Three Players to Look Out For at the LIV Golf Promotions Event

The third iteration of the LIV Golf Promotions Event takes place this week at Black Diamond Ranch north of Tampa, FL. It’s a found round event with a total field of roughly 80 players, where 60 will start on Thursday and 20 find themselves exempt straight into the second round.

The top 20 players and ties from the Thursday round will join the exempt players on Friday.

On Friday, the scores reset and the field of roughly 40 players goes again, with the top 20 players and ties making it to the weekend.

Scores will reset again and they’ll play 18 holes on both Saturday and Sunday with the top three finishers earning spots on LIV Golf for the entire 2026 season.

Additionally, all of the top 10 finishers (and ties) will earn full exemption to the 2026 International Series on the Asian Tour.

The goal for every player in the first two rounds is relatively simple: Make it to tomorrow. Things will really heat up over the weekend as the remaining players have everything to play for. There’s no more cuts and no more ties. Just finish in the top 3 and earn the life changing opportunity to play on LIV Golf next year. Expect to see players taking more risk, trying to pour in more birdies, and really go low.

There’s some great stories to be told here. The field features young players looking to make a big jump, veterans looking to play their way back to the top, and some that had tremendous potential they might feel they didn’t reach.

Notably, in that last category, are Anthony Kim and Lucas Bjerregaard.

Either of those two players making it through would be monumental and give fans something very exciting to watch this season.

However, there are a number of other players that have a strong chance of making it through, given their abilities, history, and potential.

The 2019 US Amateur Champion has had an absolute rollercoaster of a career thus far. From being banned by the PGA Tour for playing in the first LIV Golf event (despite having nowhere else to play that week), to his dominance of the International Series that saw him earn his way back to LIV for 2025, to missing a putt on the final hole of the final event to fall into the Drop Zone and be relegated out of the league.

If we’re talking about talent, he’s got all of it and then some. If we’re talking about experience he’s played at every level. If we’re talking about desire, he wants this, bad. Possibly more than anyone else in the event. Since the first event he played in 2022, he’s been working to be a part of this league. For the majority of the 2025 season, in an effort to maintain his spot on Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC, Andy played through a wrist injury. It was heartbreaking when he fell just one shot short and was relegated out of the league.

Because he was a member of LIV Golf in 2025, he’ll be exempt into the Friday round of the Promotions Event. He’ll start on Friday in the field of around 40 players, only needing to finish in the top half to make it to the weekend. From there, two strong rounds that he’s undoubtedly capable of and he’s back on LIV Golf for 2026. Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers were unlucky to lose Ogletree to relegation last year. He’s a tremendous talent that I’d love to see playing on LIV in 2026. There’s no doubt in my mind that if this week doesn’t go well for him, he’ll put in the time on the Asian Tour and have a great shot at earning his way back in next year.

Ollie finds himself in a similar position to Ogletree. Though not relegated out of LIV Golf, Ollie played last year as a reserve member. He’d taken some time off from professional golf to deal with some nagging injuries before full time to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024.

At last year’s Promotions Event, he made it into the final stage in a thrilling playoff before falling just short of earning a spot on LIV Golf for 2025. He’ll be looking to capitalize on what has become an even better opportunity this year, where the top three finishers will earn spots, up from just one last year.

Ollie’s 2025 season was unique and it’s tough to tell what to make of it. He started the year with a win on the International Series in India before traveling with LIV full time as a reserve players. He played in a few events when players went out with injury and was almost always the first pick from the reserve players.

His best finish on LIV was T30 in the first event of the year, which came the week after his win in India. Towards the end of the year he finished T11 at the Singapore Open. There’s no question that Schniederjans has the talent and ability to finish in the top three this week, it’s just a question of if it all comes together at the right time. It’s fair to question if the lack of reps from last year, only having played 10 full events, might hurt him. The overwhelming majority of the field will have played double what Ollie was able to do last year.

Working in his favor, though, is that he’s also exempt straight into the Friday round as he was a top 10 finisher on the International Series Rankings.

Charlie Forster enters the field as the second youngest player, only Spaniard Pablo Ereno is younger. Though Charlie will have a tougher road ahead of him than Andy of Ollie, he’s got the game to get him all the way to the end. His game is steady, but he certainly doesn’t lack firepower either. His consistency should help him get through Thursday and Friday, and his firepower gives him a chance to go low low on the weekend and earn his place on LIV Golf in 2026.

Forster was a member of the 2025 Walker Cup team where he and Luke Poulter defeated Stewart Hagestad and Ben James 3&2 in foursomes on Saturday, and then Ethan Fang and Preston Stout in foursomes on Sunday. Forster also defeated Jose Ballester at the Amateur Championship in 2024.

It’s a bit of a cliche with golf, but if Forster can get hot at the right time, it could be a life changing week for him.