LIV Golf released its 2024 schedule on Wednesday, outlining the framework for the breakaway league’s third season. Here are five takeaways.

The post LIV Golf releases 2024 schedule. Here are 5 big takeaways and surprises appeared first on Golf.

LIV Golf released its 2024 schedule on Wednesday, outlining the framework for the breakaway league’s third season. Here are five takeaways.

The post LIV Golf releases 2024 schedule. Here are 5 big takeaways and surprises appeared first on Golf.

Good things come to those who wait. Answers, evidently, come to those who don’t.

On Wednesday morning, Brooks Koepka’s weekend gripes were rewarded by his employer, LIV Golf, who announced the league’s 2024 schedule to the world. Koepka had taken to Instagram in the days preceding the release to voice his frustration with the league’s radio silence about the forthcoming schedule, twice commenting on posts on the official LIV Golf Instagram page to lobby for the schedule’s release.

The version of the ’24 LIV schedule released on Wednesday represents an incomplete picture of the future for the league — as we’ll cover below — but many of the top-line details are locked in. There will once again be 14 events, including a team and individual championship, which will once again be competed at various venues both in the United States and around the world, including one event in the league’s home country, Saudi Arabia.

Still, the winds of the third season for the upstart league have brought their own set of changes, including a handful of new host cities, venues and updates. So, what do you need to know? Let’s take a look below.

LIV Golf 2024 schedule

2/2-4: LIV Mayakoba — El Cameleon Country Club
2/8-10: LIV Las Vegas — Las Vegas Country Club
3/1-3: LIV Saudi Arabia — TBD
3/8-10: LIV Hong Kong — Hong Kong Golf Club
4/5-7: LIV “USA” — Location and course TBD
4/26-28: LIV Adelaide — The Grange Golf Club
5/3-5: LIV Singapore — The Serapong Golf Club
6/7-9: LIV Houston — The Golf Club of Houston
6/21-23: LIV Nashville — The Grove Golf Club
7/12-14: LIV Andalucia — Real Club Valderrama
7/25-28: LIV UK: Staffordshire — JCB Golf and Country Club
8/16-19: LIV Greenbrier — The Old White Course at the Greenbrier
Date, Course and Location TBD: LIV Golf Individual Championships
Date, Course and Location TBD: LIV Golf Team Championships.

5 big LIV 2024 schedule takeaways

1. Brooks Koepka is rewarded

Koepka placed himself among the only LIV internal critics ever (an admittedly low bar) when he dove into the Instagram comments section over the weekend to twice bemoan the state of the league’s schedule. The calendar announcement arrived just three days later, and would seem to alleviate Koepka of any major concerns heading forward. Still, the drama points to one of the drawbacks of joining the upstart tour: It’s hard to find schedule consistency as a disruptor.

The rhythms of Tour life — visiting the same cities, renting the houses, etc. — are not nearly as consistent on LIV, which might not sound like much, but is certainly a point worth noting for those used the traveling tradition of the PGA Tour.

2. Questions still loom

What’s going on the week before the Masters, when LIV has an event at a still-unannounced course in a still-unannounced city in the U.S.? That’s a massive question the league will find itself quickly under pressure to answer, particularly as many players around the league look to finalize their plans for Augusta.

Other questions about long-term schedule goals — Is the plan to establish regular destinations or to cycle through a rotating list of underserved U.S. golf cities? What is the league’s hope for tournament hosts? — remain unanswered. The undercurrent of Koepka’s complaints show these questions aren’t just being asked by the golf public.

3. Could this be the end of the Trump Golf partnership?

For the first time in the league’s history, a schedule release has been made without a tie to Trump Golf. Reports circled late this year that LIV was looking to distance itself from the former President in an effort to avoid politicizing its events, and the first iteration of the schedule does not include any of the typical Trump tournament locations (Doral, Bedminster, D.C.) that have hosted LIV events in the past.

Of course, there are still three unannounced, likely U.S.-based slots on the schedule, which could mean the league is simply waiting to announce its return to those courses. But it could also mean that the league has decided to move on from those venues, a choice that would likely mean losing out on millions in site fees for the former President.

4. Host cities remain in flux

With three events still unnamed, there is no announced return to Chicago, New York, Portland, Boston, London or Bangkok — five of the anchor cities over LIV’s first two years of tournament play. Other venues, like Tulsa, Orlando and Tucson, are not included in the new schedule after less-than-stellar debuts.

In fact, only five events — Mayakoba, Adelaide, Singapore, Andalucia and Greenbrier — are returning to their 2023 LIV homes.

In their place, LIV will head to new cities like Staffordshire, England — which is London and Manchester — Las Vegas, Houston and Nashville for its events in 2024. Those changes represent the continuation of a theme for LIV: seeking out interesting cities that remain uninhabited by the PGA Tour. Will they represent a significant growth point? We’ll find out.

5. Going back to Saudi, Saudi

We don’t know where LIV will play, but it was no surprise to see the league announce it is heading back home to Saudi Arabia in the first week of March.

After much schedule jostling last year — Saudi was supposed to host the team championships, which were later moved to Miami — it seems the league’s Saudi backers have made peace with an early-season bid on the schedule. This year’s event timeline overlaps with the traditional playing of the Saudi International, an effort that should appease the league’s efforts at a lighter travel load on its players in ’24.

The change will also avoid seeing one of the key events of the LIV season broadcast via tape delay in the United States on the CW, a point that is likely of high importance to the league’s executives.

As for how the league’s financial backers feel about their home tournament being relegated to the early season swing? Well, that’s a conversation for another day.

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