LIV Golf plans in-season trades; offseason team moves begin،
The LIV Golf League is introducing a transfer window that it says is the first in professional golf, allowing teams to trade players mid-season and extend golfers’ contracts during the final year of their contracts.
Exact dates for the mid-season trading window were not revealed in LIV Golf’s announcement on Wednesday.
According to the tour, the first phase of LIV Golf’s offseason player movement is already underway. The top 24 players in individual points standings throughout the season are guaranteed the opportunity to compete in the league next season.
Players in the “lock zone” whose contracts expire are offered a minimum one-year contract to remain with their current teams. This group includes Peter Uihlein (4Aces GC), Anirban Lahiri (Crushers GC), Carlos Ortiz (Fireballs GC), Richard Bland (Cleeks GC) and Scott Vincent (Iron Heads GC). These players do not need to re-sign with their current teams and can become free agents.
Once free agency opens, teams can add any of the top 24 players who have not re-signed with their current teams, as well as players who finished 25th through 44th in the individual points standings and whose contracts expire. “Open zone” players whose contracts expire are not required to re-sign with their current teams, nor are their teams required to bring them back.
Open area players whose contracts are expiring include Pat Perez (4Aces GC), David Puig (Torque GC), Matt Jones (Ripper GC), Bernd Wiesberger (Cleeks GC) and Graeme McDowell (Cleeks GC).
During the free agency period, teams with roster spots available may also trade for a player from another team – LIV Golf does not allow teams to sign golfers from another team without permission – or add a golfer who did not compete on the roster. circuit in 2023 provided that it meets the minimum criteria established by LIV Golf.
Free agency ends when only four roster spots remain for 2024. Those openings will be filled by the top three finishers in the LIV Golf Promotions tournament and the top finisher in the International Series on the Asian Tour.
Former Georgia Tech star Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. amateur champion, has a sizable lead in the international series standings. He competed in the first LIV golf tournament outside of London in June 2022, finished last and did not compete in another LIV golf event.
The LIV Golf Promotions tournament will be played from December 8 to 10 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. The three-day, 72-hole event will offer $1.5 million in prize money. Players who finished 45th or lower in the 2023 points standings and those from the open zone who have not been offered a contract for 2024 are eligible to participate in the tournament. The top three will earn a roster spot and an exemption to each of the 14 LIV Golf League events in 2024.
After the promotions tournament, the circuit will conduct a draft for teams to select from these four players.
Following LIV Golf’s inaugural season in 2022, some player movement has occurred via free agency. Talor Gooch, who won the 2023 Individual Points Championships, moved from 4Aces GC to Range Goats GC. Uihlein jumped from Smash GC to replace Gooch on the 4Aces.
Former PGA Tour winner Matthew Wolff also moved from captain Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC to Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC. Wolff is not considering returning to Smash GC after Koepka criticized his commitment throughout the season.
LIV Golf has added five PGA Tour players ahead of the 2023 season: Dean Burmester, Danny Lee, Mito Pereira, Sebastian Munoz and Brendan Steele. Former Ryder Cup contender Thomas Pieters, who played on the DP World Tour, also made the jump.
