There’s a lot that can be said about LIV Golf, but one thing is certain: the alternative golf league is not afraid of change, and it’s proving that again this month.
It was just a few days ago that Jon Rahm mentioned format changes from earlier in 2025 that have benefitted his team more than others. Well, Rahm’s league-leading Legion 13 team is now going to have to weather a new adjustment to the team championship — and this one certainly doesn’t benefit them.
Whereas in years past the team championship saw top squads get a first-round bye, this year’s finale — held outside Detroit — will have all 12 teams competing in match play from the jump. No days off. Captains of the top teams over the course of the regular season will get to select their opponents, as has been the case in previous iterations. But they will also be given more information this time around.
Part of the new match-selecting process allows captains of higher-seeded teams to see the specific lineups that lower-seeded teams will be fielding before they choose their opponent. For example, Rahm could choose for his team to face Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers if Rahm himself feels he likes what Mickelson has laid out for filling the two singles matches and one foursomes (alternate shot) match.
Does this matter much? Probably not. But we’ll see how it shakes out when LIV plays its team event in two weeks.
Now with an odd number of teams, LIV will have the 12th- and 13th-placed teams face off in a play-in to advance to the first day of match play. The winning six teams of those first-round matches will advance to the semi-finals, where they will play another team match to advance to the three-team, final-round shootout.
The final round features a move back to stroke play, where all four scores count toward the team total. The team championship total purse is $50 million, with the winning team taking home $14 million ($3.5 million each).
