Major champion to lodge appeal after being axed from LIV Golf
Which players have been relegated from LIV Golf for 2025? Two-time Masters champion to lodge appeal to LIV Golf board to return next season.
Bubba Watson was one of five players to be relegated from LIV Golf following the final event of the regular season in Chicago on Sunday night, but the two-time Masters champion could still find a route back onto the Saudi-bankrolled circuit in 2025.
Watson, 45, ended the season alongside Kalle Samooja, Branden Grace, Scott Vincent and Kieran Vincent in the dreaded drop zone.
Only all is not yet lost for Watson, who has served as a LIV Golf captain on RangeGoats GC ever since the circuit formed in 2022.
As a player captain, Watson is now able to lodge an appeal to the LIV Golf team board in an attempt to return in 2025.
Watson's fate will now rest in the hands of LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who will consider his player captain options for the new season.
Watson is the current captain of RangeGoats GC, which also comprises Thomas Pieters, Matt Wolff and Peter Uihlein.
The five players relegated from LIV Golf
- Kalle Samooja
- Branden Grace
- Bubba Watson*
- Scott Vincent
- Kieran Vincent
*Watson to lodge appeal to LIV Golf
Samooja, Grace and the two Vincents will not be as fortunate as Watson in that they will not be able to lodge an appeal to the LIV Golf team board.
All four players will be officially relegated from the LIV Golf League as a result of finding themselves in the drop zone at the end of the season.
Of the quartet, many will consider Grace's relegation the most shocking given the South African won LIV Golf Portland in 2022 and he is a nine-time winner on the DP World Tour.
One route back for players onto LIV Golf will be through a Promotions event later this year.
There will be three spots available there.
Otherwise players will have to prove themselves on the Asian Tour's International Series and play their way back onto the league should they wish to return.
It had been widely assumed that all player captains would avoid relegation as a result of their status on LIV Golf.
But it was confirmed last week prior to LIV Golf Chicago that this would not be the case and that nobody would be safe from the drop zone.
Players 49th or worse ended up in the drop zone.
Watson, who won The Masters in 2012 and 2014, finished T42 in Chicago and that meant he remained in 53rd place in the standings.
The left-handed American has badly struggled for form this season, racking up just one top-20 finish all year in Las Vegas back in February.
He was eligible to compete in The Masters in April as a former champion but he went on to miss the cut.
That was Watson's only major start of 2024.
HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson narrowly avoided the drop zone in 46th position.
Mickelson, a six-time major champion, has recently hinted that retirement could soon be on the cards for him.
It therefore remains to be seen whether Lefty decides to extend his playing days on LIV Golf in 2025.
Pat Perez, who plays on Dustin Johnson's 4Aces GC, also narrowly beat the drop in 48th position.
Anthony Kim finished 56th in the standings but the former US Ryder Cup hero does not face relegation since he joined the league as a wildcard and was not attached to a team.
It remains to be seen whether Kim joins a LIV Golf team in 2025.
VIEW FINAL LIV GOLF LEAGUE STANDINGS
Jon Rahm won LIV Golf Chicago and he also took the season-long Individual Championship worth an extra $18m in the process.
Next Page: Jon Rahm shows true colours after $18m LIV Golf payday in Chicago
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