CHICAGO, Illinois – The PGA Tour made its last Chicago area visit in 2019 and won’t have another until the President’s Cup comes to Medinah in 2026. The other national golf organizing groups have been absent from Chicago much longer than that. Not the upstart LIV Golf League, though.
LIV, the Saudi-backed circuit that is waging a well-publicized battle with the PGA Tour, has announced that it will be playing for a fourth straight year in the Chicago area. That was a highlight of LIV’s most recent schedule announcement. The circuit is again planning a 14-event season, and 10 of the tournaments have dates and sites lined up.
The season starts Feb. 6-8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In Chicago’s case Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove, was the tournament site In LIV’s first two seasons. Last year the tourney moved to Bolingbrook Golf Club, and Bolingbrook will also host the next visit, on Aug. 8-10, 2025.
The Chicago stop will also kick off the first-ever Midwest swing for LIV. The following week the circuit will play at The Club at Catham Hills in Westfield, Ind., near Indianapolis. That stop will be LIV’s first visit to Indiana.
Bolingbrook’s tournament will be a bit different than last year’s. Last year’s was announced well into the season and was played as the circuit’s season Individual Championship. Spain’s Jon Rahm was the big winner, taking both that tournament and the season-long titles. Next year’s tournament will be a standards regular season stop, just like the two played at Rich Harvest.
Rahm was a three-shot winner with an 11-under-par 199 total for 54 holes this year on a layout designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest.
Bolingbrook mayor Mary Alexander-Basta was delighted by the announcement.
“We’re excited to welcome the eyes of the golf world and LIV Golf Tour back,’’ she said. “The 2024 event was a tremendous success, and we look forward to building on that momentum to bring another world-class event to tour community.’’
LIV is far ahead of previous years in setting up its 2025 schedule. The return to Bolingbrook and first-ever visit to Indianapolis were part of an announcement that also included the circuit’s first tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Korea and the return to Dallas, Spain and the United Kingdom for tournaments.
“LIV is growing across the globe in new and returning markets,’’ said LIV commissioner and chief executive officer Greg Norman. “We’re excited to build on the tremendous success we had last year at new venues in Chicago, Dallas and the UK, where we set new league attendance records.’’
The Indianapolis stop Aug. 15-17 will be the season’s final regular season event. Chatham Hilla was the last design by the late architect Pete Dye. It’ll lead into the season-ending Individual and Team championships. Dates and sites for those events haven’t been announced.
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