London black cabs transported players to tees, where they would be met by grenadiers guards and pumping music systems – it was golf, but not like we knew it. Whatever transpires in LIV’s precarious future, that surreal first event won by Charl Schwartzel will never be forgotten.
Alongside some ageing major champions like Schwartzel and bona fide superstars Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson – it is fair to say that the league’s CEO and firebrand Greg Norman cobbled together a disparate bunch to tee it up in Hemel Hempstead.
Of the 48 players that teed up, only 19 remain involved in the league in one way or another. Here’s what happened to the rest…
Oliver Bekker
Becker earned $737,500 for a T6 finish at Centurion. The South African almost made his way back on to the league at January’s Promotions event in Florida, but missed out by three shots. Becker moved to Australia in recent years and has scarcely featured on leaderboards, but then claimed a second HotelPlanner (formerly Challenge) Tour win at the Jonsson Workwear Durban Open in February.
Itthipat Buranatanyarat
Another Smash GC OG, Buranatanyarat earned a spot in LIV Golf’s maiden voyage via the International Series event at Slaley Hall. He played in just one more LIV event, banking quarter of a million dollars, and has since won the 2024 Aramco Invitational to top the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit.
TK Chantananuwat
He played his first LIV event as a 15-year-old and the Thai amateur has long been viewed as a future star after dominating Asian amateur events. ‘TK’ had been playing in his sophomore year at Stanford University, but according to the Golf Channel, he has now been dismissed from the prestigious college setup for a violation of team rules.
Oli Fisher
Known as Mr 59, due to still being the only player to break 60 in a European Tour event, Fisher played in the very first LIV event at Centurion before returning to the domestic circuit. Since then, though, the Englishman’s game has deserted him. In 39 starts since his sole LIV appearance, Fisher has one top 20, a handful of finishes in the 60s, and a whopping 32 missed cuts. The World No. 3,473 now works as a TV pundit.
Justin Harding
Harding played in three LIV events before making way for some bigger name signings. He has had some rotten luck with injuries since, including a fractured hip, and missed out on full DP World Tour status at Q School last November.
Matt Jones
Jones finished 40th in LIV’s individual standings in 2025 and made way for young talent Elvis Smylie, the left-hander who won on his first start on the league in Riyadh in February. The former Ripper GC player then missed out by three shots at Promotions. He made over $19million in prize money across his four LIV seasons.
Sadom Kaewkanjana
Kaewkanjana played the entire of LIV’s inaugural season and a year later, took some time out of the sport to practice mediation as an ordained monk. He entered the monastery and studied the teachings of Buddha in what is seen as a rite of passage for young Thai men. He finished T11 in a career best finish at the 2022 Open at St Andrews and won the Korean Open on the Asian Tour last May to complete his return to golf’s oldest major at Royal Portrush.
Phachara Khongwatmai
Part of the original ‘Crushers’ lineup before the signings of Bryson DeChambeau and co, Khongwatmai was a child prodigy who broke the age record of an Asian Development Tour win at 15. He reached a career high of 121st in the world rankings, but is now outside the top 1000 while competing on the Asian Tour.
Sihwan Kim
Kim won two Asian Tour events in the months before LIV’s inauguration. He impressed during his first LIV season, guaranteeing himself a spot for the extended 2023 campaign, where he struggled for form and was eventually relegated. The 37-year-old returned to the Asian Tour, where he has competed ever since.
Ryosuke Kinoshita
The Japanese player made over $600,000 across his only three LIV starts. He has played in three majors and competes predominantly on the Japan Golf Tour.
Chase Koepka
The brother of five-time major champ Brooks made the second hole-in-one in LIV’s fledgling history at the 2023 Adelaide event. He was relegated that season and has been trying to make his way back since on the Asian Tour, but his career was briefly derailed by a serious nerve damage issue in his shoulder.
Jinichiro Kozuma
The Japanese star was a member of Smash GC in LIV Golf’s inaugural season before disappearing for a year. Worked his way back via the Promotions event and subsequently joined Iron Heads GC before being controversially dumped as part of the team’s rebrand to Korean Golf Club.
Pablo Larrazabal
Larrazabal is a nine-time winner on the DP World Tour who won twice after his brief jaunt across to LIV. He played the one event at Centurion and banked $360,000, but received a fine from Wentworth HQ for playing in the tournament without a release. There has been no return to LIV since.
Viraj Madappa
The sole Indian player in the original lineup, Madappa qualified for LIV’s inaugural event through an International Series event in Newcastle. It turned out to be his only start on the league, where he finished T30 and made over $150,000. He now plays on the Professional Golf Tour of India.
Jediah Morgan
The Australian was one of golf’s hottest young prospects when he joined LIV for its inaugural season. Initially part of the Fireballs lineup, Morgan switched to Torque GC for the remainder of the 2022 season before joining Cam Smith’s Ripper GC for the following year. He recorded just two top-20 finishes in two seasons and was relegated. He has since plied his trade on the Asian, Australasia and Japan Tours.
Kevin Na
The former Iron Heads GC founding captain was booted from LIV last season when the team rebranded to the ‘Korean Golf Club.’ He earned over $10million across his four seasons and has since made starts on both the Asian and DP World tours.
Shaun Norris
The intrepid South African has had success all around the world since competing in Louis Oosthuizen’s team during LIV’s inaugural season, with wins on the Japan Tour and the DP World Tour, as well as two playoff defeats on home soil last year.
