The Schedule Adjustment LIV Golf Must Make to Have Any Shot at Survival

In this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction, our writers debate LIV’s rumored 2027 schedule, and what the PGA Tour could do about preferred lies.

Bryson DeChambeau is reportedly helping LIV Golf pitch a 2027 schedule. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we’ve spent so much time in Texas our golf shoes are starting to smell like barbecue..

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

LIV Golf is reportedly pitching a 10-event schedule to potential investors, smaller than its current 14-tournament slate. Where those 10 would be played isn’t known, but LIV should stay more focused internationally and play no more than two events in the U.S.

Bob Harig: FACT. The focus almost certainly needs to be international, leaning into the place where they’ve had success and perhaps double down. Why not two events in Australia? Play another in South Africa? For time zone reasons related to U.S. television, why not play in Canada, Mexico City (again) and South America? Play a season-opening event in the U.S. and perhaps two more at the end. So I’m hedging on three but that seems the limit

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. LIV seems to have gotten more traction internationally so far, but that doesn’t mean it should bail on the biggest sports market on earth. There are plenty of underserved markets in the US where LIV could try to plant a flag, or continue to pant a flag, for 4-5 events per year, including Chicago, Seattle, Philly, Vegas and Indianapolis. 

John Schwarb: FICTION. Maybe depends on the investors but it’s hard to imagine only playing twice in the States. Perhaps LIV can keep a two-week Midwest swing in August but also play somewhere in late February or March. The sweet spot should be three or four U.S. stops. 

The CJ Cup Byron Nelson was another birdiefest won by Wyndham Clark at 30 under in which three of four rounds were played with preferred lies. As PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp tries to strengthen competition, he should take the majors’ stance and pretty much ban preferred lies.

Bob Harig: FICTION. This sounds good in theory but preferred lies are used, among other things for practical reasons associated with getting a tournament done on time for the sake of the schedule. It allows play to go on when it otherwise might not be permitted if playing the ball down (this is why the restart at the U.S. Open at Oakmont last year was controversial without preferred lies in use.) All that said, it really needs to be used sparingly.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. I dislike preferred lies as much as the next guy, but every once in a while it really is the only option. 

John Schwarb: FACT. The Tour is quick to go to lift, clean and cheatplace on saturated courses to get fields around on time, but it cheapens the competition. If this is “Where The Best Belong” as Rolapp and Co. are now touting, they can play it down all the time. 

The potential two-tier future PGA Tour schedule could lead to some issues for top players, Harig wrote, who may want to play a hometown event that’s not a Tier 1. But to preserve competition, Rolapp should prohibit stars playing “down” a tier if desired.

Bob Harig: FICTION. There are some rumblings that if a player eligible for a Tier 1 event competes in a Tier 2 tournament, he won’t earn any points for playing in that event (only gets the prize money, which should be considerably less than a Tier 1 event). That should be a deterrent. It might not be a bad idea to put a cap on how many you are allowed to play as well. The entire point of a condensed Tier 1 schedule is to get as many of the best players in those events as often as possible. It defeats the purpose if they are not playing them.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. But only during the regular season. If stars want to go play tier 2 after the FedEx is over, I can see it. But broadly, why would the tour have these tiers in the first place? A star would be swiping a spot in the field from a player who needs it, which isn’t in the spirit of what the tour is trying to create here.

John Schwarb: FICTION. Realistically, the stars won’t dip their toes in Tier 2 events very often due to scheduling—this isn’t Nascar where a Cup driver might drive in a lower-tier race on the same weekend at the same track (shoutout to the late Kyle Busch). But the likes of a Scottie Scheffler at the Byron Nelson sells tickets and adds interest, and that needs to be allowed even at the expense of taking up a spot from a lower-tier regular.   

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