LIV golfers' extra time off, here’s how they’ll spend it over the next 3 months

By Evin Priest
Among the most commonly used reasons for players signing with LIV Golf was a longer, more definitive offseason — in addition to the lure of large, guaranteed-money contracts. Their sentiment was rooted in the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule, created in 2013-14, which compelled even some of the biggest stars to play events in the autumn to avoid slipping down its FedEx Cup standings before the new year kicked off with the Hawaii swing.

LIV golfers are set for a three-month off-season after this week’s team finale concludes at Trump Doral. While it has not been confirmed, speculation is rife that LIV won’t start up again until February 2023.

This will be considered a perk of playing on LIV that their counterparts on the PGA Tour won’t enjoy, at least for one more season. The PGA Tour’s 47-event schedule for 2022-23, which is already under way, will play out until late November, halting at the RSM Classic, before resuming at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in early January

Next season, however, the top 70 finishers on the FedEx Cup who keep their card (down from 125) can theoretically sit out the entire fall series, from the Tour Championship in late August until January. (Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup play notwithstanding.) The rest will fight it out for status in the 2024 season. Even World No. 1 Rory McIlroy admitted the PGA Tour needed a clear offseason. “I would love us to come back in January and people will have missed watching competitive golf. I don’t think that happens right now because there’s 47 events a year,” McIlroy said recently.

It begs the question: What exactly will LIV golfers do with all the free time?

Golf Digest quizzed several LIV players at Doral, and it came as little surprise that Bryson DeChambeau had the most plans of any player. The 2020 US Open winner aims to get heavier and stronger in order to hit the ball longer, which may come as a surprise, given he recently hit a 406-yard drive at the Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championships.

“I’m going to get longer, but in a healthy way this time,” DeChambeau said, referencing the fact in 2019-2020 he gained 50 pounds to weigh 240lbs. He did so by upping his calories, weightlifting and speed training. DeChambeau’s increased clubhead speed helped him win the US Open at Winged Foot as well as Bay Hill in 2021. “I’m excited about that. The last time I did it, I put on a lot of fat,” he said. What I want to do is stay lean but gain two to three pounds of muscle by really working hard and get to whole other level of strength.”

The 29-year-old weighs 215 pounds but said he wanted to up that to 225 before the first LIV event in 2023. Other than that, DeChambeau said he would finish the construction of his new house in Dallas, as well as continue plans to open multisport complexes in Texas and California.

“One of them’s going to be in Dallas and one of them’s going to be in Clovis, California [DeChambeau’s hometown]. We’re going to build a long drive grid, driving ranges, basketball courts, football fields, soccer fields, volleyball courts and indoor tennis courts.”

World No. 3 Cameron Smith’s plans were a little simpler. The reigning Open Championship winner said after signing with LIV that spending up to three months a year in his native Australia was the 29-year-old’s primary motivation for leaving the PGA Tour, where he’d won six times in total, including the Players Championship this year. Smith will take the claret jug he won at St Andrews down to his native Australia, where he’ll show it off during competitive outings at the Australian PGA Championship next month and Australian Open on the Melbourne Sandbelt in December.

“A lot of my off-season will just be hanging out with family and friends over Christmas when everyone’s off work, and then maybe a little bit of travel,” Smith said.

Smith turned pro in 2013, played the Asian Tour en route to the PGA Tour from 2015. Since moving to the U.S., he’s only traveled Down Under for its biggest golf tournaments.

Charles Howell III, the 43-year-old who played 609 events on the PGA Tour before joining LIV, said caddying for his son, Chase, was top of the list.

“He just turned 11 so he’s starting to have a bit of a junior golf schedule,” said Howell, who lives in Windermere, Fla. “I’ll do my dad duties, but I’ll also work on my own game; because I’m playing on a team now, I feel like I’m accountable not only to myself, but my teammates.”

Like Howell, 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell is also 43 and a father. Time with his kids in his Lake Nona base was his only stated plan, other than resting his body and a few cold beverages.

“Drinking and gambling,” McDowell joked. “No, at 43, there are some aches and pains I’ll rest while also doing some training. Being a dad is my main hobby these days.”

Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner, said he would rehab a niggling knee injury. He’ll also watch his beloved Spanish soccer team play the FIFA World Cup that kicks off in late November.

“I’m going to fix my knee, my meniscus and rest a little bit,” Garcia said. “I’ll get physically stronger and fitter and enjoy time with the family. We’re not going to the World Cup, but we’ll definitely watch on TV. And then I’ll just play some tennis and football and practice and get ready for next year.”

Harold Varner III reiterated the promise he made in his statement for why he left the PGA Tour, which was to grow his charitable arm, the HV3 Foundation, that “brings awareness to the rising cost of entry and access in sports” for youths.

In late August, Varner was announced by LIV, alongside fellow recruits Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri.

Varner said at Doral, “I’m going to have a great off-season. I’m going to do a lot of hunting and I’m going to raise a lot of money for my foundation. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”