The LIV Golf Tour may have created many enemies when it ran its first year of operations last year with the LIV Golf Series, but since then, a high number of top former USPGA and DP World Tour professionals have joined the ranks.
This has led to some acrimonious falling out between former friends and Ryder Cup teammates between those who have remained loyal to the USPGA and/or DP World Tours, and those who have taken the chance to sign up with LIV Golf for its new approach to top level golf.
Against the backdrop of a crucial hearing set for February 6th to the 10th, which should decide whether LIV Golf players can continue to play on the DP World Tour, or whether the ban the DP World Tour wants to enforce on LIV Golf players from playing its events is upheld, it is fair to say that the future of top-level men’s professional golf has never been more fragmented.
It is important for LIV Golf and it’s players to establish itself firmly as a leader in the race for dominance in top level men’s golf.
A big positive has come from signing a TV deal to broadcast games across the globe with an American network, The CW. The league has also made it clear it wants ranking points awarded for players in its tournaments, something it lacks at present.
So how is the newly named LIV Golf League looking for 2023? Let’s take a look at the current schedule.
LIV Golf League 2023
After hosting just eight tournaments in its first year of operation, the new LIV Golf League has significantly expanded that number to 14 events for its second season.
Once again, players will be drafted into four-man teams for the duration of the season and all tournaments will be played over three-days and 54 holes (LIV in Roman Numerals) with no cut mark in the tournament.
All players entering the tournament will be guaranteed a cash prize, with a guaranteed prize of $5,000,000 for each team at each event, as well as a prize pool of $20m to be divided up between the 48 players competing.
Over the course of the season over $405m in prize money is available to be won, with the season climax coming in November when a $50,000,000 Team Championship prize pool is up for grabs in the end of season finale.
The 12-Teams Competing
Although which golfers will make up the 12-teams competing in each event is not yet known, the 12 team names for the season have already been decided. They are:
- 4 Aces GC
- Cleeks GC
- Crusher GC
- Fireball GC
- HY Flyers GC
- Iron Heads GC
- Majesticks GC
- Niblicks GC
- Punch GC
- Smash GC
- Stinger GC
- Torque GC
4 Aces GC, captained by Dustin Johnson, were the team winners last year, with Johnson also winning the individual title.
How Will The LIV Teams Event Work?
LIV’s ultimate goal for its team model is for each of the 12 teams to become an individual franchise and for each team to generate revenue through sales of its own merchandise etc.
Additionally, teams will be able to transfer players to and from each other during a ‘transfer window’ at one point of the season.
The model will see the 12-teams allocated one high-profile captain, with two other players allocated to each team based on their 2022 LIV Rankings.
The Captain will be able to make the fourth ‘wildcard’ pick for the team and in a new rule change for 2023, each team will have a fifth ‘reserve’ player who will play for the team in the event that one of the other four players cannot compete in any given tournament.
Each team will be able to run its own business model, with 75% of the stake in the team held by LIV Golf and the other 25% by the team captain and teams will be able to come up with their own ideas to generate revenue for the team.
Indeed it is this business aspect of the team event that has many golf players excited as to how they can monetise the support of their team and generate additional income, perhaps even leading to players or investors buying their own golf team franchise, similar to the way individuals have bought NFL, NBA or football teams.
The LIV Golf League 2023 Schedule
The proposed schedule for the LIV Golf League in 2023 is shown below:
- 26th Feb – LIV Golf Mayakoba (Mexico)
- 19th Mar – LIV Golf Tucson (United States)
- 2nd Apr – LIV Golf Orlando (United States)
- 23rd Apr – LIV Golf Adelaide (Australia)
- 30th Apr – LIV Golf Singapore (Singapore)
- 14th May – LIV Golf Tulsa (United States)
- 28th May – LIV Golf Washington D.C (United States)
- 2nd Jul – LIV Golf Valderrama (Spain)
- 9th Jul – LIV Golf London (England)
- 6th Aug – LIV Golf Greenbrier (United States)
- 13th Aug – LIV Gold Bedminster (United States)
- 24th Sep – LIV Golf Chicago (United States)
- 22nd Oct – LIV Golf Miami (United States)
- 5th Nov – LIV Golf Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) – Team Championship
Betting on LIV Golf in 2023?
With such a large number of events taking place in the LIV Golf League, not to mention the Majors that these players will also be able to participate in, if you wish to enjoy a bet on any event featuring LIV tour players, then bet365 Sport will offer you an opportunity to do so.
With a wide range of bets already available for the four Golf Majors this year, starting in April with The Masters, May with the USPGA, June with the US Open and finally July with The Open, plus a selection of tournaments available to bet on each week from a wide variety of tours, golf punters have plenty of choice.
Add to that the excellent Live Golf Tracker option to track events on the course in real time and it is easy to see why so many punters enjoy golf betting at bet365!