LIV Golf to play in Las Vegas during Super Bowl week

(AP) – LIV Golf released a 2024 schedule on Wednesday that includes going to Las Vegas the same weekend as the Super Bowl and has three U.S. events that will he held the same week as the PGA Tour’s signature $20 million stops.

The Saudi-funded league announced 12 sites on its 14-tournament schedule, leaving out the final regular event that determines the individual title and the team championship, which last year was held at Trump Doral outside Miami.

None of the Trump courses are currently listed on the schedule. LIV previously has gone to Trump Bedminster in New Jersey each of the last two years, and to Trump National outside Washington, D.C., last year.

The 48-man league with 12 teams currently is going through an open period of reshuffling rosters and still has LIV Golf Promotions to see which three players can qualify for a league that offers $20 million purses and a concurrent team competition over 54 holes.

The new season starts Feb. 2-4 at Mayakoba on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. That’s the same week as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, the first $20 million event on the PGA Tour.

LIV goes to Las Vegas for the first time on Feb. 8-10, planning for a Saturday finish ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday. That Saturday is also when the Phoenix Open stages the largest and loudest crowd in golf. Phoenix has long preferred Super Bowl weekend, even the years the Super Bowl is in town.

LIV will be going to Las Vegas Country Club, which held the PGA Tour event from its inception in 1983 until 1991. It most recently hosted an LPGA event from 2003 to 2006.

New domestic stops for LIV include the Golf Club of Houston on June 7-9 — one week before the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina — and The Grove near Nashville, Tennessee, on June 21-23. Both those events are opposite $20 million PGA Tour stops — Houston opposite the Memorial, Tennessee opposite the Travelers Championship.

LIV also has another event the same week as one of the tour’s signature stops — March 8-10 in Hong Kong, as the PGA Tour holds the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

LIV no longer has stops in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Tucson, Arizona, where it played in 2023.

Six tournaments currently are scheduled outside North America — Saudi Arabia (May 1-3), Hong Kong, Australia (April 26-28), Singapore (May 3-5), Spain (July 12-14) and England (July 26-28).

The European stops are on both ends of the British Open. The England tournament, which moves in 2024 to JCB Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire, is held the week between the British Open and the Olympics in Paris.

One of the issues with LIV not getting Official World Golf Ranking points is how many players will be eligible for the Olympics, including Cameron Smith. While he currently is No. 18 and playing the next two weeks in Australia, his only access to big points will be the majors, while Aussies like Jason Day, Cam Davis and Min Woo Lee have access to top fields far more often.

“I’ve got these couple of events and four more looks again in the majors, so hopefully I can keep that ranking up,” Smith said ahead of the Australian PGA Championship.

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