With less than a month before the start of the 2025 LIV Golf season, there’s plenty to be excited about as the league enters its fourth year of operations!
Last season LIV added Jon Rahm and his new expansion team, Legion XIII. Rahm went on to promptly win the individual title in his first year and led Legion XIII to several wins, adding instant star power and excitement to a league looking to rapidly increase it’s presence in the golf world.
In 2025 fans will be treated to more action than ever before as several members of the LIV league have committed themselves to playing outside LIV including The DP World Tour, The Asian Tour, and The International Series for OWGR points, prestige, and pathways to compete in major championships.
One of the Four Majors is Won by a LIV Golfer
As is tradition, a LIV golfer will win at least one major in 2025.
LIV currently boasts six golfers with guaranteed spots in all four majors: Phil Mickelson, John Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cam Smith.
Other golfers who had been previous mainstays in the four championships like Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia will have to work on their extracurriculars outside LIV to give themselves a chance to be reinvited to the remaining majors apart from The Masters.
Who amongst the LIV field has the best chance of capturing a major championship in 2025? Who can topple reigning world number one Scottie Scheffler and outplay the 2024 PGA Championship and Open winner Xander Schauffele?
Will a LIV golfer don the green jacket at Augusta? Can Bryson DeChambeau repeat as the US Open winner? We’ll take a look at each major and make a predicition!
The Masters – Jon Rahm’s late-season return to form likely makes him the frontrunner to win The Masters amongst his fellow LIV golfers.
The Spaniard has already conquered Augusta two seasons ago before joining LIV. Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson came close in 2023 but were edged out by Rahm.
Bryson DeChambeau had the best opening round of the entire field in 2024 but couldn’t keep the magic going down the stretch.
Prediction: Scottie Scheffler, the world’s number one golfer is on another level. I like him to repeat at Augusta and bring home his third Masters in four years.
PGA Championship – This is only the second time that Quail Hollow Club will host the PGA Championship.
Justin Thomas won in 2017 and Rory McIlroy holds the single-day course record with a score of 61. Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Martin Kaymer are the only LIV golfers to have won a PGA Championship.
Bryson DeChambeau nearly won last year but couldn’t quite catch up to eventual winner Xander Schauffele.
Prediction: Rory McIlroy finally breaks through. At this point it almost feels like a cruel joke to bet on McIlroy winning another major championship but stranger things have happened.
Who could have honestly predicted Xander Schauffele would have not just one, but two major championships at the end of last year?
U.S. Open – Bryson DeChambeau is the reigning champion and will look to defend his title against the previous U.S. Open winner at Oakmont Country Club, Dustin Johnson.
DJ’s final score of 4-under par in 2016 suggests Oakmont will be one of the more difficult U.S. Open tournaments in recent memory.
Even though LIV boasts multiple former U.S. Open winners in Johnson, DeChambeau, Koepka, McDowell, Kaymer, and Rahm, all eyes will once again be on Phil Mickelson as it might be his last shot to win the one major championship that has eluded him his entire career.
Prediction: Scottie Scheffler’s iron striking is a level above elite. Oakmont is one of the most difficult courses in The United States, but it favours Scheffler and his current form.
Scheffler, as an amateur, was in contention for a bit back in 2016 when DJ won.
The Open – This will be Royal Portrush’s third Open in history. The Northern Ireland course first held The Open in 1951 but did not return until 2019 when Shane Lowry won.
Lowry’s 15-under-par final score and final scores from recent Opens suggest a high-scoring affair in 2025.
LIV Golfers who finished in the Top 10 in 2019 include Patrick Reed (10), Tyrrell Hatton (T6), and Brooks Koepka and Lee Westwood (T4).
Prediction: Tyrrell Hatton’s form in all tournaments lately has been astounding. It feels like no matter what match is being played Hatton is always in the mix.
During the 2019 Open, Hatton finished T6, so we have data that says he knows the course and can certainly compete.
The issue will be putting together four straight solid days of competition. With Hatton competing in more four-day tournaments outside LIV in 2025, I’m banking on him to win The Open and secure another major championship for LIV.
A LIV Golfer Breaks 60
Bryson DeChambeau, the man committed to Breaking 50, holds LIV’s best-ever single-day score: 58 at Greenbrier in 2023. Joaquin Niemann, the runner-up to last season’s individual title scored 59 in Mayakoba.
John Catlin and Patrick Reed have both shot 59 on The Asian Tour with Reed being the most recent to break 60 at The Link Hong Kong Open back in November.
Breaking 60 twice for a pro golfer is a near-impossible task, so while it is unlikely we see a repeat from someone in this foursome, it feels foolhardy to count Bryson out.
Louis Oosthuizen flirted with breaking 60 last season at Greenbrier, but with LIV’s easiest course of the 2025 schedule, there’s no particular venue we’re eyeing to be the favourite for LIV’s next score in the 50’s.
Last season scoring was plentiful at Adelaide, LIV’s most popular venue. Several golfers had rounds of 8-under par and the Iron Heads’ Jinichiro Kozuma shot 9-under par during the opening round. Adelaide screams excitement and there’s no better venue for LIV’s next round in the 50’s.
