This Friday, the final battle for the individual title in LIV Golf kicks off at the prestigious The Club at Chatham Hills. Joaquín Niemann will attempt to defend his privileged position against Jon Rahm to secure the order of merit of the Saudi tour, with a cheque amounting to 18 million dollars. Meanwhile, another competition will be underway, less in the spotlight, where several golfers are fighting for their continuity in the circuit. A ‘war’ to escape the relegation zone of the ranking, from the 49th position onwards, to have the chance to remain among the chosen ones for another year.
Before heading out to play in Indianapolis, those appearing in the positions that would see them out of LIV for 2026 are Mito Pereira from Torque GC (with 5.10 points), Andy Ogletree from Hyflyers GC (4.93), Luis Masaveu, reserve for Fireballs GC (4.59), Ian Poulter from Majesticks GC (4.50), Yubin Yang from Iron Heads GC (1.28), Anthony Kim, circuit ‘wild card’ (0 points), and Frederik Kjettrup from Cleeks Golf Club (0 points), along with several other players who have participated sporadically.
Considering that reserves do not count towards the relegation zone, as is the case with Masaveu, six players would lose their category. For them, it is imperative to finish this week’s tournament among the top 24 in the ranking, where points are distributed, to have any chance of moving to the next block of the table and continuing in LIV Golf. So, they are fighting for their lives in the tour, just like the golfers who are just above and could lose their category if any of those below manage to score enough. This is the case for Chieh-Po Lee, tour wild card (9.16 points), Brendan Steele from HyFlyers GC (7.36 points), Lee Westwood from Majesticks GC (7.20), and Henrik Stenson, also from Majesticks GC (5.52).
Last week, in Chicago, Chieh-Po Lee began his particular comeback, moving from 49th to 45th place after scoring points with a notable tied 13th place in Bollingbrook after rounds of 74, 67, and 69 strokes. Mito Pereira also advanced with the same result, a 13th place thanks to a dream finish with four birdies in his last five holes, delivering cards of 69, 72, and 69 strokes, moving from 53rd to 49th place. In his case, he still needs to score this week to ‘save’ himself and continue in the circuit that welcomed him after the drama of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills.
But all eyes are especially on Ian Poulter, one of the captains of Majesticks GC, a Ryder legend, who left Chicago empty-handed and has barely managed to score 4.5 points all season, finding himself in a very delicate situation. In LIV Golf, they assure that they will be relentless with that relegation zone, regardless of who the players are that finish in 49th place or worse, so their future in the tour is as uncertain as that of Henrik Stenson, another important name in the circuit and also one of the captains of the Majesticks, or even Lee Westwood, also in the team.
Escaping the ‘drop zone’ is the goal for a good handful of players this week in Indianapolis, although it is not a guarantee of continuity for those whose contracts end unless they achieve a great result that allows them to move from the ‘open zone’, positions 25th to 48th, to the ‘lock zone’, the top 24 classified, who secure their status in 2026. For Anthony Kim, one of the tour’s wild cards whose return to competition once moved the golf world, the year has been a torment, although he hopes to “put the pieces together, hopefully this week”, to continue.
