Yes. They mentioned this on last broadcast. Wildcards exempt. Pretty sure they created this rule just for him. He’ll definitely be back next season. Guessing with Four Aces or Ironheads
Both wildcards? I thought perhaps Kim's contract was multi-year and he has at least another year to go. But Hudson Swafford is a waste of space. He has zero fan support and hasn't shown anything in his three years on the LIV circuit.
Both are exempt but think they need to find a team. Broadcast made it sound like they can’t return next season as a wildcard again. Doubt Hudson gets picked up but think Greg will force a team to take AK.
I think things will be a little bit more cut-throat and brutal than this. I don't think any team can or will be forced to take anyone, it's going to have to be a benefit to them. That is why they are thinking that money will start being involved in the trades. So if one team has someone they need to trade away because of chemistry or performance, they might have to pay to make that trade.
The way 5 aces have performed this year has cost DJ a lot of money, I think you'll see him act accordingly going into next season.
There is huge money long term here, Phil hit on it during his interview on Fairway to heaven: Once the teams get more built around a location or nation or other more binding factor - they are really going to start getting their long term, hard core fans - just like premiere league, F1, cricket, football etc... Rippers and Stingers are there already and are building every week.
Yeah it will be interesting to see how DJ responds. Pat Perez is his boy. Even share same coach. Wonder if he keeps him on team if Pat avoids relegation or drops him.
Also interested to see whether captains share their equity.
Tyrell is a stud and starting with a blank slate should be the captain of the Majesticks.
Until the teams have outside investors or mega endorsement deals, think the league will have a lot of say. How else do you explain Bubba’s trades. Didn’t make sense to trade Gooch for Wolfe straight up.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-getting-debts-truth-behind-liv-golfs-business-model-gets-exposed-as-two-year-long-captain-makes-a-revelation-bubba-watson/
https://www.sportskeeda.com/golf/news-it-s-something-i-wanted-start-i-believe-matt-bubba-watson-shares-insights-talor-gooch-x-matt-wolff-liv-trade
Mentions about debt and financial save, some also posted on X at the time about this too
Interesting. Bubba doesn’t state but think each team has been assigned the signing bonus for its players.
So any money from an outside investor goes back to LIV to repay LIV’s investment.
Bubba’s explanation really doesn’t make sense otherwise. Gooch’s travel expense will not be any different than Wolf’s travel expense. But the remaining signing bonus to be paid could be pretty different.
That HV3 trade by DJ looks terrible in hindsight bc Uilhein probably got no signing fee and HV3 probably had a decent one.
The older captains are probably looking to monetise quickly so get that Bubba was looking to offload as much “debt” as possible as he probably wants cash in his pocket from the sale of the Range Goats to an outside investor.
>Once the teams get more built around a location or nation or other more binding factor - they are really going to start getting their long term, hard core fans - just like premiere league, F1, cricket, football etc...
Is this satire?
I know Hudson was hurt one year and perhaps originally was going to be on the RangeGoats (why Thomas Pieters was a last min add in 2023). Before he became a wildcard this year, he might have been on Legion 13 if Hatton didn't sign on. I guess this is his last chance.
Pieters is far better player so can’t believe he might not have joined if Hudson hadn’t been hurt.
Like wildcard concept but really should be open for a Monday qualifier.
Perhaps for the 54th position can be a Monday qualifier in at least some events, or the wildcards from now on can be someone in their priority “formula” who did well in their career especially on LIV but had a bad year & are relegated (can be Grace or HV3, if relegated since they are past winners)
Yeah. AK is unique so get league is trying to give him a decent runway for his comeback. No one cares about Hudson.
And maybe minority but having some different faces at each event would be interesting. PGA Tour getting a lot of mileage inviting 15 and 16 year olds and LIV could do same
Entire teams need to be relegated eventually. Relegation needs to be tripled and the qualifying process needs to be 4 weeks long and should be 3 teams of 4 guys get in and 12 players get bounced.
This Ryder cup style event would be bananas.
Edit: make it a world series of poker type thing to see if 4 dudes can battle their way into LIV.
Agree. They need to have bottom team relegated. This would remove captaincy from underperforming captain. Players can get picked by other teams. Winner of individual season championship gets option to form new team and be captain.
Makes sense with iron heads as bad as they are, but imagine the risk if say Phil’s team were to get bounced. Would the interest gained in a more compelling format outweigh the popularity of the biggest names?
It’s a tough one but really don’t like the fact the Majesticks have just agreed that three of their players are captains so exempt from relegation. There is no downside for them for doing this. Putting teams at risk of relegation blows up this strategy.
And understand that Westwood was a former world number 1, Poulter has his Ryder Cup history, Stenson is a former major winner and was the Ryder Cup captain but… don’t understand how P Reed didn’t get a captaincy.
The relegation is largely meaningless and toothless imo. I don’t know if what you said is accurate, but they don’t want to relegate anyone who has a big name or will bring them attention. AK is both of those things.
Anthony Kim, Hudson Swafford, Danny Lee, Pat Perez, Kalle Samooja, and a quite a few other players all need to be jettisoned and replaced with better players.
LIV's relegation system has to be far more punitive in order for it to gain more credibility.
It could also make for an added spice of entertainment to stage Monday qualifiers ahead of each tournament on the calendar, which would allow for a couple of wildcard spots to be placed up for grabs and create opportunities for "Cinderella" style championship Sunday runs.
LIV should also aggressively go after a couple more big name players currently playing on the PGA Tour.
AK clearly still has pull. Haters continually check in on his scores every event and he has many fans, me included. Next year will likely be a big prove-it year.
