LIV Golf stars on brink of 2025 snub including rebel who scolded Tiger Woods

There will be plenty of change over the winter in LIV Golf, with several players on the brink of being dropped from the breakaway tour. There are just five events remaining in the 2024 season, meaning the race to avoid relegation is heating up alongside speculation over potential new signings.

Last year, players who finished outside the top 44 positions in the individual LIV standings were relegated from the league. Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim all failed to beat the drop while Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood were exempt as team captains.

The addition of Jon Rahm’s team, Legion XIII, has changed things for 2024 with a field increase of 48 to 54 players. It means the players who finish 49th and below will lose their spot in the lucrative Saudi-backed series.

One of the players at risk is Pat Perez, who took aim at Tiger Woods after tasting glory in the inaugural LIV campaign as part of Dustin Johnson’s team. He was left frustrated by Woods questioning the desire of LIV stars to improve knowing they could earn big money regardless.

“That’s the stupidest s*** I have ever heard of in my life,” fumed Perez on the Son of a Butch podcast. “That’s one of the stupidest things I think he has said. The incentive is the fact that last place is £120,000, first place is £4million.

“You cannot win £4m on the PGA Tour. He had a lot of guarantees. You know what, and he was the hottest thing. He’s made so much money off the course, he found an incentive to go.”

Perez currently sits two places above the drop zone, meaning he will need to find form in the remaining events to steer clear of relegation. His team-mate Harold Varner III is at risk of being axed too, with Branden Grace and Kieran Vincent also treading a fine line.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson has fallen into the drop zone but is exempt from relegation due to his status as a team captain. The other players at serious risk of the drop are Danny Lee, Jinichiro Kozuma, Laurie Canter, Kalle Samooja and Scott Vincent.

The only way for players who finish in the drop zone to keep their LIV places will be through an LIV Golf Promotions Event at the end of the season. Those who end up between 25th and 48th and are coming to the end of their contracts must be re-signed or picked up by another team.