The top three teams earn shares of a $5 million prize pool, with $3 million for first, $1.5 million for second and $500,000 for third split between the four players. So, in theory, one player could have a poor event but three good teammates and get a nice payday.
So, What Are They Wearing?
If you’re just tuning in, you’ll notice that most of the players won’t look any different sartorially than in other tournaments. Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, for example, are in their usual threads with the Adidas logo; Garcia with an Adidas hat and Johnson a TaylorMade logo hat.
Players’ LIV Golf teams are represented through the caddies, who have team names and logos on their vests.
As for Phil Mickelson, who lost sponsors in the wake of his comments in February about the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed” and the Saudi-backed league, he’s wearing a black hat with his own jumping-Phil logo and a black vest with the Augusta National Golf Club logo.
Play Begins at LIV Golf Opener
Dustin Johnson’s opening shot was shown live on the broadcast, and he split the fairway. Phil Mickelson is grouped with DJ, and he also hit the fairway with his opening shot on No. 1. And so begins a new golf league.
Phil Mickelson’s opening tee shot in the new LIV Golf league.
The Broadcast is Live
In the opening moments of the webcast, Greg Norman joins the booth and says, “I’m excited to bring free agency to golf. The shotgun start is moments away.
Arlo White, Greg Norman and Jerry Foltz in the opening broadcast booth.
A Ride To the Shotgun Start
As anyone who has ever played in a charity golf tournament or big event at their local club knows, the transportation for a shotgun start is controlled chaos. Usually it entails an army of golf carts all launched at once from the clubhouse.
LIV Golf took it a step further by grabbing a fleet of London black cabs to transport players all over Centurion Club.
LIV Golf also dropped a hype video on Thursday, narrated by Dennis Quaid.
Tee Times and Groupings for Day 1 at LIV Golf
Here are the groups for Day 1, along with the new team names. Everyone will tee off at the same time in a shotgun start:
Hole 1 Dustin Johnson – 4 Aces GC Scott Vincent – Smash GC Phil Mickelson – Hy Flyers GC
Hole 2 Sergio Garcia – Fireballs GC Talor Gooch – Torque GC Pablo Larrazabal – Cleeks GC
Hole 3 Charl Schwartzel – Stinger GC Graeme McDowell – Crushers GC Wade Ormsby – Punch GC
Hole 4 Sam Horsfield – Majesticks GC Sadom Kaewkanjana – Iron Heads GC Andy Ogletree – Torque GC
Hole 5 Richard Bland – Crushers GC Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a) – Hy Flyers GC Ryosuke Kinoshita – Punch GC
Hole 6 Jediah Morgan – Fireballs GC Ian Snyman – Cleeks GC Oliver Fisher – Niblicks GC
Hole 7 Chase Koepka – Hy Flyers GC Turk Pettit – Niblicks GC Kevin Yuan – 4 Aces GC
Hole 8 Itthipat Buranatanyarat – Smash GC Hennie Du Plessis – Stinger GC James Piot (a) – Fireballs GC
Hole 10 Jinichiro Kozuma – Smash GC Phachara Khongwatmai – Crushers GC JC Ritchie – Cleeks GC
Hole 12 David Puig (a) – Fireballs GC Oliver Bekker – 4 Aces GC Viraj Madappa – Iron Heads GC
Hole 13 Peter Uihlein – Niblicks GC Adrian Otaegui – Torque GC Blake Windred – Punch GC
Hole 14 Laurie Canter – Majesticks GC Martin Kaymer – Cleeks GC Hudson Swafford – Torque GC
Hole 15 Shaun Norris – 4 Aces GC Travis Smyth – Crushers GC Hideto Tanihara – Iron Heads GC
Hole 16 Branden Grace – Stinger GC Sihwan Kim – Smash GC Matt Jones – Punch GC
Hole 17 Lee Westwood – Majesticks GC Bernd Wiesberger – Niblicks GC Justin Harding – Hy Flyers GC
Hole 18 Louis Oosthuizen – Stinger GC Kevin Na – Iron Heads GC Ian Poulter – Majesticks GC
What is the LIV Golf 2022 Calendar?
LIV Golf debuts in London, and there will be seven more events, staged in both the U.S. and abroad, through the rest of the year. Here’s the full lineup:
June 9-11, Centurion Club, Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans
June 30-July 2, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, North Plains, Ore.
July 29-31. Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, N.J.
Sept. 2-4, The International, Bolton, Mass.
Sept. 16-18, Rich Harvest Farms, Sugar Grove, Ill.
Oct. 7-9, Stonehill Golf Club, Bangkok
Oct. 14-16, Royal Greens Golf Club, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Oct. 28-30, Trump National Doral, Miami
Show Me the Money
If the broadcast has not made it abundantly clear what the players are competing for this week, here’s a quick primer.
Of the 12 teams competing, only the top three will earn shares of the $5 million purse — first place splits $3 million four ways ($750,000 per player), second place splits $1.5 million ($375,000 per player) and third place earns $500,000 ($125,000 per player).
Individually, $4 million will go to the winner, followed by $2.125 million (second), $1.5 million (third) and $1.05 million (fourth). Further down, 12th will earn $450,000, 24th gets $168,000 and dead last earns $120,000.
At best, a player could earn $4.75 million come Saturday evening. At worst, a player leaves with, well, $120,000.