Rival Golf tours make adjustments

TORONTO • The LIV Golf Invitational Series plans to relegate four players at the end of its second season and employ a qualifying tournament heading into its third, Sports Illustrated (SI) reported.

The qualifying event, to be called Promotions, mirrors the PGA Tour's Q-School, according to SI's report from Monday.

The renegade tour is preparing to hold the third event of its inaugural season tomorrow at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

The relegation will take place in October next year, at the end of the new tour's 14-event slate that will feature a set 48-man field, per the report. LIV Golf will institute a rankings list during the 2023 campaign and the bottom four would have to play their way back in.

But some players could be exempt from relegation, depending on their contract terms with LIV Golf, said the report.

The Promotions event would last three or four days and possibly have a 36-hole finale, said SI.

The event would then set the field for the 2024 season.

The PGA Tour is also making changes that are closely related to its feud with LIV Golf.

It has created a separate eligibility points list for the FedExCup Playoffs that ensures golfers who were suspended for joining LIV Golf do not negatively affect other players' eligibility.

At the end of the PGA Tour's regular season, the top 125 in the eligibility points list make the play-offs, which are three events featuring a progressive cut with fields of 125, 70 and 30. The winner gets US$18 million (S$25 million) from a US$75 million bonus pool.

But according to a memo sent to players, the circuit's policy board has approved a new ranking called the "FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List" that omits players who are suspended but have not resigned from the PGA Tour.

"While the new list will not take the place of the Official FedExCup Points List, it will provide clarity for players and fans alike in regard to tournament eligibility, including the FedExCup Playoffs," PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in the memo on Tuesday.

Among those who have joined LIV Golf and therefore been removed from the eligibility list are Talor Gooch, who is 20th in the FedExCup standings, four-time Major champion Brooks Koepka (102nd) and Mexico's Abraham Ancer (80th).

Due to the changes, 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson, who is 125th on the regular-season FedExCup points list, has moved up to 117th on the eligibility points list with two events left before the Aug 11-14 FedEx St Jude Championship play-off opener in Memphis, Tennessee.

Entering this week's Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, notable players like former world No. 1 Jason Day of Australia (No. 127) and fan favourite Rickie Fowler (No. 132) are just outside the top 125 of the official list.

Not counting the LIV golfers helps their chances of qualifying for the play-offs.

On the eligibility points list, Day is now 119th this week while Fowler is 124th.

The regular season concludes next week at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

REUTERS