LIV Golf’s 2024 season will be coming to an end in Dallas, but at least the race for individual champion has ended. The million-dollar Ben Baller ring was worn by Jon Rahm as he won the individual championship and bagged the $18 million bonus at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Chicago. 2024 sure has been a happening year for the breakaway circuit.

And with many ups, there were a few downs as well. From Brooks Koepka downplaying the league to Graeme McDowell’s anti-doping issue to Bubba Watson’s probable exit from the league, here are the most unfortunate moments from LIV Golf’s 2024 season.

1. Brooks Koepka overlooks LIV Golf

Is Brooks Koepka there on LIV Golf for money? In October 2023, Koepka said on the Jake Paul BS podcast that he was playing on the circuit because of the dough as it provided him and his family with financial security. And now, the 5-time major winner implied that winning on LIV Golf does not hold much weight for him. Notably, the 34-year-old won two times on the breakaway circuit this year. But in the four majors, his record was Masters T45, T26 at the PGA Championship and US Open, and the Open T43, indeed a poor run.

May 16, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Brooks Koepka tees off on the 12th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Despite winning in the league he plays, he was disappointed with his season. Only two days ago, Koepka revealed that he judged his season was good or bad by major results and said, “The majors were terrible. I put a lot of emphasis on those, and just cutting those wasn’t—tthat’s how I judge my year.” You have it, so even though LIV Golf has been trying to be the mainstream league, the players themselves do not put winning two events as having a good season.

2. Bubba Watson’s exits from LIV Golf 

No one would have seen it coming, but it was a curveball thrown by LIV Golf itself. Up until the 2023 season, no captains were being relegated from Greg Norman’s league; it does not matter even if they were last. But in the 2024 season, everything matters, and Bubba Watson finds himself 53rd on the season-long standings.

The 2-time Masters winner started with a T21 and T15 in Mayakoba and Las Vegas, respectively. But his performance declined and declined and again declined in the entire season to force him into the drop zone. It will surely be unfortunate not to see Watson in the 2025 season if the league follows through with its changed rules.

“I think my teammates want me back and I’d like to be back,” Watson said after finishing 53rd in the standings. “I know some discussions need to take place and there’s some business considerations. We have one of the most popular teams. Am I part of that? I think I am and I’m committed to playing better.”

3. Grace McDowell hit with a $125,000 fine

Did you see Graeme McDowell playing at the LIV Golf Greenbrier? We didn’t either, and that was because the Englishman was banned for one match by LIV Golf. In an Instagram post, the one-time major winner revealed that he went through an anti-doping program during a Nashville event and got back a positive test. He said that he had taken an over-the-counter decongestant stick that had a banned substance, and thus he was out of the league for one event and had to pay a $125,000 fine for being in contact with the banned substance.

This resulted in his team, Smash GC, getting disqualified from LIV Golf Nashville; the points and prize money were not given to the team or the players. And McDowell missed the celebration in Greenbrier as John Catlin took his place as the former had to sit at home.

4. LIV Golf loses once again to the PGA Tour

The race between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has been on since the breakaway circuit poached many of the former PGA Tour pros for millions of dollars in 2022. And with the merger hanging without any finalization, it seems that it will not be ending anytime soon. By far, the PGA Tour has defeated the disruptive league in many things, including the fans it attracts. Just recently, LIV Golf’s 15K audience record at Bolingbrooks GC was put to shame.

But that’s not the only thing LIV Golf is behind from the PGA Tour. Even in TV ratings, the Tour takes precedence by thousands of numbers. At LIV Golf Greenbrier, only 136K and 165K fans watched the event on Saturday and Sunday. Whereas, the St. Jude Championship had 2.2 million viewers. Even in the last two years, LIV Golf has failed to capitalize on the golf fans as the PGA Tour has, and that takes us to the last unfortunate event of the rankings.

5. LIV Golf’s TV partner drops the league

It was an unintended slip-up from Phil Mickelson when he revealed that LIV Golf’s TV contract with The CW network would be ending after the season ends. In January 2023, LIV Golf signed a 2-year contract with The CW Network to telecast the Friday round on its app and the weekends on the TV channel. Both firms were new to the market, and thus, it was a factor in how the audience would react to it, which would confirm the extension of the contract.

But Nielsen reported that LIV Golf averages around 200K viewers for its events, which probably was not what the CW Network would’ve expected. Thus, they are parting ways, as Lefty revealed ahead of LIV Golf Chicago, “Our new partner, because our new partner, whoever that is after this year…” This implied and quite literally indeed that LIV Golf was getting a re-sign with CW. As the TV ratings became a nightmare for the league, they surely did not expect to lose their only TV partner.

But the season has concluded, and now LIV Golf has a long off-season to look over its moments and learn from. The 2025 season awaits better events and partners for the disruptive league; the question is if they would be able to crack it.