On May 8th LIV CEO Greg Norman announced that the LIV Golf League would open its first-ever trade window.
From May 8 – June 9 teams will be allowed to swap players or sign current players to contract extensions before the start of free agency.
Unfortunately, there remains a shroud of secrecy surrounding the individual contracts of LIV golfers, so fans aren’t privy to a lot of the rhyme and reasoning that goes on behind the scenes of trades.
Fans are still not quite sure how a team looking to win the 2024 Team Championship could pull off a trade to swap their underperforming player for another team’s top scorer straight-up, though we suspect it involves a serious amount of money being moved around.
For example, this shroud still has people questioning why Bubba Watson traded 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, who helped RangeGoats GC to a 2nd overall team finish last year for Matthew Wolff, a mid-tier younger player who was publicly called out by Brooks Koepka for his lack of effort.
What we do know is that team captains cannot be traded, just as they cannot be relegated, which brings us to the conundrum of Majesticks GC.
Majesticks GC are in the unique situation of being the only team in LIV with more than one captain, in fact they have three: Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, and Lee Westwood.
Fans will remember from the 2023 season that Lee Westwood finished 45th overall making him one of two LIV captains to join the infamous ‘Drop Zone’.
Players ranked 45th and below go into the Drop Zone and are relegated out of the league with a chance to rejoin through play-in tournaments.
Captains are the exception to this rule for the Drop Zone. Presumably through a clause in their contracts, team captains are exempt from relegation, meaning a captain could theoretically finish dead last in the league every single year and not face the threat of removal.
This is important because Westwood is once again in the ‘Drop Zone’ collecting a grand total of zero points through the half-way point of the season.
Having team captains, which are usually the big names of the league, finish in last place on a recurring basis is somewhat of an embarrassment for the league.
As LIV continues to grow, pull in casual viewers, and earn the respect of long-time golf fans, it may be necessary to revise some of the more controversial policies such as allowing multiple captains.
What Does This Mean for the Trade Window and the Offseason?
The Trade Window may serve as a peek into the future as to where the Majesticks see their future in the LIV Golf League.
Are the tri-captains content with another second to last place finish? If not, there is not too much that can be accomplished other than dealing the only viable trade candidate, Sam Horsfield, for a better player.
Due to the lack of details regarding contracts, at this point we must speculate and assume that if Majesticks are able to secure the services of an upgrade over Horsfield, said player would receive a bigger payout and piece of the club, both of which are presumably controlled by each team’s captains.
I believe that Majesticks would be open to any upgrade that can help them win. Even though Majesticks is an all-European team, they do not hail from a single country like Ripper or Stinger, thus making them less likely to refuse entrance to a player from other continents.
The offseason is another beast entirely. If Majesticks stand pat it will likely lead to another bottom-three finish.
The lack of winning means less money as only podium finishers are eligible for team payouts.
The best possible solution going forward would be to limit the Majesticks to one captain by revising league policy.
This could be accomplished unilaterally by LIV stepping in and giving Majesticks that mandate.
A more diplomatic approach would be for Greg Norman to approach the tri-captains privately and “suggest” that they figure out who the lone captain is going into 2025.
The latter option would not only bring them into uniformity with other teams’ standards, but it would push the Majesticks to improve their game, as the prospect of having 3/4ths of a team being untouchable does not create good competition and the results that come with.
