First Look: LIV Golf South Africa and Power Rankings

LIV Golf South Africa is the fifth tournament of the 2026 season and marks the league’s first trip to the continent of Africa.

BASIC INFO

2026 LIV GOLF SOUTH AFRICA

When

March 19-22, 2026

Where

The Club at Steyn City - Johannesburg, South Africa

Competition

Four rounds/72 holes of stroke play

Field

57 players - 13 teams of four players each, and five wild cards

Shotgun Start

Local time

Thursday, Round 1 - 12.15pm

Friday, Round 2 - 12.15pm

Saturday, Round 3 - 12.15pm

Sunday, Round 4 - 12.05pm

KEY STORYLINES

• LIV Golf makes its first-ever visit to the continent of Africa with this week’s event at The Club at Steyn City north of Johannesburg.

• Approximately 90 000 tickets have been sold for the four-round tournament, expected to be one of the biggest golf tournaments ever held in South Africa.

• The all-South African Southern Guards GC - captain Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel – were involved in the process of bringing the tournament to their home country as well as providing input on course setup.

• Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau enters as the latest individual winner, beating Wild Card player Richard T. Lee in a dramatic playoff in Singapore.

• 4Aces GC, captained by Dustin Johnson, have won the last two team trophies after Ripper GC, captained by Cameron Smith, won the first two of the season.

• Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, the two-time reigning LIV Golf Individual Champion, enters as the season-long Individual points leader with four straight top-5 finishes, including his win in Hong Kong.

• First-year LIV Golf players such as Elvis Smylie (winner in Riyadh), Thomas Detry (runner-up in Hong Kong) and Lee (runner-up in Singapore) have already made a big impact on this year’s leaderboards.

• Majesticks Golf Club Co-Captain Lee Westwood, who has won five of his 44 career pro victories in South Africa, comes off his best league finish, a solo third in Singapore, after returning from a wrist injury that sidelined him for the first two events in 2026.

• Just a handful of players have prior experience competing in Steyn City, while a large part of the 57-man LIV Golf roster will be making their first visit to South Africa.

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THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE

Rahm and DeChambeau, two of the world’s most popular and gifted golfers, have entertained fans across much of the globe. Now, for the first time in their careers, they will compete in Africa at this week’s LIV Golf South Africa.

“I’m excited. I’ve never been there,” said Rahm, the two-time reigning LIV Golf Individual Champion and current points leader. “It’s one of the aspects of LIV Golf that I love. I’ve always felt very privileged to be able to travel and go to new cities.

“It’s the only continent I haven’t been to. It should be a special week.”

Added DeChambeau: “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in South Africa. I’ve not gotten the chance to do that. To finally go down there and play in a great place that has produced an amazing amount of world-class players and athletes, it’s quite special. Excited to give the fans a LIV Golf experience.”

The tournament at Steyn City just north of Johannesburg will be LIV Golf’s first tournament in Africa and will be the fifth different continent that has hosted one of LIV Golf’s global tournaments.

It will also be the biggest golf tournament in the country in more than two decades. Huge crowds are expected for each of the four rounds, rivaling the record numbers delivered by LIV Golf Adelaide in Australia. Southern Guards GC, the all-South African team captained by Oosthuizen, will have the support of an entire country.

“I know the South African boys are really pumped to have a home event,” said Cameron Smith, captain of the all-Australian Ripper GC. “They're really excited to bring everyone to their country and show what it's all about. That's one of my biggest joys of the year is bringing our league (to Adelaide), just getting people to experience Australia. I think it’s the greatest place on earth, as the South Africans think South Africa is the best place on earth.”

Smith, just like Rahm and DeChambeau, is making his first visit to South Africa. So is new Smash GC Captain Talor Gooch, the 2023 LIV Golf Individual Champion. Gooch won the inaugural Adelaide tournament three years ago and expects the same atmosphere in Steyn City.

“Really excited to get there, see the place and see the crowds and see if they can compete with (Adelaide) for the rowdiest, the most fun,” Gooch said. “No offense to the Aussies, but I think the South Africans are going to try to take the top spot, which is a tall task at hand.”

ABOUT THE COURSE

THE CLUB AT STEYN CITY

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

PAR

71

YARDAGE

7 557

METERS

6 909

• Steyn City is one of the largest golf complexes in South Africa, stretching over 2,000 acres in the outskirts of Johannesburg in the elevated Highveld region.

• The complex is the creation of the late South African insurance magnate Douw Steyn and includes an array of amenities from lagoons to indigenous parkland.

• A number of wild species roam the property along the Jukskei River, including impala, antelope and springbok.

• Jack Nicklaus Design planned the championship course in collaboration with South Africa Golf Data architects Gary Waage and Robbie Marshall.

• The course opened in April 2015 and is ranked in the top 50 on the continent of Africa and top 25 in South Africa by top100golfcourses.com.

• The club has hosted DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour events, with a handful of current LIV Golf players among the entrants, including Burmester, Laurie Canter and Tom McKibbin

• Burmester finished runner-up in the 2022 Steyn City Championship

• LIV Golf South Africa will have a routing identity different than what Steyn City members play; tournament holes 1-12 are the members’ 7-18 and the tournament’s 13-18 are the members’ 1-6.

• In addition, one of the members’ par-5 holes has been converted to a par 4.

