While all eyes will be on the epic duel between Jon Rahm and Joaquin Neimann at LIV Chicago (September 13 – 15), a few LIV golfers will quite literally be playing for their careers.
Those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the dreaded Drop Zone will be scratching and clawing their way through the three-day tournament to gain a few points which means the difference between earning a chance to return to LIV in 2025 or being kicked off the tour outright.
The Drop Zone is one-third of the LIV Golf individual standings. Out of a total of fifty-seven players in LIV, players in spots 49 – 57 are currently in The Drop Zone.
In order to elevate one’s position into The Open Zone, another third of the individual standings, players in spots 25 – 48, a golfer must earn individual points throughout the season. Golfers who finish in 24th place or better are eligible for points.
For example, a twenty-fourth-place finish earns you one point while a first-place finish earns you forty.
Those in The Open Zone are eligible to return to LIV in 2025 should the captain of a team wish to offer that player a contract.
As a reminder, team captains cannot be relegated. Bubba Watson, who sits dead last in the points standings among captains will be back next season to try to fix a once highly successful RangeGoats.
Likewise, Ian Poulter who has the least number of points of any captain in The Open Zone, will be exempt from relegation should three players from The Drop Zone leapfrog him, Pat Perez, and Harold Varner III.
Some wildcards like Anthony Kim, who sits in 56th place overall are also exempt from relegation as they have special agreements with the league.
Those in The Drop Zone who have represented a team in every competition of the season are:
49. Scott Vincent (Iron Heads GC)
50. Branden Grace (Stinger GC)
52. Bubba Watson (RangeGoats GC) (exempt from relegation)
53. Kalle Samooja (Cleeks GC)
54. Kieran Vincent (Legion XIII)
So You’re Sayin’ There’s a Chance
Scott Vincent
Last season Vincent was in the exact same position he finds himself now. Last season’s final individual match in Jeddah saw the older Vincent brother produce a miraculous fourth-place finish, propelling him out of The Drop Zone and squarely in The Open Zone.
Iron Heads GC captain Kevin Na apparently saw some potential left in the Zimbabwean to offer him another contract with the team.
Vincent’s unlikely finish was the most compelling storyline of any golfer in the field.
One of the things that makes LIV so unique is that Vincent’s climb to the top of the leaderboard was arguably more entertaining than the Koepka-Gooch playoff that eventually saw Brooks Koepka come out on top.
Can Scott Vincent catch lightning in a bottle twice? He won’t need anywhere near a fourth overall place finish, but a Top 14 finish, which would earn him 5 individual points or better, is doable.
Probably Won’t Be with LIV Next Year
Branden Grace
Without a doubt, Branden Grace has had the biggest drop-off of any LIV golfer in the past season.
Grace finished 2023 in 9th place last season and was Stinger GC’s best and most reliable player.
Grace lead the all-South African team to one win and five additional podium finishes in 2023. In 2024 however, Grace has been a great impediment to his team’s success.
Stinger are winless despite the trio of Oosthuizen (5th), Burmester (8th), and Schwartzel (21st) all sitting pretty in The Lock Zone.
The fact that Stinger hasn’t recorded one win despite having three players in the Top 24 is mind-blowing!
The most logical explanation for Grace’s eventual demise would be a post-season announcement that Grace was suffering through a season-long injury that required surgery.
For a golfer this talented, who has had so much success in LIV, there has to be some explanation that we aren’t privy to yet.
Relegation Seems Like a Foregone Conclusion
Kalle Samooja
There are two things that are very unfortunate about Samooja’s situation. The first being that his standing in LIV Golf, along with Kieran Vincent and to a lesser extent Jinichiro Kozuma, brings into question the validity and quality of LIV’s Golf Promotion event that brought all three into the league.
LIV had some fantastic additions this year like Jon Rahm, Adrian Meronk, and Tyrrell Hatton, but all three were brought in through direct contract offers.
The three invitees through the Promotion event have failed to make an impact at the individual or team level, which brings us to point number two.
