“It’s All Systems Go” … International Series Boss Rahul Singh Is Positive For Circuit’s Future

Introduced in 2022, The International Series is a set of elevated events co-sanctioned by both LIV Golf and the Asian Tour. It offers golfers a pathway to the LIV Golf League.

It also offers players significant tournament prize funds, the chance to earn world ranking points and qualify for majors, and the opportunity to compete against top-level fields at amazing venues across the globe.

There are eight International Series events in 2026, being contested in Japan, Singapore, Morocco, India, Hong Kong, China, The Philippines and Saudi Arabia, where the season-ending PIF Saudi International offers a prize fund of $5,000,000.

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

Fergus Bisset has been at the International Series Morocco and he had a chance to sit down with the head of the circuit, Rahul Singh and ask him about the circuit and what the future might look like.

What were the origins of the International Series and the early objectives.

I think we go back to the genesis of LIV Golf. The very first conversation, and the very first investment was made in the Asian Tour, even before the league itself was actually envisioned.

The basic premise of that was that you needed the tour to support anything that was going to be built going forward, so having a federation partner was critical to growth success planning.

It was built on the assumption that if you had that partnership, then you would have access to World Golf Ranking points, you would have clear player pathways, you would have the ability to have a relegation and promotion system, you would have a feeder system into the league.

There were a lot of different pieces to that jigsaw puzzle, and the tour managed to fit all of those pieces together, so it was critical, and remains critical to whatever shape LIV 2.0 is going to take. I think the tour is critical to what the league's ecosystem is going forward.

Do you view the International Series as having been a commercial and competitive success?

I think the series as a whole has been extremely successful. We're in our fifth year, right? If you look at where we started, we started with $1 million events in Thailand in 2021, and at that time it was called the Premier Series.

That very quickly was elevated into the International Series. Started off in '22 the purses were $1.5 million, and from '23 onwards they essentially became $2 million. What's exciting is the fact that for the tour it was essentially about expanding the geography.

It was always South Asia, Southeast Asia, a little bit of Japan, that was the environment in which it functioned. But being able to move to the Middle East, to North Africa, all the way up to the UK, from that point of view it definitely should be seen as a success.

The opportunities it created for its players, suddenly 10 events providing 20 plus million dollars in prize money, in addition to the 10 or 15 events that the tour ran on its own, you suddenly had 35 to 40 million dollars that the players were playing for.

The opportunities it created, both in terms of moving into the league, as well as the enhanced attention that the tour started getting, and therefore getting much more commercial interest, has made a big difference.

The partnerships that the series has forged, as well as what the tour has been able to derive, have had significant impact on how the tour has grown. If you look at '23 and '24 we had limited partners. In '25 and '26 almost every single event has either a title or a presenting partner.

That should tell you a lot, because we're not giving those away, they're coming with financial commitment, so every single one of these events is now seeing significant support.

Are you finding now that instead of you going out to look for support, they are coming to you now?

I think we have a more compelling product. In the world of golf the series is seen as an attractive product, a lot of that comes with our association with LIV and having access to those players.

At the end of the day that is what spectators want to see, they want to see the likes of Bubba making those crazy shots, they want to see the star power of Dustin Johnson and Sergio and other major winners, and having them has created significant interest in the tour.

Having those players as well means that spectators and TV viewers also suddenly start to see these great talented players from the Asian Tour, who they might not have heard of. That must be one of the things that you're proud of, giving these guys a platform?

Let’s talk about Scott Vincent. In '22 he earned his way into the league. In '23 he retained it. He then had a year off from it, and then he won the Order of Merit. He's earned his way back.

This has been life changing for him. His brother had an opportunity to play. There are multiple people for whom these are completely life-changing opportunities.

They still have to go out and earn it of course. They still have to shoot the scores and compete, but by being able to bring them to different parts of the world, by being able to put them into environments which are not just Asian, you're playing against much bigger fields, you're playing against much greater players, you're dealing with stress, you're dealing with pressure, you're dealing with emotion, you're suddenly dealing with crowds.

In India, where you would normally see two or three thousand people in a week, had 22,000 people when Bryson was there. The Philippines had 31,000 people. This is unprecedented in these countries, but it just goes to show you that if you have the product, the fans will come.

Now it's a truly international series, that must be a challenge for the players. There's a lot of travelling, a lot of getting used to different types of grass and weather conditions. Does it create a sort of all-round player? Do you think we're seeing a raising of standards?

Oh, definitely. And it's not just because they're going into different environments, but it's also that they're playing against a different set of players, players who have really proven themselves on a world stage, which can be quite intimidating.

But it's also so much more exciting, and the confidence you gain when you can hold it together against those guys, think about what it does to your self-belief, it's incredible.

The future. What are the immediate objectives for the series, and where do you see it five years from now, ten years from now?

The ecosystem that we have built is going to be here, we're going to continue. In this environment of uncertainty, in the short term it is all systems go, with 100% certainty that our events in Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, China and Saudi are going ahead.

What the product is going to look like, if it requires a little bit of tweaking, if it requires a little bit of changing, if it requires us to revisit some of what we do, we will do that, we will adapt, but we are not going to find ourselves in a situation where we are not going forward with these tournaments or giving continued opportunities to our players.

Going forward, every single one of our partners that we've been speaking to, who have been asking questions about what the future looks like, every single one of them is committed to staying with the series.

They love the product, they all want the same thing, they're committed to staying with us as long as we're willing to commit to what we've delivered so far.

They want the elevated fields, they want the better product, they want some excitement on course, and as long as we're committed to delivering that, they're committed to continuing our partnerships.

That has been very, very comforting, and it has given us a lot of confidence to move forward.

Which is a great indication of the level of respect for this circuit.

I think so too. I'd like to believe that. I think we've been able to build a product that is being viewed in the world of golf as respectable, as having created significant opportunities for our players, and building within the region.

Yes, I definitely think that it is being viewed as something that has a strong future.

What we're also trying to do is ensure that we build out a legacy and impact programme, we're not just about coming in for one week a year, making a little bit of noise, and leaving.

What we want is a sustained programme that allows the game to grow, and if we're able to do that, hopefully that'll then start impacting fans, impacting partnerships, impacting perpetuity.

Well, that sounds very positive.

Yes, I am. And again, I'm careful about not trying to sound overenthusiastic, but I am very clear that I am positive on the direction.