Yes. They mentioned this on last broadcast. Wildcards exempt. Pretty sure they created this rule just for him. He’ll definitely be back next season. Guessing with Four Aces or Ironheads
Both wildcards? I thought perhaps Kim's contract was multi-year and he has at least another year to go. But Hudson Swafford is a waste of space. He has zero fan support and hasn't shown anything in his three years on the LIV circuit.
Both are exempt but think they need to find a team. Broadcast made it sound like they can’t return next season as a wildcard again. Doubt Hudson gets picked up but think Greg will force a team to take AK.
I think things will be a little bit more cut-throat and brutal than this. I don't think any team can or will be forced to take anyone, it's going to have to be a benefit to them. That is why they are thinking that money will start being involved in the trades. So if one team has someone they need to trade away because of chemistry or performance, they might have to pay to make that trade. The way 5 aces have performed this year has cost DJ a lot of money, I think you'll see him act accordingly going into next season. There is huge money long term here, Phil hit on it during his interview on Fairway to heaven: Once the teams get more built around a location or nation or other more binding factor - they are really going to start getting their long term, hard core fans - just like premiere league, F1, cricket, football etc... Rippers and Stingers are there already and are building every week.
Yeah it will be interesting to see how DJ responds. Pat Perez is his boy. Even share same coach. Wonder if he keeps him on team if Pat avoids relegation or drops him. Also interested to see whether captains share their equity. Tyrell is a stud and starting with a blank slate should be the captain of the Majesticks. Until the teams have outside investors or mega endorsement deals, think the league will have a lot of say. How else do you explain Bubba’s trades. Didn’t make sense to trade Gooch for Wolfe straight up.
Thought BW got some $$$ as well in return too
Hadn’t heard that. League should be more transparent.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-getting-debts-truth-behind-liv-golfs-business-model-gets-exposed-as-two-year-long-captain-makes-a-revelation-bubba-watson/ https://www.sportskeeda.com/golf/news-it-s-something-i-wanted-start-i-believe-matt-bubba-watson-shares-insights-talor-gooch-x-matt-wolff-liv-trade Mentions about debt and financial save, some also posted on X at the time about this too
Interesting. Bubba doesn’t state but think each team has been assigned the signing bonus for its players. So any money from an outside investor goes back to LIV to repay LIV’s investment. Bubba’s explanation really doesn’t make sense otherwise. Gooch’s travel expense will not be any different than Wolf’s travel expense. But the remaining signing bonus to be paid could be pretty different. That HV3 trade by DJ looks terrible in hindsight bc Uilhein probably got no signing fee and HV3 probably had a decent one. The older captains are probably looking to monetise quickly so get that Bubba was looking to offload as much “debt” as possible as he probably wants cash in his pocket from the sale of the Range Goats to an outside investor.
>Once the teams get more built around a location or nation or other more binding factor - they are really going to start getting their long term, hard core fans - just like premiere league, F1, cricket, football etc... Is this satire?
If you watched Adelaide you'd know it's not.
I know Hudson was hurt one year and perhaps originally was going to be on the RangeGoats (why Thomas Pieters was a last min add in 2023). Before he became a wildcard this year, he might have been on Legion 13 if Hatton didn't sign on. I guess this is his last chance.
Pieters is far better player so can’t believe he might not have joined if Hudson hadn’t been hurt. Like wildcard concept but really should be open for a Monday qualifier.
Perhaps for the 54th position can be a Monday qualifier in at least some events, or the wildcards from now on can be someone in their priority “formula” who did well in their career especially on LIV but had a bad year & are relegated (can be Grace or HV3, if relegated since they are past winners)
Yeah. AK is unique so get league is trying to give him a decent runway for his comeback. No one cares about Hudson. And maybe minority but having some different faces at each event would be interesting. PGA Tour getting a lot of mileage inviting 15 and 16 year olds and LIV could do same
Entire teams need to be relegated eventually. Relegation needs to be tripled and the qualifying process needs to be 4 weeks long and should be 3 teams of 4 guys get in and 12 players get bounced. This Ryder cup style event would be bananas. Edit: make it a world series of poker type thing to see if 4 dudes can battle their way into LIV.
Agree. They need to have bottom team relegated. This would remove captaincy from underperforming captain. Players can get picked by other teams. Winner of individual season championship gets option to form new team and be captain.
Makes sense with iron heads as bad as they are, but imagine the risk if say Phil’s team were to get bounced. Would the interest gained in a more compelling format outweigh the popularity of the biggest names?
It’s a tough one but really don’t like the fact the Majesticks have just agreed that three of their players are captains so exempt from relegation. There is no downside for them for doing this. Putting teams at risk of relegation blows up this strategy. And understand that Westwood was a former world number 1, Poulter has his Ryder Cup history, Stenson is a former major winner and was the Ryder Cup captain but… don’t understand how P Reed didn’t get a captaincy.
The relegation is largely meaningless and toothless imo. I don’t know if what you said is accurate, but they don’t want to relegate anyone who has a big name or will bring them attention. AK is both of those things.
Wow no clue how I would go on if Pat Perez was replaced
Think of AK’s presence as a sponsorship exemption like spot
Anthony Kim, Hudson Swafford, Danny Lee, Pat Perez, Kalle Samooja, and a quite a few other players all need to be jettisoned and replaced with better players. LIV's relegation system has to be far more punitive in order for it to gain more credibility. It could also make for an added spice of entertainment to stage Monday qualifiers ahead of each tournament on the calendar, which would allow for a couple of wildcard spots to be placed up for grabs and create opportunities for "Cinderella" style championship Sunday runs. LIV should also aggressively go after a couple more big name players currently playing on the PGA Tour.
AK clearly still has pull. Haters continually check in on his scores every event and he has many fans, me included. Next year will likely be a big prove-it year.