Next month, Saudi Arabia will host the first event of the 2025 season in the LIV Golf League. However, the inaugural event will have a completely new look… The LIV Golf Riyadh will be the tournament with which the Saudi tour kicks off the new season at the Riyadh Golf Club, and it will be the first to be played at night. The three rounds, from 8th to 10th February, will be played under the lights, with a scheduled start at 18:15 local time.
This decision has a logical explanation. It comes just after LIV Golf signed a multi-year agreement last week with the American television network FOX Sports, which will provide live coverage of its 14 tournaments. Thus, this first event of 2025 on the circuit will start at 10:15 Eastern Standard Time in the United States both on Friday and Saturday (from 10:05 in the final round on Sunday).
For UK viewers, the LIV Golf Riyadh will start at 15:15 on Friday and Saturday and at 15:05 on Sunday (one hour later in Spain). In the United States, this schedule will allow fans to tune into the tournament before the famous Waste Management Phoenix Open of the PGA Tour begins at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona, which will have television coverage in the afternoon slot.
As for precedents, in the Ladies European Tour, for example, it was played under artificial light in Dubai in 2020 at the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, while events like The Showdown or The Match have also taken place at night. Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, two of the major stars of LIV Golf, competed in the last edition of the famous Match in December against the PGA Tour pair of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.
A week later, LIV Golf will travel to Adelaide and the tee-off is scheduled for 12:15 local time so that the game can be broadcast in the United States during prime time. Last year, the season started in Mayakoba, before moving to Las Vegas and visiting Jeddah in March. In 2025, the schedule changes… as do the timings, influenced, as we say, by the television agreement with FOX Sports which already ‘dictates’ from the first tournament.
