Relegated LIV Golf player Scott Vincent shot an 8-under 63 to lead the field in Friday’s second round of LIV Golf Promotions, while Ollie Schniederjans earned the final spot by surviving a six-for-one playoff.
Twenty players advanced to Saturday’s 36-hole final day at Riyadh Golf Club, with the leaderboard reset entering the third round that will utilize a shotgun start. Players will be re-paired before the final round, with players starting off the first and 10th tees.
The Promotions winner earns a spot in the 2025 LIV Golf League, while the top 10 and ties receive exemptions into all International Series events next year.
Vincent has been a full-time player in LIV Golf since earning exemption through The International Series in 2022. He kept his status by finishing in the top-24 Lock Zone in the first two seasons but was relegated this year. Although his former team, Iron Heads GC, has filled his roster spot, Vincent is hoping to return for a fourth season on LIV Golf.
“It would be amazing,” he said. “I'm going to go out there and compete and give it my absolute best, but I'm going to be just fine either way. That's the approach I'm using.”
One of the 19 competitors he’ll have to beat is younger brother Kieran, who earned one of the three Promotions spots a year ago and played for Jon Rahm’s expansion Legion XIII team before suffering relegation like his brother.
The brothers are sharing an apartment in Riyadh and would love to share the top of the leaderboard late on Saturday.
“We love each other. We want the best for each other,” said Kieran, who shot a 6-under 65 Friday. “We want to compete at the highest level. If it's not you, it's him, that kind of attitude. Obviously, it's super-cool to be playing out there looking at leaderboards and seeing your brother up there. You can't script it any better than that.”
“Of course I want him to do really well,” Scott said, “but at the same time I want to be just one step ahead of him, and I'm sure he wants the exact same thing.”
A third relegated player, Stinger GC’s Branden Grace, also advanced by shooting 66, but the fourth relegated player, Kalle Samooja of Cleeks GC, was eliminated with a 72. Samooja was the top performer at the 2023 Promotions. LIV Golf Wild Card player Hudson Swafford also failed to advance.
The second-lowest score Friday was the 7-under 64 shot by Ben Campbell, the highest-ranked International Series player in the field. Campbell finished third in the season-long race, less than 40 points behind Joaquin Niemann in the final standings. Had Campbell finished first, he would’ve already secured a LIV Golf spot.
“It would be massive to get over the line tomorrow,” said Campbell, who made three appearances as a LIV Golf reserve in 2024, “but there's a lot of golf.”
Australia’s Jack Buchanan was 1 under after a bogey at the par-3 14th but bounced back with three consecutive birdies, the last two from outside 15 feet. He then had to hit off the sand with his approach shot on 18 to secure a par and avoid the playoff with a 67.
Asked what it would mean to earn the Promotion spot Saturday, the Adelaide-born Buchanan said: “It would mean everything. I don't even know how to explain it. It would change your life a bit.”
Richard T. Lee was also among the 10 players who shot 67. If he claims the top spot Saturday, he will become LIV Golf’s first player from Canada.
“It's crossed my mind for sure,” Lee said. “If I do make it, I think it would make a big impact on Canada.”
Germany’s Max Rottluff, a former college roommate of Rahm’s at Arizona State, also avoided falling into a playoff by making a 60-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to shoot 67.
“I didn't look at the leaderboard prior to hole 18,” Rottluff said, “… but I had a feeling that 4-under is probably going to put me in a better spot than 3-under.”
Korea’s Hongtaek Kim three-putted the 16th hole to drop back to 3 under. He just missed a birdie attempt on his final hole that would have avoided a playoff. Instead, he joined fellow Koreans Junghwan Lee and Wooyoung Kho, Americans Schniederjans and MJ Maguire and Italy’s Stefano Mazzoli at the playoff hole, the par-4 18th.
Schniederjans and Maguire advanced after the first hole with birdies and then matched birdies again. On the third playoff hole, Schneiderjans’ tee shot finished in the rough next to the edge of the grass.
Given relief via a local rule, he made the most of it with a wedge that finished under the pin while Maguire sent his approach well past. After Maguire missed his birdie attempt, Schniederjans rolled his in to survive and advance.
“I thought for sure I needed probably to birdie it two in a row,” said Schniederjans, who rolled in an 8-foot par putt in regulation at 18 to make the playoff. “I actually felt fortunate that only two of us birdied the first go. So, once it got to two-for-one, I was more nervous at that point.”
Schniederjans, a former top-ranked amateur player, is hoping to take a big step forward in a career that has been beset by injuries.
“I want to play against the best players in the world again,” he said. “I think I'm coming back to I'm fully healthy. I've been through a lot, and I just want to prove myself again and get that opportunity.”
He’ll have 36 pressure-packed holes on Saturday to fulfill that dream.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
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