LIV Golf transfer window: How does it work?

The LIV Golf transfer window is now open.

Yes, that’s right. For the first time, the Saudi-backed circuit has introduced a mid-season “free trade zone” that officially opened on Monday 6 May.

There is not another LIV Golf event until June 7 in Houston, but this month-long transfer window will allow captains to trade players and complete transfers between teams.

LIV players have not been able to switch between teams until the end of the 2023 season, when Jon Rahm became the breakaway league’s biggest signing and was named captain of the new Legion XIII team.

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But now, players will be able to move freely between teams, while team captains also have the option of extending a player’s contract if it is coming to an end in 2024.

That effectively means that LIV captains can save one of their players from relegation with a contract extension, as those who finish 45th or below at the season and are out-of-contract are relegated from the league.

LIV, however, have not publicly released the contract lengths of their players.

At this stage, it is unclear how much movement there will be in this month-long break from action. But announcing the news in LIV’s Singapore broadcast last weekend, commentator Jerry Foltz claimed that were some “rumblings” of discontent among players, which could lead to trades.

So, how does a golf transfer window actually work?  Well, we’ll let Foltz explain…

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“For one month starting from 6 May, teams and players can be traded for other players,” he says.

“They’re going to be straight transfers, you take my contract, we get your contract. No compensation involved.

“We didn’t really think there was going to be any activity whatsoever, and then in recent weeks, more recently this week, we’ve started hearing rumblings of disgruntled captains about players, or players that would love to play for another team, so there may be some activity if indeed it does happen.

“The other thing that can happen this window is teams can extend the contracts of one of their players if they no longer have a contract. What that means is that if that player got relegated, the extended contract has no hold, but players can lobby for a contract extension. Captains can try lock up players who might be a hot item in the free agent off-season time to another year or two of a contract.”

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.