LIV Golf is in England this week for the 2025 LIV Golf UK event. But on Saturday, the new LIV CEO held a press conference to make a big announcement: a new LIV Golf event is coming to the league’s schedule in 2026.
The country being awarded the new tournament is South Africa.
“I will tell you that old saying, it truly takes a village to bring an event of this size and scope to a new location,” LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said on Saturday. “I will speak for myself saying me and the Minister in five minutes, and speaking to Ross Hallett and Chris Bentley, two of my colleagues here, we knew instantly that [South Africa] is a place we want to be for a very long time.”
He continued: “I’m humbled. I’m thrilled. I will tell you that to the amazing country of South Africa, we bring an amazing group of people. We bring the best players in the world of golf, and we bring airplane flights, and we fill hotel rooms, and we fill restaurants. In Australia just last year, we had $84 million U.S. of economic impact. We also bring social impact.”
The new tournament will take place March 20-22 at The Club at Steyn City, a Jack Nicklaus design located in Midrand, South Africa.
While the event is debuting in 2026, the plan goes beyond that. O’Neil said that LIV Golf made “a multiyear commitment on behalf of the Premier and the Minister” to play the event in South Africa.
Gayton McKenzie, the Minister of Sports, Arts & Culture of South Africa, said this about the announcement.
“LIV Golf has taken a step that I think is worth emulating for all the major sporting bodies around the world. LIV Golf understands that it cannot truly be called an international competition if it misses a continent. I thought it’s going to be very hard to convince LIV Golf that they have to go to South Africa. I can tell you, after meeting Scott, the CEO, after meeting Ross, I have nothing but praise for them.”
Louis Oosthuizen is the captain of the LIV team Stinger GC, which consists of three other pros from South Africa. He joined the press conference to express his excitement about the new tournament in his home country.
“Very excited about having the tournament in South Africa. Everyone that was involved in doing this, I remember meeting Mr. McKenzie in Korea for the first time, and I think the idea was just to introduce him to LIV, and all of a sudden, he’s like, no, we’re coming to South Africa in ’26. I’m like, oh, this is really happening.
“To everyone involved – the Stinger management, LIV, you guys – it’s unbelievable to make this happen,” Oosthuizen said Saturday. “I can’t wait to see the faces of 10-, 11-, 12-year-olds watching golf in South Africa, seeing the Euros play, Phil, Bryson, Brooks, all these guys. It’s going to be a massive thing for our country and to grow the game.”
