LIV Golf backtracks from short format to 72-hole tournaments after pressure from players

LIV Golf has surprisingly backtracked on one of its founding principles by announcing tournaments in the fourth season of the Saudi Arabian-backed league will be played over 72 holes. Until now, LIV has proudly operated over 54 holes and three days, with the name itself partly based on a Roman numeral reference point. Could a rebrand to LXXII be imminent?

The dramatic shift, which is believed to have come after pressure from players, means LIV will soon mirror the schedule traditional golf tours it once tried to upstage. LIV will, however, continue to run both individual and team competition elements.

“The most successful leagues around the world – IPL, EPL [English Premier League], NBA, MLB, NFL – continue to innovate and evolve their product,” said Scott O’Neil, LIV’s chief executive. “And as an emerging league, we are no different. LIV Golf will always have an eye towards progress that acts in the best interest of LIV Golf and in the best interest of the sport.”

A LIV statement added: “For each regular season event, the individual competition will be decided over 72 holes of stroke play, while the team competition will continue to run concurrently, with each team’s cumulative individual stroke play scores determining the team’s result.”

The degree of “innovation” to which O’Neil refers will raise eyebrows given four days and 72 holes had been the model in golf’s existing ecosystem before LIV blasted onto the scene, coaxing household names with exorbitant contracts. It is understood some players in the LIV environment felt under-prepared for major championships due to the abbreviated nature of their standard playing domain. Umpteen players own equity in LIV teams. Golf’s official world-ranking system has also failed to recognise LIV, a matter which may change under the 72-hole model.

“LIV Golf is a player’s league,” said the two-time major winner Jon Rahm. “We are competitors to the core and we want every opportunity to compete at the highest level and to perfect our craft. Moving to 72 holes is the logical next step that strengthens the competition, tests us more fully, and if the growing galleries from last season are any indication, delivers more of what the fans want.”

Dustin Johnson added: “Playing 72 holes just feels a little more like the big tournaments we’ve all grown up playing.” Johnson, also a double major winner, has not finished in the top 10 in one of the big four events since 2023.

All of this presents something of a public relations quandary. O’Neil’s predecessor, Greg Norman, explained two years ago why LIV had been given that precise name. The Australian said: “It is the Roman numeral for 54, which has two meanings: 54 is the lowest score you could shoot if you were to birdie every hole on a par 72 course, so there is an aspirational aspect to the thinking. It is also the number of holes to be played in each event.”

Those relegated from LIV at the end of its 2025 campaign included the former Open champion Henrik Stenson.