Prediction
Jon Rahm at Adelaide, 59
At Least One First-Time Winner Lifts the Individual Trophy
Several LIV Golfers hoisted the individual trophy for the first time during the 2024 season.
Some of the names were long overdue for a win, namely Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann who have been two of LIV’s best over the past several years.
While Joaco won immediately, Sergio suffered multiple heartbreak finishes before finally breaking through and winning on home field in Andalucia.
They would finish 2nd (Niemann) and 3rd (Garcia) at the end of the season, in large part due to multiple podium finishes and capturing those previously elusive first wins.
Some names were completely expected to secure a win at some point during the season.
Legion XIII stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton both accomplished that feat, winning in their first season.
Rahm’s first win took longer than expected, but when LIV’s biggest signing won in the UK, it signalled a triumphant return to form that continued with another win in Chicago and a Top 10 finish at The Open.
Unexpected winners included Dean Burmester who had several decent showings at major championships, Mexicans Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer, and most shockingly Brenden Steele winning in Adelaide.
I’m predicting that two of the bigger names on LIV make 2025 their breakthrough season after putting in extra work throughout the offseason on various international leagues and tournaments.
Both predictions shouldn’t surprise anyone, the only mystery is how they haven’t won already.
Prediction
Patrick Reed and Louis Oosthuizen
The Team Record for Wins During a Season is Broken
Teams capturing four wins in a single season have occurred three different times. Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces did it during LIV’s inaugural season in 2022.
Joaquin Niemann and Torque, despite not claiming an individual victory during the 2023, accomplished the four-win feat the same year.
Last season Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton carried the newly formed Legion XIII to four victories as well.
Rahm will welcome a new teammate to Legion XIII in the upcoming days and weeks, and the maturing of LIV’s youngest player in Caleb Surratt will increase the team’s prowess. Legion XIII should fully expect to eclipse last season’s success.
Prediction
Legion XIII breaks their own shared record with 5 wins
Phil Mickelson Earns His First Top 3 Podium Finish
It’s been a rough go since the inception of the league for one of the sport’s most recognizable stars.
Through three years Mickelson has only managed to secure three top-ten finishes, his best a T6 finish in Jeddah last season.
It’s likely that the issue at hand is focus rather than age as Richard Bland, the league’s second oldest member at 51 years old, has been about as steady as they come the past two seasons.
In a recent interview, Mickelson explained that his form was not where it should be and that he would be taking measures to fine-tune all aspects of his game for the upcoming season.
I fancy Lefty to claim a podium finish in Singapore where he finished in 10th place in 2023 and T22 last season.
LIV’s New Television Deal Brings in More New Fans Than Ever Before
There’s a certain power to having a time slot in channels 4 – 9 in The United States. The numbers are of course associated with the ‘big four’ in broadcasting: NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS.
Having LIV secure a permanent deal with one of the big four, presumably FOX, would easily be one of the league’s largest accomplishments to date!
The CW, which is usually broadcast on channel 3, was a decent home for two seasons, but mostly out of sight, out of mind for most casual viewers.
The network, which has tried to reinvent itself over the years by bringing in sports like LIV Golf and ACC Football has had some big wins over the past few years such as featuring a few college football games between two ranked teams, but those were few and far between.
For golf, viewers didn’t understand why they could only watch days two and three of LIV on television and had to use the LIV Golf + app or YouTube to view day one.
While streaming services are undoubtedly the way of the future, sports remain a mainstay on network television, especially for popular matches like the major championships in golf, the NBA, NHL, and MLB playoffs, and of course the entirety of the NFL season.
While it took several years and increasingly declining viewership rates, the NHL eventually learned that you needed people to actually be able to watch the games, instead of featuring the playoffs on channels that don’t even exist anymore like Versus.
It was invaluable for LIV to learn this lesson sooner than later, and the decision will pay huge dividends immediately and in the future.
LIV Contributes More Than DeChambeau and Hatton to The Ryder Cup
While nothing is a foregone conclusion, it’s safe to say that Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton will be representing USA and Europe, respectively.
The only LIV golfer to play in 2023 was Brooks Koepka who was fresh off another PGA Championship victory and was continuing to win LIV events throughout the year.
The pathway to membership on both teams is determined through total points in Ryder Cup standings.
With multiple LIV golfers committing to play on other tours this season, there will be a real shot for previous Ryder Cup mainstays like Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia to rejoin their respective teams at Bethpage.
The USA squad is a tad more intriguing though as they were blown out in 2023 by fielding a sub-par team with the exclusion of a number of great American golfers including DeChambeau.
USA captain Keegan Bradley can ill afford to field another team that has the necessary points, but isn’t necessarily the best the USA has to offer.
I think there will be a real push from Bradley to urge American LIV golfers to compete in more DP World Tour tournaments to earn the points needed for inclusion.
The season begins on February 6th as the league makes its way to The Riyadh Golf Club, the venue that hosted the 2024 LIV Golf Promotions.
Make sure to check back into livgolfweekly.com before Riyadh to see our LIV Fantasy rankings for the tournament!
