- Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed head to LIV Golf.
- The new golf league, backed by Saudi Arabia, will hold its first event this week in London.
- As more PGA Tour professionals make the leap, LIV Golf shows more strength than previously expected.
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Just a week ago, the upcoming debut of LIV Golf seemed like a kind of joke.
“I certainly don’t think the field is anything to jump up and down,” said PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy.
“Look at the field this week,” said McIlroy of the PGA Tour Memorial Tournament. “Look at the course next week in Canada. These are the right golf tournaments.”
In fact, the course for the LIV Golf debut event leaves something to be desired. Aside from superstars Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, there is a notable lack of top-notch talent at their best as they prepare to play in London this week.
Aside from Johnson, only three players currently in the top 40 in the world, Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Na and Talor Gooch, will be among those competing.
But during the week following McIlroy’s comments, LIV Golf has certainly strengthened its hand.
Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are the last big names to make the leap to LIV Golf
While the Centurion Club’s 48-player field this weekend will not yet be filled with big hitters, it looks like there are bigger names on the way. PGA Tour fan favorite Rickie Fowler, who previously ranked fourth but is now number 145, has been rumored to be part of the upcoming series, which is funded by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. And on Wednesday, several reports indicated that two of the most attractive on the PGA Tour, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, would head to LIV Golf in time to play the second event on their calendar.
Bryson DeChambeau. AP Photo / Carlos Osorio
“Bryson has always been an innovator,” DeChambeau agent Brett Falkoff told ESPN. “Having the opportunity to get on the ground floor of something unique has always been intriguing to him. Professional golf as we know it is changing and happening fast.”
Innovation may be one of DeChambeau’s interests in the new league, but another, for him and for all the other players on the field, is cash.
The bag for this week’s London event is $ 25 million, and the winner of the event will take home $ 4 million. By comparison, Scottie Scheffler, the winner of this year’s Masters green jacket, took home $ 2.7 million for his efforts, as did PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas.
Also, considering LIV Golf’s seamless cut, all players who show up are guaranteed to leave with a payday, with the last place still earning $ 120,000 in winnings for 54 golf holes. Since half of the course of each PGA Tour event goes home empty-handed after losing the cut, it’s easy to see the draw for the LIV Golf course.
Neither DeChambeau nor Reed are close to the first most popular players on the PGA Tour, but between Bryson’s bombings and Reed’s reputation as a provocateur, they both draw a lot of attention where and when they get to the course.
DeChambeau’s departure comes just a few months after he, like Johnson, pledged to be loyal to the PGA Tour following Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments that nearly derailed the launch of the new league.
“While there has been a lot of speculation about my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world play the PGA Tour, I will too,” DeChambeau said at the time. “From now on, I’m focused on recovering and competing again soon. I appreciate all the support.”
As LIV Golf fills its list with the most PGA Tour talent, it’s easier for more players to agree that it’s worth making the leap.
While the best players in the world are still playing in the PGA Tour – four of the top 10 players in the world will play in this week’s RBC Canadian Open, while none of the top 10 have yet committed to LIV Golf, such as in addition outstanding. players make the leap, it would be easier for others to justify the same move. There is strength in numbers.
However, joining LIV Golf has disadvantages. The series is backed by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund, the sixth largest sovereign wealth fund with total assets estimated at $ 620 billion.
The company is largely seen as a sport-washing exercise: an attempt by the Saudi government to whitewash its reputation by aligning itself with high-profile sporting events enjoyed by fans around the world.
Several players, including Mickelson and Johnson, have already lost sponsorship deals in part due to their affiliation with the new league.
Players have also struggled to answer questions about the Saudi government’s involvement in LIV Golf. Prior to this week’s debut event, several players were caught looking for words to justify their presence on the runaway tour.
“I don’t see any human rights violations at all,” Mickelson said Wednesday. “I am aware of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, and it is terrible.”
When asked if he would play in a tournament hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, Ian Poulter said, “Speculation, I won’t even comment on speculation.”
—Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 8, 2022
But with guaranteed pay days, no cuts and better money for a shorter schedule, so far LIV Golf’s promise has clearly been enough to lure a good number of players to make the leap. And as more players continue to come together, the confusing answers to questions about the finances behind the league begin to blur into one.
When Mickelson was alone in his comments, saying he would work with the league even though it was run by “sons of bitches scared,” it was shocking. But as more players line up to do the same, the impact diminishes.
The PGA Tour does not seem to have the support of the majors, one of its best defenses against players who consider a move.
It is unclear whether LIV Golf will reach a breaking point against the PGA Tour. As things stand, the Tour still has the best talent in the world, with Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Thomas and Scheffler publicly pledging to stay with the Tour.
But if the balance of talent moves from side to side, the Tour could face a problem and, as things stand, it seems unlikely that the majors will help.
The PGA Tour does not control the four major golf courses: the Masters, the US Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Like the biggest golf tournaments, they have a lot of power right now. As it stands, the PGA Tour has threatened to remove Tour status from players leaving to play LIV Golf. But if these sanctions do not apply to the four majors, it frankly weakens the power of the Tour.
This week, the USGA indicated that players who have qualified for next week’s U.S. Open could play, regardless of their potential relationship with LIV Golf. If the rest of the majors follow this example, players could see the LIV Golf model (approximately 12 events for the league plus four major weekends) as an ideal calendar.
Several of the LIV players have already voluntarily given up their Tour cards, potentially trying to give themselves the option of retrieving them without repercussions at a later date.
If things continue to trend in this direction, the PGA Tour may want to start getting creative with the way it plans to fight the Golf LIV and quickly.
There are still many things we don’t know, but a lot of answers should arrive this week
For months, LIV Golf has existed more as a ghost than a real threat to the PGA Tour.
But with a growing list of players and a real event at the start, fans will finally be able to see exactly what the new league is like from a sporting perspective.
LIV Golf does not yet have an American TV broadcast partner, and will be available to be streamed online via YouTube, Facebook and its own website.
As McIlroy said, this week’s London event camp isn’t that impressive, but it seems likely that each of the next seven events will see ever-improving fields.
In addition, there is enough money behind the project for it to continue as long as the Saudi Public Investment Fund decides it is a worthwhile cause.
At the moment, there is a tournament with the richest prize in the history of golf that will be played with …