. I’m not sure. We didn’t sign up to play 72.”
In DeChambeau’s camp are other influential players like Paul Casey, who would have changed the shotgun start before, for example, or Louis Oosthuizen, who considers the 54 holes as a hallmark and that the change to 72 will make things difficult because there are many long and extensive travels in the league. By the way, it is significant that in the first tournament of the year in Saudi Arabia, there is no press conference scheduled with Bryson DeChambeau before the tournament.
