'Nobody Can Hide' - LIV Golf Announces Significant Format Tweak Ahead Of 2025 Season

LIV Golf has made a number of notable changes since the curtain came down on the 2024 season, with a handful of new players, a host of fresh sponsorship deals, a key TV agreement and - in one team's case - a logo re-design.

Multiple pros have left the league, too, while former CEO Greg Norman has been replaced by Scott O'Neil in the boardroom. Plus, a couple of new locations have been added to the schedule.

Yet, while much has been altered, there remains 54 players fighting out for significant prize purses every week and the honor of becoming the next LIV Golf League individual champion.

But as the PIF-backed circuit gears up for its fourth full season, a key tweak has been made to the competition's format which could greatly affect how the team standings plays out.

Since LIV Golf arrived on the scene, the format in regard to counting scores has gone through multiple adjustments. For the first five events, two scores counted in rounds one and two before three scores were tallied up in the final round.

Then, from Bangkok 2022 - LIV's sixth event - three scores were counted in each round. That rule went one step further from the start of the 2024 campaign with three scores counting over the first two days and all four being marked on Sunday.

Now, it has been revealed that - from LIV Golf Riyadh 2025 - all four scores will count in every round for each of the 13 teams now, so any bad performances will be potentially devastating to a side's chances of success.

Per the LIV Golf website, there were 31 non-counting scores of 77 or worse last year and Crushers GC were the best-scoring team throughout every round and all four players in 2024.

As confirmed Wildcards, Anthony Kim and Lee Chieh-po will only need to worry about themselves. But for everyone else, the format alteration will be significant.

RangeGoats GC captain, Bubba Watson said: "It does make volatility bigger, crazier. Nobody can hide. You’re going to have to be committed on every hole, every shot.”

Meanwhile, Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen said: "There’s no more looking at the scoreboard and thinking, 'I’m OK, my team’s playing well.' That definitely changes things.”

Speaking in their pre-tournament press conference, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton of Legion XIII were also very much in favor of the change due to the make-up of their side.

Rahm said: "I like it. I like it. I think it benefits a team like ours. I think we have four really strong players that are really consistent. So I think it’s better for the league in general for everybody to matter every single day because Sunday is usually really, really fun. At least last year it was incredibly fun in that regard.

"But I think it’s better for the teams and the players’ development, as well, for every round to count. I’m very much in favor of it."

Meanwhile, Hatton said: "Yeah, I think we saw last year even on Sunday how quickly the leaderboards can change. Having that from round one certainly brings a little bit more interest there earlier in the week.

"But yeah, like Jon said, I think we’re a pretty consistent team, and hopefully this move kind of benefits us over the course of the year."

The first opportunity to see the new rule in action will be this week at the inaugural LIV Golf Riyadh - a unique event for the Saudi-funded league in that it will take place 'under the lights' on Riyadh Golf Club's floodlight championship course.

Legion XIII are the bookmakers' marginal favorites, not only for the season-long team title, but also to be key contenders at the season's opening event.

While Joaquin Niemann and Bryson DeChambeau are also in the picture, many companies are offering either Rahm or Hatton as the likeliest of champions in week one.

Rahm is the defending LIV Golf individual winner while Hatton has already tasted success on the DP World Tour this year when he landed the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Meanwhile, both Niemann and DeChambeau were in action at the International Series India last week, with the American coming up four strokes shy of Ollie Schniederjans - the man who will fill in for HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson after he suffered a minor injury recently.