What Changes Has LIV Golf Made Ahead Of The 2026 Season?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The fifth season of LIV Golf will see some significant changes as the big-money league continues to evolve.

There are also new signings, newly penned TV deals, new venues and two rebranded teams coming to LIV Golf in 2026, further ensuring that the season ahead will not be unlike any of its previous four.

Here are the confirmed changes coming to the League from the 2026 season.

Enhanced Points System

Joaquin Niemann with the LIV Golf UK trophy — A new points system is coming to LIV Golf

Throughout the season, players compete in the Individual Championship, with points towards the standings accumulated in its regular events.

In previous seasons, the winner of a tournament would claim 40 points, with everyone in the top 24 awarded at least one point.

However, that's been radically altered for the 2026 season, with all of the 57 players awarded at least one point and 200 going to the winner.

There is also a Team Championship, and previously, only the top eight each week would collect points. That's no longer the case, with all 13 teams earning points, from 30 going to the winning team, to two for the line-up finishing bottom of each event.

Expanded Lock And Drop Zones And Reduced Open Zone

Jon Rahm hits a tee shot during the LIV Golf Team Championship in 2025

Jon Rahm has won the Individual Championship in the last two seasons, but it’s not just at the top where careers can be defined.

There is also a Lock Zone, which had previously been reserved for the top 24 players, and ensured they guaranteed their LIV Golf futures. From the 2026 season, it expands to the top 34 players.

Beneath that is the Open Zone, which has been reduced from the next 24 players in the standings to those placing between 35th and 46th.

Finally, there is the dreaded Drop Zone, which had previously seen those finishing 49th and below in the standings relegated. However, that has been tweaked, with those placing between 47th and 57th facing the end of their LIV Golf careers.

Per LIV Golf's official website, the changes, which were confirmed the week before the season began, are being made to "increase the turnover and meritocratic pathways into the League."

The revisions had already been expected, and it's also with a view to securing world ranking points.

At a media preview week in January, which was covered by Sports Illustrated, CEO Scott O'Neil said: “You’ll see an expanded Lock Zone, an expanded Drop Zone this year, which as we’re working towards world ranking points, we think there’s some things, some shifts you’ll see in '26 that I think help our case and continue to give us more hope that that comes through.”

Increased Purses

Legion XIII with the LIV Golf Team Championship trophy — It's hoped to grow the teams to $1bn franchises

One of the big draws of LIV Golf since its inception has been the huge prize money, with $20m shared among the competitors in each of the individual events and a further $5m shared among the top three teams.

Now, in an effort to build the franchises of all 13 of its teams, even more prize money is on the way for the line-ups, with $30m available at each of the 13 regular events and all 13 teams earning some money.

LIV Golf is also introducing a prize pool of $2.3m per event, with that money distributed among the podium finishers of the teams and individual players.

All that means that, in 2026, an eye-watering $470m will be shared between teams and individual players.

The change in distribution for the teams, in particular, is part of LIV Golf's ambition to build "13 billion-dollar franchises," as outlined by LIV Golf’s head of team business and operations, Katie O’Reilly, at the media preview week.

She said: “Our goal is to build 13 billion-dollar franchises. That is our goal. Are we there yet? No. But right now we are building the foundation for that... right now we are focused on things like driving sponsorship revenue.”

Move To 72 Holes

Bryson DeChambeau taking a shot — The LIV Golf League is moving to a 72-hole format

For four years, one of the unique selling points of LIV Golf was its 54-hole, three-day format, but from 2026, it’s moving to a more traditional 72-hole, four-day affair.

O’Neal explained that will be good not just for the players, but for the brand as a whole, saying: “For us, that was relatively simple.

“We want to make sure that our players are best prepared for the Majors, that it’s not as much of a sprint, that our teams have a chance to recover after a tough day one.

“And with the overwhelming support we have seen in several of our markets, quite frankly, more content is better. More fans come in, more broadcast content, social hospitality.”

Increased Field Sizes

Anthony Kim at the Saudi International — Anthony Kim is one of five Wild Cards in the LIV Golf League this term

Along with the 54-hole format, 54 players had been teeing it up in each event, but that changes to 57 in 2026, with five wildcard players, rather than two, now guaranteed to play in each of the 13 regular events thanks to the increased pathways available to the league.

The two leading players from the International Series in 2025 and the three winners from the LIV Golf Promotions event have added to LIV's expanded fields for 2026.

New Signings

Thomas Detry at the Dubai Desert Classic — Thomas Detry is one of several new LIV Golf signings

There has been plenty of activity in the comings and goings of players during the off-season.

The likes of Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na, Matt Jones and Jinichiro Kozuma have moved on, while there has been no shortage of new signings and players who have earned LIV Golf contracts.

Victor Perez, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Elvis Smylie and Byeong Hun An have all been persuaded to join LIV Golf.

Meanwhile, Scott Vincent and Yosuke Asaji earned their places via the Asian Tour’s International Series, with Richard T. Lee and Bjorn Hellgren coming in via the LIV Golf Promotions event.

The third player to secure his LIV Golf card through the Promotions event was Anthony Kim, who resumes his career after being relegated at the end of last season.

Team Rebrands

Byeong Hun An at the Genesis Championship — Byeong Hun An joins Korean Golf Club

While the number of teams competing will remain at 13, one of them has been given a rebrand, with Kevin Na’s old team Iron Heads GC becoming Korean Golf Club, and Byeong Hun An taking Na's place.

The new logo features a white tiger, which is a revered figure in Korean folklore and history, and a Rose Of Sharon - the national flower of South Korea that represents the country's "resilient spirit and enduring beauty."

That's not the only team to rebrand, with Louis Oosthuizen's Stinger GC becoming Southern Guards GC, with the all-South African line-up featuring a Rhino on its logo.

TV Deals

Two big TV deals have been announced in the off-season, with a “multi-year" deal with UK and Ireland broadcaster TNT Sports confirmed in January, with LIV Golf having been shown on free-to-air channel ITV in the UK in 2025.

Hot on the heels of that deal, LIV Golf announced an agreement with Sky Sport in Germany to show events in 2026.

New Tournaments

The ninth at Steyn City — New tournaments are coming to LIV Golf in 2026

Several new tournaments being introduced across golf in 2026, and two of them are on the LIV Golf League, with its first visit to South Africa in March at Steyn City and a visit to Louisiana’s Bayou Oaks at City Park between June 25th and 28th.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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