In just more than a week we’ll learn who will be the newest members of LIV Golf. Some of them might look familiar.
On Thursday, LIV Golf announced the field for its inaugural LIV Golf Promotions tournament, which will take place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on Dec. 8-10. More than 70 players are in the field, and the top-three finishers will earn one of the 48 LIV Golf roster spots for 2024.
Earlier this month it was reported that PGA Tour players could enter the promotions event without penalty. LIV Golf tournaments were previously deemed “unauthorized events,” and playing in them without PGA Tour permission would warrant suspension, but the Tour considers this a qualifying event. The Tour, however, did add that its ruling is subject to change should details of the LIV Golf Promotions event change.
Players had to meet specific qualification standards to enter LIV Golf Promotions, with all players falling under either Category A or more highly ranked Category B.
About 60 Category A players will tee off for the opening round, and the top 20 plus ties advance to the second round, where scores will reset and they’ll be joined by the Category B players, who received byes through the first round. The top 20 after the second round advance to the final day, where scores will reset once again before they play a 36-hole finale on Dec. 10.
Jason Dufner, the 2013 PGA Championship winner, is the most notable name on the list of entries. Dufner finished 165th in the recently completed FedEx Cup and, since he already burned his top 50 exemption in 2023, he’ll play the 2024 PGA Tour season out of the past champions with more than 150 career cuts made category.
Dunfer and Kevin Chappell, who earned more than $17 million in his PGA Tour career, are among the players who received byes into the second round. So will former U.S. Amateur champion James Piot, Jed Morgan, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim — the four players who were recently relegated from LIV after finishing in the bottom-four spots last season.
Here are 10 notable names entered in LIV Golf Promotions:
Jason Dufner (2013 PGA winner, five career PGA Tour wins, 1 Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup)
Kevin Chappell (2017 Valero Texas Open winner, 1 Presidents Cup)
James Piot (2021 U.S. Amateur winner)
Victor Dubuisson (2 DP World Tour wins, 1 Ryder Cup)
Scott Hend (3 DP World Tour wins, 10 Asian Tour wins)
Jazz Janewattananond (7 Asian Tour wins)
Turk Pettit (2021 NCAA DI Men’s Golf individual champion)
Kyle Stanley (2 PGA Tour wins)
Braden Thornberry (2017 NCAA DI Men’s Golf individual champion)
Martin Trainer (1 PGA Tour win)
The three players who advance from the promotions event will be drafted onto a LIV team at a later date, and players who finish 4th through 10th earn full exemptions for all of the 2024 International Series events, which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour. LIV Golf’s first event of 2024 is Feb. 2-4 at Mayakoba.
You can view the entire field for LIV Golf Promotions below.