Andy Ogletree
One of the hottest amateurs in the game shortly before LIV was founded – including a Silver Cup victory at the Masters – but blew his Korn Ferry Tour status to finish dead last at Centurion. He wasn’t seen again in 2022 and played three times in ’23 as a reserve, before joining Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers for the ’24 and ‘25 seasons. Relegation, though, consigned the American to the LIV Golf scrapheap. Still, the $6 million he made will help.
Adrian Otaeguei
Otaeguei teed up for Torque GC in the inaugural LIV event at Centurion before playing in three more. He returned to the DP World Tour, on which he has won twice more to take his tally to five, and changed his nationality from Spanish to Emirati.
Turk Pettit
Not many will have suffered a drop off quite like Pettit’s. The American banked just north of a million bucks in LIV’s first season, as part of the now defunct Niblicks GC squad, but has barely been seen since. There’s been a handful of starts on the Korn Ferry Tour since, but the 27-year-old is now outside the top 2,000 in the world rankings.
James Piot
The American turned pro to join Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs in 2022 and spent two seasons with the league before being relegated. Piot spent a year on the Asian Tour as he served his PGA Tour suspension before returning to the US circuit last summer.
Hennie du Plessis
Du Plessis had a productive start to 2026 on the DP World Tour, banking $100,000 for breaking the course record at Stellenbosch during the South African Open. He was the runner-up to Schwartzel at Centurion, earning an almost unfathomable $2,875,000 for his week’s work after his Stingers team won the team prize. He played two more events before being jettisoned as Norman started to attract more high-profile names.
JC Ritchie
The South African has won numerous times since his sole LIV start, where he finished in a tie for 17th. Three victories on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2025 earned Ritche automatic promotion to the DP World Tour for the 2026 season.
Ian Snyman
Snyman, who played college golf in America, has long been forging a path on the Asian Tour, but is yet to have a win on the circuit after his two LIV appearances.
Hudson Swafford
The American was in the top 70 in the world when he teed up on Talor Gooch’s Torque GC team for the inaugural LIV event before switching to the Niblicks for the remainder of the season. Swafford, a three-time PGA Tour winner, sat out of the 2023 after undergoing hip surgery before being handed a wildcard for the 2024 season – at the end of which he was relegated. He hasn’t played an official ranking event since, and finds himself on the verge of falling outside the top 5,000 in the world – which makes sense given he is now working as a real estate agent in Atlanta.
Hideto Tanihara
A garlanded great of Japanese golf, the veteran Tanihara has 19 wins on his home tour. He managed five starts on LIV as part of the original Iron Heads lineup and banked over $700,000.
Bernd Wiesberger
‘Burnt Cheeseburger’, as the Austrian is affectionately known, was originally part of the short-lived Niblicks GC – now Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats – before joining Cleeks Golf Club for a season before being dropped by captain Martin Kaymer. He returned to the DP World Tour the following year and got his first win since 2021 at the China Open.
Blake Windred
The unheralded Aussie made two LIV starts in a whirlwind few weeks, banking career-high checks totalling over $250,000 despite failing to break 70. He spent the following season on the DP World Tour, but now plays on home soil on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Kevin Yuan
The Australian splits his time between the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. He made only one LIV start, picking up $146,000 for his 10-over-par aggregate across three rounds at Centurion.
How much did the 29 earn on LIV Golf?
They may now surplus to requirements at LIV Golf, but a number of 29 players who teed up at the very first event in London certainly made the most of the huge prize pots on offer each week.
As for the rest of them – well, we’ll let you make your own minds up…
PLAYER2022202320242025TOTALMatt Jones$5,224,100$4,145,833$6,004,098$4,120,356$19,494,387Kevin Na$2,193,285$3,874,904$3,099,308$2,037,550$11,205,047Chase Koepka$5,605,964$2,421,464––$8,027,428Jinichiro Kozuma$1,050,000–$2,677,450$3,210,466$6,937,916Andy Ogletree$120,000$745,333$2,941,042$2,359,666$6,166,041Hennie du Plessis$5,408,000–––$5,408,000Jediah Morgan$1,536,999$3,261,250––$4,798,249Bernd Wiesberger$1,966,667$2,821,011––$4,787,678Sihwan Kim$2,799,000$1,896,625––$4,695,625James Piot$2,029,000$2,177,100––$4,206,100Hudson Swafford$1,347,000–$951,300–$2,298,300Phachara Khongwatmai$1,823,000–––$1,823,000Adrián Otaegui$1,627,000–––$1,627,000Sadom Kaewkanjana$1,024,285–$250,000$250,000$1,524,285Turk Pettit$1,293,000–––$1,293,000Justin Harding$1,185,000–––$1,185,000Shaun Norris$840,000–––$840,000Oliver Bekker$800,000–––$800,000Hideto Tanihara$651,000–––$651,000Ryosuke Kinoshita$530,000–––$530,000Pablo Larrazábal$360,000–––$360,000Ian Snyman$324,000–––$324,000Blake Windred$268,000–––$268,000Itthipat Buranatanyarat$250,000–––$250,000JC Ritchie$232,000–––$232,000Viraj Madappa$156,000–––$156,000Kevin Yuan$150,000–––$150,000Ratchanon Chantananuwat$140,000–––$140,000Oliver Fisher$140,000–––$140,000