LIV Golf Achievements

Here is the top 10 in the standings for 2026 through 6 of 13 events:

1. Jon Rahm – 779.00
2. Bryson DeChambeau – 476.90
3. Thomas Detry – 251.90
4. Elvis Smylie – 251.04
5. Anthony Kim – 237.71
6. David Puig – 220.74
7. Richard T. Lee – 169.58
8. Thomas Pieters – 169.10
9. Peter Uihlein – 157.98
10. Josele Ballester – 146.72

Jon Rahm won for the second time of the season when he took home LIV Mexico City and has effectively put this thing away for 2026. Bryson DeChambeau is the only player close enough with a realistic chance of catching him, and even then it would take some help as even when Rahm doesn’t win the tournament he seems to get a lot of points for a top 5 finish.

The race for third place is the more interesting watch at the moment, as whoever is the top player within the top 3 not already qualified for the U.S. Open after LIV Virginia will get an automatic qualification this June at Shinnecock Hills. Right now there are four players really in the mix, with Detry, Smylie, Anthony Kim, and Puig all showing a realistic shot at getting to that third-place spot. Puig and Detry are also close to the OWGR top 50, sitting at #61 and #62 respectively.

For the first time ever, LIV is earning OWGR points. Here is the total cumulative OWGR points for the top 10.

1. Jon Rahm – 96.15
2. Bryson DeChambeau – 58.12
3. Thomas Detry – 27.97
4. Elvis Smylie – 25.63
5. David Puig – 25.46
6. Anthony Kim – 23.14
7. Thomas Pieters – 17.90
8. Branden Grace – 16.59
9. Peter Uihlein – 15.52
10. Dean Burmester – 14.05

Aside from winners, it is tough to really build much OWGR equity only playing LIV events. My guess is that the guys who want to get into the majors will look to supplement their LIV schedules with European Tour events (and the occasional Asian Tour event). Since the OWGR only awards points to the top 10 (and ties), 35 total guys have earned any OWGR points in LIV over these first six events of 2026.

Rahm has been hogging a lot of the points, but in doing so has proved that an elite player can qualify for the majors by dominating LIV. Rahm’s averaged 16.02 points in these six LIV events, which would put him in second in the world overall if these were his only events and it met the minimum. Now obviously he will want to supplement this by having better finishes in majors and any DP World Tour events he might ever play, but for now his play on LIV will keep him afloat in the OWGR standings.

Speaking of Rahm, his strokes gained on LIV in 2026 are insane. Here is the top 10 by overall strokes gained for LIV events only, look at the gap Rahm has over second.

1. Jon Rahm: +3.12
2. Thomas Detry: +1.62
3. Bryson DeChambeau: +1.38
4. Branden Grace: +1.20
5. David Puig: +1.20
6. Dean Burmester: +1.04
7. Abraham Ancer: +0.99
8. Scott Vincent: +0.91
9. Joaquin Niemann: +0.87
10. Carlos Ortiz: +0.83

Wildcard Scott Vincent is a pleasant surprise. After missing out on LIV 2025, the Zimbabwean earned his way back and has played well (including a 4th-place finish in Mexico City) that he has nearly locked in his place for 2027. He was also recently picked up by the HyFlyers to fill in for Phil Mickelson; not quite the Anthony Kim situation but certainly a step in the right direction for Scott.

Career Achievements

The points system internal to LIV changed in 2026, so we are now tracking career points in reference to first place that tournament. In other words, for each tournament in LIV, the winner receives 1 point and each subsequent place receives the proportion of actual points in relation to first. Here are the top 10 in terms of total (adjusted) points:

1. Jon Rahm – 15.43
2. Joaquin Niemann – 14.93
3. Bryson DeChambeau – 12.10
4. Talor Gooch – 11.76
5. Cameron Smith – 11.01
6. Dustin Johnson – 10.60
7. Sergio Garcia – 10.22
8. Brooks Koepka – 9.95
9. Patrick Reed – 9.18
10. Carlos Ortiz – 8.51

So far in 32 career LIV events, Jon Rahm’s average point allocation is 0.48, or half-way between 2nd and 3rd place using 2026 point allocation. Rahm’s career is equivalent to a golfer who alternately finishes 2nd and then 3rd for 31 straight events. Rahm’s actual results include an insane 30/32 on Top 10’s (other two were a W/D injury and T11) with 4 wins. Former LIV players Koepka and Reed still sit in the top 10 for now. Joaquin Niemann has the most LIV wins with 7, followed by DeChambeau and Koepka (5). Rahm and Gooch both have 4.

