The countdown to the return of LIV Golf Adelaide has officially begun with the league confirming dates for the 2026 tournament this week. The Grange Golf Club will again play host to the two-time winner of the ‘World’s Best Golf Event’ from 13-15 February next year, as the league continues with a late summer timeslot. The 2026 tournament will be the fourth consecutive LIV Golf event at The Grange, with course superintendent Rowan Daymond and his team well-drilled in hosting the event which has continued to grow significantly since it first landed there in 2023. 

The tournament’s debut summer timeslot earlier this year (the first two years saw the tournament played in April) delivered unprecedented results for South Australia including record attendance, economic impact and global broadcast numbers. In its first three years, LIV Golf Adelaide has contributed more than $217 million to the SA economy, with the 2025 edition generating a record $81.46 million, up 14 per cent on the previous year. 

A total of 102,483 people attended LIV Golf Adelaide across its three days this past February, up nine per cent on the previous year, while the tournament was broadcast to a global audience of 785 million across more than 100 territories. Ahead of the final round it was also announced that Adelaide will continue to be the home of LIV Golf in Australia with an extension agreement through to 2031 linked to plans to redevelop the public access North Adelaide Golf Course by Greg Norman’s design company. 

The confirmation of the February date gives Daymond and his team a set date to now target and taper the composite course (a mix of East and West course holes) once it comes out of winter. Despite the change in tournament month, Daymond is comfortable with the earlier timeslot and is again looking forward to leading his team for its return. 

“Having it in February again doesn’t bother us too much,” says Daymond, who has been Grange superintendent since 2017. “There’s obviously more stress around that time of year, but you just have to be a bit more proactive. It is what it is – you put your head down and everyone has to work that little bit harder to keep the place in line. So there’s no real difference for us. 

“Our recovery after the last tournament wasn’t as good as we had expected it to be, especially those areas that were under grandstands. We haven’t done much to those areas through the winter, but will do a bit more come spring time to try and get them back. We will do what we can in the interim period until the stands go back up. We will solid tine or core some of those areas depending on what they look like at reno time and maybe a light scarify to promote a bit of top growth along with some extra fertility. Once the warmer weather comes along we shouldn’t have any issues growing some grass.”

In a significant change to this year’s event compared to the first two, Daymond and his team worked with The R&A’s Sustainable Agronomy Service team after LIV contracted them to provide agronomy assistance across its tournaments outside of the USA and Mexico. Led by the service’s assistant director Richard Windows, together with colleagues Pablo Munoz and Eugenio Rezola, they made a couple of visits to The Grange pre-tournament and were also onsite for the week of the tournament, working alongside the crew collecting data and assisting with set up. From their involvement a few minor tweaks have been made, with Daymond looking to adjust some fertility practices heading into the 2026 event. 

“They were great to work with last year and it was great for the crew to have them around the week of the tournament, especially from an education point of view” says Daymond. “From that involvement, there will be a little bit of a change in our fertility approach. We will go with a bit more of a granular program with our greens fertility rather than being all foliar to try and elevate our nutrition a little. We were also going to make some changes to our greens renovation programs with the purchase of a DryJect unit, but that has been held off and we won’t be able to get that done before the tournament. We will probably just go with our usual greens coring program in the first week of September and once the machine arrives we will get into that after the tournament.” 

Out of the new working relationship with The R&A, Daymond’s foreman Jayden Pearce was afforded the wonderful opportunity of being part of the Royal Portrush crew for last week’s 153rd Open. Organised through Windows, Pearce was selected by to spend two weeks in Northern Ireland broadening his experience with cool-season turf and gaining a unique insight into ‘Major’ tournament preparation. 

From a course layout perspective no changes have been flagged for next year’s LIV Golf Adelaide event, although Daymond is expecting some increase in infrastructure as has been the case with all three previous tournaments. Minor non-tournament related works have been carried out on two of the LIV course holes in recent times. The back tee on the par five 16 East (which plays as LIV hole 7) has been extended to the right towards the fence line to alleviate some boundary issues. The green on 15 West (LIV hole 15) has also had some minor tweaks, with the front lip of the greenside bunker lowered and a few angles and slopes on the green adjusted to help with surface run off. 

By Brett Robinson; Photos courtesy of LIV Golf Media and David Brand