GUARD-ING THE COURSE

The four members of Southern Guards GC provided help with preparing the Steyn City course for its LIV Golf debut. Burmester and Schwartzel played the course, while Grace and Oosthuizen drove the course with tournament and local officials during site visits the last few months.

Oosthuizen said the biggest adjustment involved the width of the fairways.

“We brought some of them in by 4-5 yards,” he said. “We don’t want guys to just hit driver everywhere. The ball’s going to go far anyway. Definitely narrowed a lot of fairways and grew the rough quite a bit. But there’s still going to be lots of birdies out there. We just tried to make it a little bit tougher.”

Here are the Team Power Rankings for LIV Golf South Africa for all 13 teams.

TEAM POWER RANKINGS

1 Legion XIII

Legion XIII has been a mainstay at the top of the Power Rankings and despite not having won yet this season, they’ve finished in the top 4 of each of the four events this season. Rahm continues to play extremely well and Tyrrell Hatton has finished in the top 10 in two of his past three starts. After finishing 2025 having shown significant promise, youngsters McKibbin and Caleb Surratt have gotten off to slow starts this season. If that changes, Legion XIII will be tough to beat.

2 Southern Guards GC

There is a good deal of pressure as well as obligations for the Southern Guards this week, who will be hosting the first-ever LIV Golf event on their home continent. It’s not always easy to play as the home favorite but considering how well each of the four players have performed in South Africa over the course of their careers, I believe they’ll be up to the task.

3 4Aces GC

Along with Ripper GC, the strong start to the season that includes back-to-back wins in Hong Kong and Singapore for 4Aces GC has been the team story of the season so far. Despite Johnson not playing his best golf just yet, the team has found a way to contend every week. Detry, who has amassed four top-10 finishes in South Africa in his career, has been nothing short of spectacular so far this season. Anthony Kim and Thomas Pieters should both continue to perform this week at Steyn City.

4 Torque GC

In Singapore, Joaquin Niemann made a strong bid to successfully defend his title. Abraham Ancer’s struggles over the first three rounds last week held the team back but Carlos Ortiz and Sebastian Munoz have been two of the league’s most consistent performers over the past few seasons. Ortiz’s power off the tee should make him a contender on the individual leaderboard this week.

5 Ripper GC

It’s been nearly a perfect start to the season for Ripper GC, who won the first two events and now have put together solid finishes in both Hong Kong and Singapore. The Southern Guards played well in Australia to challenge Ripper and I suspect Ripper will want to return the favor this week in the Southern Guards’ home event.

6 Crushers GC

DeChambeau is fresh off a win in Singapore as we approach major championship season and his power in the altitude in South Africa should provide for some thrilling moments this week. In Singapore, DeChambeau ranked in the top 10 in both Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach, which is a positive sign for his chances this week. Although his teammates are question marks at the moment, they certainly have the capability to start stringing together some positive team performances in the near future.

7 Fireballs GC

The struggles of the Fireballs have been a bit surprising so far this season. Despite losing Ancer to Torque GC, expectations were still high entering the season for Sergio Garcia’s team. This week could certainly be the right time for the Fireballs to get off the mat, as Garcia and Josele Ballester are both playing good golf at the moment and Ballester, as one of the league’s premier drivers of the golf ball, has a great chance to contend individually at Steyn City.

8 RangeGoats GC

Matthew Wolff had one subpar round in Singapore (Round 3) but outside of that he’s been a revelation so far in 2026. Both Wolff and Peter Uihlein are two of the longest players off the tee in the league, which will make them a threat at Steyn City. After making bogeys in each of his first five holes last week, Bubba Watson rebounded nicely to finish in the top 30. If he can continue to progress and find some rhythm in his game, the Goats could be a sneaky contender in South Africa.

9 Smash GC

After a surprising second place finish in Hong Kong, Smash GC came back down to earth last week in Singapore. Gooch has been very solid, finishing in the top 20 in all four events this season but hasn’t shown the winning form he’s grown accustomed to in past seasons quite yet. Harold Varner III is a reliable ball-striker and Graeme McDowell and Jason Kokrak have shown flashes of brilliance but Smash will need some high-end finishes out of their players to truly contend for a team victory.

10 Majesticks Golf Club

Westwood’s performance in Singapore was one of the most impressive efforts of the LIV Golf season and there’s no reason to believe he can’t continue his strong play. The rest of the Majesticks, however, haven’t shown much in terms of form. Sam Horsfield has been playing poorly and as the youngest player on the team, he will need to turn it around for the Majesticks to make up any ground in the standings.

11 Korean Golf Club

Byeong Hun An should suit Steyn City nicely and his length off the tee will be an asset for the all-Korean squad this week. An has a bit of experience in South Africa, where he finished eighth at the 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge. Danny Lee and Younghan Song both had strong Sundays in Singapore but the team will need to avoid another disastrous performance from Minkyu Kim if they’re to escape the LIV Golf basement.

12 Cleeks Golf Club

The Cleeks had high expectations entering the season but things haven’t quite panned out for the Martin Kaymer-led team so far. Adrian Meronk and Victor Perez will need to have a big week in South Africa for the team to be competitive.

13 HyFlyers GC

The HyFlyers got a strong performance from Brendan Steele last week in Singapore but their young addition of Michael La Sasso has yet to pan out just yet. Phil Mickelson’s team is still in need of a spark to get things going in 2026.