The Team Standings through six events show the following:

1. Ripper GC – 89.75
2. 4Aces GC – 88.00
3. Legion XIII – 76.25
4. Crushers – 53.75
5. Torque GC – 50.75
6. Southern Guards GC – 49.25
7. Fireballs GC – 41.25
8. Smash GC – 38.00
9. RangeGoats GC – 26.25
10. Cleeks Golf Club – 25.00
11. HyFlyers GC – 24.00
12. Majesticks Golf Club – 19.00
13. Korean Golf Club – 18.75

Ripper holds on to the top spot thanks to its wins the first two events of the year. Legion XIII is getting closer to the top two teams following a win in Mexico.

Individual Standings – Relegation and other Storylines

The new relegation system means that the top 34 golfers are in the Lock Zone (Green) and get their spots in LIV 2027. From 35-46 is the Open Zone (Yellow) meaning they are eligible to play in 2027 if signed by a team. Last off-season there was some confusion surrounding Jinichiro Kozuma, who was eligible to return but never signed. Those in the Open Zone can still qualify back into LIV if not picked up. From 47 on down is the Relegation Zone (Red) which means the player has to leave LIV but can still qualify through the other means (win International Series on Asian Tour or through Qualifying series).

With that in mind, here are some notable storylines surrounding the zones through 46% of the season.

The “Young Guns” are LIV’s 20-somethings that the league is hoping will do well in order to build a future for the burgeoning tour. Elvis Smylie won in his debut event at LIV Riyadh this February, and currently sits in fourth place–easily qualifying for LIV 2027. David Puig (6th), Josele Ballester (10th), Matthew Wolff (15th), Joaquin Niemann (17th), Tom McKibbin (25th), and Caleb Surratt (34th) are all currently in the green Lock Zone. Surratt is straddling the line between that and the yellow Open Zone so will need to continue to play well each week. Luis Masaveu (46th) is in the Open Zone, barely above the Drop Zone.

Sitting in the red Drop Zone are Michael La Sasso (49th), Minkyu Kim (52nd), and Ben Schmidt (58th, alternate). La Sasso in particular is someone the league has interest in seeing play well. Signed by Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers out of college, he is wanting to prove to Phil that he was worth it. After a solid T12 finish in South Africa, he had another poor outing with a 56th place in Mexico (only beating Bryson DeChambeau who W/D).

For LIV to be a valid system moving forward, it needed to get OWGR points, which it has (albeit only for the top 10 in each event). The next step is to get young talent that can make an impact outside of LIV (i.e. in the majors). Getting younger means getting guys in their 20’s that can beat those aging out (i.e. those in their 40’s/50’s), and this is a work in progress at the moment.

Speaking of the older players, let’s look at those who are in danger of being relegated from the league. Unlike the first few seasons where captains could often avoid relegation, the league will cut anyone who doesn’t qualify…that is those in 47th place and below (~ the bottom 20% of the league).

Near the very bottom of things is Phil Mickelson, sitting with 3.55 points and nearly 40 points below 46th place. Mickelson has only played in 1 event due to a personal family matter, but even if he had played in every event and finished where he did in South Africa he would be well below the cutoff. It will be interesting to see if he is granted a break for his personal matter or if he gets relegated in 2027 due to his lack of points.

Martin Kaymer (53rd) has played in 5 of 6 events but only has 27.73 points, putting him 15.28 points shy of spot #46. His best finish of T25 at Mexico City will need to be a stepping stone as the season goes along if he wants to avoid relegation. A few spots ahead of him at spot 48, Ian Poulter is down 8.00 points from the Open Zone. Poulter’s best finish was also a T25 at Mexico City. One spot above Poulter, and in the first Drop Zone spot, is Bubba Watson. The RangeGoats captain is only 2.71 points shy of the Open Zone, with a T28 at Singapore being his best event.

Lee Westwood missed the first two events but played well in Hong Kong (T18) and certainly Singapore (3) to get himself in the Lock Zone. He is in 20th place, dropping a bit after two poor showings, but still 54.24 points ahead of the dreaded Drop Zone. As a co-captain, he can guarantee himself a spot as long as he is in the yellow zone or better. Sergio Garcia (31st place, +18.89 points safe) is likewise playing solid enough to guarantee a 2027 season. Byeong Hun An is doing okay, and sits +12.69 points above the Drop Zone.

But with four captains currently in the Drop Zone, there is a strong chance certainly at least one but even more are getting relegated. How will LIV deal with this situation? Will they make an exception for Phil? Will they force the relegated captain to relinquish ownership, or will we have non-playing captains in certain instances? But what would these players do if they want to stay competitive in the golfing world?