Why Did LIV Golf Partially Ditch The United States into Just 5 Competitions?

The 2023 season of LIV Golf visited many cities around the world. From Asia to the lands of America, the league roams around the globe frequently, way more than its counterparts. And the 2024 schedule revealed a similar trend.

LIV Golf has now revealed its 14 events scheduled for the 2024 season. However, a significant change had occurred in the schedule. The league has reduced its number of American events from 8 to 5. This sparks a question about the reason behind ditching the US for its events.

Why is LIV Golf featuring an event list that is majority outside of the USA?

The breakaway league debuted in the midst of 2022, and it promised the golfer lucrative deals and a unique format. However, one other privilege LIV gave to its audience was international coverage. Although pros received backlash for their league choices, the league itself was different from the PGA Tour owing to these few factors.

In 2023, LIV hosted six events outside of America: in Mayakoba, Adelaide, Singapore, Sotogrande, London, and Jeddah. And now for its third edition, LIV will be adding two new cities, Hong Kong and Andalucia, and will be hosting a minimum of seven events outside the US (the locations for the two mega championships have not yet been disclosed). So why did the Saudi League turn its back on America? Well, renowned analyst Dan Rapaport has a theory.

The Barstools journalist recently took to Twitter and shared LIV’s 2024 schedule, explaining that the Saudi-back league was once again setting itself apart for the PGA Tour with this move. While next year will witness all the Tour’s eight elevated events being played in America itself, LIV has gone the other way and capitalized on the international side, hosting more events outside the US than ever before, thus perhaps capitalizing on a wider international audience.

As the LIV stars travel all around the world, the PGA Tour pros will only move within the country for the majority of their season. The lack of international exposure is also one of the reasons why many on the tour jumped ship, including Australian golfer Cameron Smith. In one of his interviews, the 3-time LIV champion even stated that it was an important deciding factor for his move!

LIV Golf’s international schedule thrilled the golfers

In early November, Cameron Smith was playing at the Hong Kong Open. While giving an interview to ABC Sport, Smith divulged the reasons why he chose LIV Golf, saying it was a mix of money and travel.

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The one-time major winner claimed that the big money was indeed a deciding factor; however, it was the international travel that excited him as well. Smith explained that although his time on the PGA Tour was “nice”, he missed traveling. As he claims, “It’s something that I’ve always enjoyed.”

Undoubtedly, Smith will be happier than ever with LIV now exploring more and more new locations every year. And alongside him, all his Saudi League colleagues will perhaps feel the same way.

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