LIV Golf make huge change to opening event of 2025 season

The first event of the 2025 LIV Golf season will have a very different feel to it. Here’s why…

LIV Golf have never made it a secret they like to be a bit different and break new ground – and that will certainly be the case when the 2025 season gets underway in Saudi Arabia in a couple of weeks.

That’s because the league’s opener will be played under the floodlights at Riyadh Golf Club.

With an eight hour difference between Saudi Arabia and the US east coast, and an 11 hour difference to the US west coast, golf tournaments in the Middle East tend to be held while everyone on the other side of the Atlantic sleeps.

So it has been decided that the first round of LIV Golf Riyadh will tee off at 6.15pm local time – which is 3.15pm in the UK and, more importantly, 10.15am in the United States – while the two weekend rounds will get underway 10 minutes earlier.

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That means LIV Golf, through their new broadcasting partners at Fox Sports, will be able to showcase the league’s finest in their first event during the daytime hours in the States.

It is also notable that the tournament will then be coming to a close well before the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open gets underway in Arizona.

Two of LIV’s biggest stars, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are no strangers to night golf. The pair took on Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in The Showdown – dubbed the LIV Golf vs PGA Tour grudge match – in December.

The Ladies European Tour’s stars have also competed regularly under the lights in the Dubai Moonlight Classic at Emirates Golf Club.

About the author

Alex Perry – News Editor

Alex has been in the golf industry since 2007 and has helped shape a number of publications in that time. He joined Today’s Golfer in January 2025 to lead the brand’s news division.

He is a keen golfer who claims to play off 12 and enjoys traveling the world to try new courses. His three favorites are Royal North Devon, the Old Course at St Andrews, and Royal Portrush – with special mentions for Okehampton and Bude & North Cornwall, where he first fell in love with the game.