LIV Golf Promotions: 22 players advance to compete for 3 wild card spots

LECANTO, Fla. – While South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and others at the top of Friday’s leaderboard at LIV Golf Promotions advanced comfortably into the weekend at Black Diamond Ranch, former wild card player Anthony Kim faced an 8-foot birdie putt to decide his fate on the final hole.

Kim rolled in the putt, arguably his biggest clutch moment in the two years since returning to pro golf from a 12-year retirement, to shoot a 1-under 69 and make the cut on the number. 

RELATED: Leaderboard 

A total of 22 players among the field of 47 in the second round moved on to compete for the three open wild card positions for the 2026 LIV Golf League season. Scores will now reset for the final 36 holes.

Kim is one of seven players Friday to sneak in on the number and is the only remaining American of the 12 who started the week in the field. His final birdie at the par-4 18th capped off a rollercoaster finish that included a chip-in to save par at the 13th hole after his tee shot found the water, along with bounce-back birdies after each of the two bogeys he made in the final five holes.

“We can talk about rollercoasters on the round today, but my life has been a pretty big rollercoaster, so this is pretty smooth for me,” said the 40-year-old Kim, who was exempt into the second round after suffering relegation on LIV Golf last season.

Another former LIV Golf player, Australian Matt Jones, is hoping to earn a wild card spot after playing all 50 LIV Golf tournaments as a member of Ripper GC during the first four seasons. Jones started strong on Friday and was 4 under at the turn before hanging on to shoot 69 after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch to start his back nine.

Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent also advanced by shooting 69. Vincent is the only player in the field to have previous Promotions success, earning one of the three spots in 2023 that placed him on Jon Rahm’s expansion Legion XIII team in 2024.

Wang, meanwhile, continued his early-week success in LIV Golf Promotions, shooting a 5-under 65 to lead the field Friday. In 2024, Wang shot the best opening round in Promotions and tied for third best in the following round but could not keep up the pace on the 36-hole final-day finish. He’s glad to see the format change to 18 holes over two days this weekend.

“It’s more comfortable for me to play 18, 18,” said Wang, who was exempt from Round 1 due to his International Series status. “I’m really excited to play the next two days. I’ll just give it my best.”

Canadian Richard T. Lee, whose 6-under 64 was the lowest score in Thursday’s first round, followed with a 66 on Friday as one of Wang’s three closest pursuers. His round was fueled by eagles on both of the par-5 holes, with his 5-wood second shot at the ninth hole settling to 5 feet, and his 5-iron from a waste bunker at the 16th finished within 3 feet.

Like Wang, Lee has made the weekend for the second consecutive Promotions tournament but has not converted that into a LIV Golf spot.

“I played 6 under yesterday and 4 under, and I think that’s plenty good enough for this course,” said Lee, who is seeking to become the first Canadian player on LIV Golf.

Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana – who played in LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 season – and Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren matched Lee’s 66, while nine players shot 67.

As for Kim, he managed to survive-and-advance on a tough day after a performance he called a “5” on a scale to 10. But like the other 21 competitors still alive at Black Diamond Ranch, he’s hoping to find some magic during the last 36 holes to earn one of the coveted LIV Golf spots.

“This is what I signed up for,” Kim said. “I’m glad that I got to be in that position and have to make a birdie to get into the next two rounds. There’s a long way to go, but I feel really good about it going into this weekend.”

ADVANCING INTO ROUNDS 3-4

The top 20 and ties from Friday’s second round advanced to compete in the 36-hole shooting this weekend at Black Diamond Ranch for the three available LIV Golf wild card spots. The list of 22 players who advanced (Rd. 2 score):

Jeunghun Wang, South Korea - 65
Richard T. Lee, Canada – 66
Bjorn Hellgren, Sweden – 66
Sadom Kaewkanjana, Thailand - 66
Max Kennedy, Ireland – 67
Travis Smyth, Australia – 67
Jazz Janewattananond, Thailand – 67
Sarit Suwannarut, Thailand – 67
Lucas Bjerregaard, Denmark – 67
Oliver Bekker, South Africa – 67
Danthai Boonma, Thailand – 67
Takanori Konishi, Japan – 67
Joe Pagdin, England – 67
Christopher Wood, Australia – 68
Rattanon Wannasrichan, Thailand – 68
Cory Crawford, Australia – 69
Jose Islas, Mexico – 69
Julian Perico, Peru – 69
Anthony Kim, USA – 69
Kieran Vincent, Zimbabwe – 69
Matt Jones, Australia – 69
Miguel Tabuena, Philippines - 69 

ROUND 2 NOTES 

EVEN SPLIT: Of the 22 players who advanced into the weekend, 11 were exempt into the second round while the other 11 played the first round at Black Diamond Ranch.

Richard T. Lee has the best two-day performance, shooting rounds of 64-66. He considered it an advantage to have a bit more competition time at a course most players in the field had never seen until this week.

“I played three practice rounds and didn’t really get the feel of it too much,” Lee said. “On the first round, actually I found out more about the greens and where to place my shots and not to leave it.”

COUNTRY BREAKDOWN: 15 countries are represented by the 22 remaining players. The only countries with multiple players left are Thailand (5) and Australia (4).

Countries with one player remaining include: Canada, Denmark, England, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, United States and Zimbabwe.

FINDING HIS FORM: Jeunghun Wang said a solo second at the Moutai Singapore Open on the Asian Tour in November – which matched his best finish since his last career win in 2017 – was a turning point that he’s carried over into this week.

“I wasn’t really playing that good before Singapore,” Wang said, “but after Singapore, I got a lot of confidence, and I still now have a lot of confidence. I’m really looking forward to playing the next two days.”

BREAKING PAR: For the second consecutive day, every player who broke par advanced into the next round, with the cut at 1-under 69 in both rounds.

EX-LIV GOLF PLAYERS: While 2025 LIV Golf players Anthony Kim and Matt Jones advanced to the weekend, a few others saw their hopes of a return to the league end Friday.

Andy Ogletree, a member of HyFlyers GC the last two years, was one of 11 players to shoot even-par 70 and miss the cut by one stroke.

Reserves Ollie Schniederjans (71), John Catlin (72) and Max Rottluff (72) also were eliminated.

Chase Koepka, who played the first two seasons for Smash GC before battling injuries the last two years, suffered a costly bogey on his final hole to shoot 70 and miss the cut. Koepka had advanced on Thursday by shooting 67.

SATURDAY’S START TIME: Round 3 will begin at 8:50 a.m. ET, with each group starting off the first tee. The eighth and final group tees off at 10:07 a.m. 

BROADCAST INFO

In the U.S., FOX Sports channels will broadcast the final two rounds (all times ET).

Round 3: FS1, 10 am–2 pm; FS2, 2 pm-3 pm
Round 4: FS1, 10 am-3 pm

In addition, the live stream will be available on LIVGolf.com and the LIV Golf app, as well as select International broadcasters. 

ROUND 2 STATS LEADERS

Driving distance – Sarit Suwannarut, 324.5-yard average
Longest drive – James Ashfield, 334.0 yards (9th hole)
Driving accuracy – Jeunghun Wang, 92.86% (13 of 14)
Greens in regulation – Cory Crawford, Sung-kug Park, 83.33% (15 of 18)
Scrambling – Max Kennedy (6 of 6), Jeunghun Wang (4 of 4), 100%
Fewest putts – Christopher Wood, 21
Bogey-free rounds – Jeunghun Wang (65), Bjorn Hellgren (66), Max Kennedy (67)