Second, Samooja was part of a 2024 Cleeks GC team that should be considered the most-improved team in the league.
When I wrote about Cleeks going from laughingstock to contender, even I didn’t think they would have won a tournament that quickly! Samooja should not be considered part of that turnaround.
Whilet Meronk has been one of 2024’s most consistent golfers, Kaymer has absolutely reinvented himself after an awful 2023, and Richard Bland is easily having one of the most memorable seasons in recent history, Samooja hasn’t kept pace with his resurgent teammates.
Kieran Vincent
The younger Vincent brother’s season has been similar to his fellow LIV rookie Kalle Samooja’s.
Vincent is stranded in dead last place among LIV golfers who are affixed to a team and can be relegated out.
It is truly a testament to how great Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII is that they’ve been able to carry LIV’s last-place golfer to four team championships.
I’m in Danger
Harold Varner III
What a fall from grace it has been for HV3 after an individual win at LIV DC, a 9th-place overall finish, and multiple Top 10 finishes in 2023.
Without the blight of Branden Grace’s current season, HV3 would hold the dubious honour of being LIV’s biggest drop in the standings from 2023 to 2024.
Varner does have four Top 24 finishes on the season, so he is capable of earning points, albeit one or two at a time, but those few points have him in The Open Zone, where he hopes to stay after Chicago.
Jinichiro Kozuma
One of three new LIV Golfers by way of earning a Top 3 finish at the LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi, Kozuma has shown flashes of how good he can be.
These however are flashes in the pan as the Japanese standout routinely falters down the stretch after getting off to a hot start on Fridays.
Kozuma only needs one or two points to secure his spot in The Open Zone barring multiple hot finishes ala Scott Vincent at Jeddah in 2023.
Pat Perez
Perez, who recorded three Top 10 finishes in 2023 has none in 2024.
Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC was once considered the crown jewel of LIV Golf teams.
With Perez and HV3 both having poor seasons, the once-proud franchise has been reduced to essentially a two-player team in Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed.
DJ and Reed, as good as they are, have been wildly inconsistent throughout the season.
The Aces are unlikely to do much at the team championship at Dallas and really haven’t been relevant other than LIV Las Vegas where the Aces attained their lone podium finish, and DJ winning his only individual tournament.
The point in rehashing the 4 Aces over what Pat Perez has done is this: 4 Aces just feels like a team that desperately needs a roster overhaul to get back to their former glory.
Even if Pat Perez finishes the season in The Open Zone, I don’t think he’s offered another contract from 4 Aces or anyone else.
One could say the same about HV3, due to his place in the standings, but teams know HV3 is capable of winning a tournament and capable of carrying a team, something Perez has never shown in LIV.
The Spoiler
Bubba Watson
Bubba Watson cannot be relegated, but he can escape The Drop Zone, spelling doom for a vulnerable golfer like the previously mentioned Pat Perez or HV3.
Watson has not been particularly good since joining LIV Golf, his best showing being a 10th-place finish in Tulsa during the 2023 season. Whereas would-be relegated captains from last season in Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood elevated their games for the 2024 season, Watson has taken a huge step backwards.
His RangeGoats, who finished second overall last season in the team standings, are a shadow of their former selves after the highly dubious trade of Talor Gooch and Watson himself holding his team back when the other three members make a push for a podium finish.
Having said that, the two-time Masters winner’s skill is undeniable, even if rapidly declining. Five points, a 14th place or better finish, would be enough to knock off both Pat Perez and HV3 assuming the later two collect no points from Chicago.
It should be a point of pride for Watson to at least finish in The Open Zone.
Hopefully Watson can take notes from the recent play of Kaymer and Westwood and put himself in a position where he could be considered comeback player of the year in 2025.
Careers hang in the balance, an individual champion will be crowned, and teams will jockey for positional seeding in anticipation of the Team Championship at LIV Dallas.
Be sure to be on the lookout for LIV Fantasy: Chicago before the tournament to grab a sneak peek at who we think has the best chance of winning Chicago, and the individual title!
