Future uncertain for LIV’ s top stars

As LIV Golf forges ahead with its plans for 2025, it remains unclear what the future holds for some of the league’s first big-name signings.

The three-year contracts signed by some golfers after the breakaway league’s inception will expire this year, with player turnover therefore expected to ramp up at the end of this season.

LIV CEO Greg Norman has made no secret of his plans to coax more big name players from the PGA Tour, while bosses are also exploring new territories to stage tournaments.

But while LIV and the main tours continue to operate independently from each other, many players face uncertain futures.

Chief among them is Phil Mickelson, such a key figure in LIV’S emergence back in 2022. Mickelson, 53, was one of the first high-profile stars to sign a multi-year LIV deal, but his form has waned on the Saudi-backed circuit.

It is unclear how long Mickelson, the captain of Hyflyers GC, will continue to play LIV events into his mid-fifties, but he is still hugely optimistic about the direction of the enterprise.

“I think there’s a lot of things that are going to transpire over the next five or 10 years,” the six-time major champion said at this week’s event in Singapore.

“I’m very bullish and excited about what that means for LIV Golf.

“But there’s also a lot of uncertainty. I think the things that I do know is I think the quality of the players will continue to get better each year.

“I think that the ability and the sites that we move throughout the world will continue to excite players and excite fans.

“We’ll be going to more countries outside of the United States that really are starving for world-class professional golf, and we’ll have a lot more receptions like we had at Adelaide.

“With Singapore and the tourism department getting involved and loving the event that transpired last year and wanting us to come back, that seems to be the case right now where a lot of countries are negotiating and trying to get a LIV event there. So I see the global game of golf growing at an extremely high level.”

Bryson Dechambeau, the Crushers GC captain, is similarly spirited about LIV’S long-term future.

“We know it’s going to be here, bigger, badder and better than ever before,” said Dechambeau.

“It’s just going to continue to keep growing over the next five to 10 years.

“Where I see it heading, I think there may be an opportunity for this to be from an audience perspective even bigger.

“You’re going to see a lot more interactions from teams. I think the competition between the teams will get heightened.”

● Li Haotong delighted the home crowd with an opening 64 as he bids to win a second Volvo China Open title in Shenzhen.

Li, who lifted the trophy in 2016, carded eight birdies at Hidden Grace Golf Club to end the day a shot behind France’s Romain Langasque and inform Swede Sebastian Soderberg.

Langasque had started from the 10th and set the early clubhouse target with a flawless 63, which included seven birdies in a row from the 16th. Playing in the group behind, Li birdied his last three holes to complete his error-free 64 before Soderberg rounded off a day of low scoring – 49 players broke 70 and 92 finished under par – by joining Langasque at the top of the leaderboard.

France’s Alexander Levy, who is bidding to win the tournament for the third time, is eight shots off the pace following an opening 71.

Leading Scot is David Law, who carded a fourunder 68. Drumoig’s Connor Syme posted a level par 72 to sit alongide Stephen Gallacher.

Scott Jamieson is three under and Grant Forrest one over.

UPBEAT: Phil Mickelson says he is ‘bullish’ about the prospects for LIV Golf.