LIV Adelaide Preview — The Grange Golf Club (February 14-16)

Voted the world’s best golf tournament for the past two years, can LIV Adelaide get any better? Here’s everything you need to know about Australia’s rowdiest, and most star-studded, golf tournament in 2025.

Is LIV Adelaide being played at The Grange again?

Yep. For the third straight year the third best course in Adelaide will host the annual party/golf tournament that is LIV Adelaide. The composite layout for the tournament combines holes from The Grange’s East and West courses. It’s always impeccably conditioned but as one of the shortest layouts on the LIV Tour, it will give up some insanely low scores.

What time is tee off at LIV Adelaide?

Gates open at 10am on Friday with the shotgun start at 12.45pm. On Saturday and Sunday, gates open at 9am and the shotgun start commences 11.45am and 11.35am, respectively.

Will DJ Fisher be playing after the golf is finished?

Umm… is the Pope a Catholic? DJ Fisher will again be live and in the mix at LIV Adelaide’s Sunday afterparty. A post-golf fixture since the tournament’s inception, Fisher will be sporting a full head of hair this year following a successful hair transplant. The rapidly balding Sergio Garcia may want to compare notes.

Who is the defending champion?

American Brendan Steele shot 18-under last year to record the first individual win for a HyFlyer. Steele beat Louis Oosthuizen by a shot and helped secure the HyFlyers their only podium of 2024 — the sole highlight in what was a stinker of a year. Steele will appreciate returning as a winner but a successful defence of any title is always difficult to accomplish.

With the booing and heckling of the Stingers last year, has LIV Adelaide got out of hand?

Compared to the dumpster fire that was the 2024 Waste Management Open, or any US Open held in New York for that matter, LIV Adelaide is positively genteel. Yes, the fans are boisterous and last year’s booing in the play-off was certainly off-piste for an Aussie golf crowd. But that’s kinda the vibe LIV craves at what has become the emerging tour’s signature event. There will always be a few boneheaded bros, inevitably fuelled by too much alcohol, who will get on the nerves of the fuddy duddys. But the golf is still the entertainment, unlike the apathy displayed by tennis “fans” at last month’s Australian Open. Bring it on again Adelaide! 

Is a Bryson/Cam final round shootout LIV’s dream scenario in Adelaide?

It would be great fun! Bryson has morphed from an awkward, misunderstood golf villain into the hottest pro on the planet right now among the YouTube generation. His high-octane game is something completely different, which is why a showdown with Aussie larrikin Cam Smith would be compelling. The home crowd would obviously be pulling for Cam but the love for Bryson might just nullify the parochialism slightly. But if Cam were in a dogfight down the stretch with, say, Patrick Reed, it’d be a one-sided — and potentially feral — situation.

Could a bunter win LIV Adelaide?

Apart from maybe Hong Kong and Chicago, LIV Adelaide seems like a bunter’s best chance. The slightly claustrophobic confines of The Grange will inevitably take driver out of play on a few holes for LIV’s longest hitters. Having said that, being able to drive it long and straight off the tee is still an advantage, whatever the course, but a dialled-in wedge game is always going to be money at The Grange. Abraham Ancer might not qualify as a Steve Stricker-league bunter but the diminutive Mexican did win in Hong Kong last year and the Fireball should be prominent in Adelaide.

If the Rippers win their home event again how many shoeys will be had?

I don’t think anyone can put a ceiling on the shoey count if that were to happen, but Ripper GC will no doubt contend again. The all-Aussie team of Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Lucas Herbert beat Stinger GC in an epic teams play-off at LIV Adelaide last year. Ripper went on to win in Singapore the week after and capped off their season by claiming the LIV Team Championship in Dallas. Maybe it’s the Aussie spirit of mateship but it’s clear no other team has bonded as well, or has had the same amount of fun, as Ripper GC. The support from the local fans will be passionately rabid and if Ripper GC win again, you can safely assume shoey consumption will figure in the celebrations — both on and off the podium.

Is Phil Mickelson going to play?

After missing the pipe opener in Riyadh, Phil will tee it up in Adelaide. Ollie Schniederjans, who won the Asian Tour’s International Series event in India, replaced Mickelson in Saudi after the HyFlyers captain sustained an injury in the gym. Let’s hope it wasn’t an injury to the 54-year-old’s famous calves, but Phil’s big personality and bluster will be lapped up by his loyal fan base in Adelaide.

Who will win, then?

Torque captain Joaquin Niemann seems to tick a lot of boxes. The Chilean won twice on the LIV Tour last year and claimed the Asian Tour’s Saudi International in December. He finished third in India last week and goes well on Australian golf courses, having won the 2023 Australian Open. His gumby-like swing is super cool, and he’s going to have a big year in 2025.

Rahm, Brooks or Hatton?

The machismo of Rahm and Brooks will be overshadowed by a more timid Tyrrell in Adelaide. He is in the best form of his career and seems to have found his happy place. Finally.

Who are the LIV Adelaide underdogs?

It’s gotta be the perennially underperforming Majesticks, that has never won or even finished on the podium. If Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield break through in Adelaide, there wouldn’t be a rusted-on LIV fan who would begrudge the Majesticks some belated success. And while they’re not in the same underdog postcode after winning in Houston last year, the Cleeks have undergone a recent rebrand. Considering they’ve only been around for less than three years, a rebrand this early on surely isn’t a great sign.

How will DJ and the 4Aces go?

4Aces captain Dustin Johnson signed Thomas Pieters in the off season as a replacement for Pat Perez. Pieters didn’t exactly set the world on fire last season at the RangeGoats but was excited to join DJ, Harold Varner III and Patrick Reed at the 4Aces. As for DJ, Adelaide hasn’t seemed to click with him just yet. A 10^th in 2023 was followed by T31 finish last year. After winning in Las Vegas early last year DJ's season petered out severely, but the laconic major winner has so much talent, he can never be disregarded.

Is Rick Shiels going to be in Adelaide?

LIV’s biggest off-season signing will be in Adelaide, with the YouTuber confirming he’s scheduled to film with Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm at some point. The big question is: who wore the LIV bomber jacket better?