Major champion could be relegated from LIV Golf after rule change

It was widely assumed that LIV Golf team captains would be exempt from relegation for the 2025 season. 

That, it transpires, is not the case.

Ahead of the final regular season event in Chicago, LIV officials have revealed that nobody is safe from the Drop Zone.

Previously, team captains have been exempt from being axed from the league regardless of poor performances throughout the season.

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But in a meritocratic switch up, LIV confirmed before the $25million showpiece at Bolingbrook Golf Club that players who finish outside the top 48 – the Drop Zone – will be relegated out of the league.

All this is bad news for Bubba Watson.

Watson is 52nd in the 2024 season standings and is therefore well outside the safety positions. The two-time Masters champion is one of seven players in the Drop Zone, that also includes Scott Vincent, Branden Grace, Kalle Samooja, and Kieran Vincent.

Hudson Swafford and Anthony Kim are also in the Drop Zone, but cannot be relegated due to their status as wildcards and could be signed as free agents.

The case for Range Goats GC captain Watson, however, is very precarious.

Players only earn points by finishing in the top 24 on the leaderboard, but Watson has not managed that since the second LIV event of the season in Las Vegas back in February.

Elsewhere, Phil Mickelson (44th) and Ian Poulter (46th) are two other captains technically still vulnerable to relegation.

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The duo are in the Open Zone which means they have not locked their spots for 2025, but a lot would have to go wrong for Mickelson or Poulter to be relegated.

Harold Varner III and Pat Perez – both part of Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces team – are only just outside the Drop Zone and are in more immediate danger.

The relegated players will have a chance to secure their place at LIV Golf Promotions, a qualifying event that offers three spots on the league’s roster for next season.

However, it is also understood that a relegated player could be re-signed if there is a “business case” for keeping them.

LIV will also crown their 2024 Individual Champion this week, with Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann going head-to-head for an $18million bonus prize.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.