{"id":357896,"date":"2025-12-20T15:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T15:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/357896\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T15:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T15:46:15","slug":"golf-fans-accuse-liv-of-breaking-their-own-rules-but-all-is-not-as-it-seems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/357896\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf fans accuse LIV of breaking their own rules&#8230; but all is not as it seems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia has become the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tour\/liv-golf\/liv-golf-major-champion-agrees-multi-year-contract-extension\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"1bc92708-7259-445d-99aa-fd8a099a7675\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"LIV Golf: Former Masters champion agrees multi-year contract extension \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">latest player<\/a> to agree a contract extension with LIV Golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 45-year-old Spaniard confirmed on Friday that he will be on the breakaway tour for the foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Garcia will lead a team of Josele Ballester, David Puig and Luis Masaveu next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Masaveu, 22, replaces Abraham Ancer after the Mexican was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tour\/liv-golf\/sergio-garcias-liv-golf-teammate-switches-teams-ahead-2026-season\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"c546f8b5-b7fd-47a7-9992-e8ae576ca6b3\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Sergio Garcia&#039;s LIV Golf teammate switches sides ahead of 2026 season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">traded<\/a> to Joaquin Niemann&#8217;s Torque.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, the addition of Masaveu did not raise any eyebrows whatsoever given he fits the bill perfectly for Garcia&#8217;s team given he is a former member.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>There are unsubstantiated reports that Garcia wanted young DP World Tour golfer Angel Ayora to fill the slot, but he will have to make do with Masaveu after the 21-year-old rejected LIV twice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it has been pointed out that Masaveu finished in LIV Golf&#8217;s drop zone, leading to plenty of confusion among golf fans online.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, LIV are enforcing relegation. The move is thought to be part of LIV&#8217;s push to finally be accredited by the global rankings body so as to allow their players better access into the four men&#8217;s majors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Former Open champ Henrik Stenson and multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tours\/pga-tour\" data-entity-type=\"taxonomy_term\" data-entity-uuid=\"2a113a33-7dfe-494e-bc65-4465fd7ab6fb\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"PGA Tour\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PGA Tour<\/a> winner Anthony Kim were among the notables that got the boot alongside Mito Pereira, Andly Ogletree, Yubin Jang and Frederik Kjettrup<\/p>\n<p>So how has Masaveu been allowed to return?<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t make sense to me,&#8221; one X user wrote. Another added: &#8220;This shouldn&#8217;t surprise anyone since LIV&#8217;s entire model is built on the foundation of breaking rules.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Well, turns out if you read the fine print LIV Golf&#8217;s rules state that reserve players are not factored into the individual standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/g8jsvvhxiaegnde.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"LIV Golf reserves are not factored into the standings\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2.23\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>LIV Golf reserves are not factored into the standings<\/p>\n<p>So there you have it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it should be pointed out, though, that Masaveu played seven of his nine LIV Golf tournaments last year whilst under contract with Garcia&#8217;s Fireballs before he was replaced with the aforementioned Ballester.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>OWGR chief gives update on LIV Golf&#8217;s application<\/p>\n<p>LIV Golf launched in June 2022 and have always been locked out of the Official World Golf Ranking system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There has been plenty of speculation as to why, with some golfers such as Phil Mickelson claiming there is a conspiracy to deny LIV points.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The general assumption, though, is that LIV&#8217;s lack of meritocracy and pathways have been the stumbling blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman offered an update.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That update? No decision has been made. But the former Masters champ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tour\/liv-golf\/owgr-chief-provides-update-liv-golfs-application\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"c9fb77cb-11fd-4386-a0c0-7493f1d7af64\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"OWGR chief provides update on LIV Golf&#039;s application\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">claimed<\/a> the dialogue with LIV has been &#8220;positive&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Watch:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia has become the latest player to agree a contract extension with LIV Golf.\u00a0&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,6674,5280,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-357896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-liv-golf","12":"tag-sergio-garcia","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}