I have tried to stay out of the LIV vs. PGA debate. Unfortunately, if you check out the comments on any golf article, there will be a debate about the two tours. It never fails. An article about some amateur shooting 58 at a qualifying event leads to someone saying something like “LIV will give him $100 million!” Then someone gets mad and responds “like you wouldn’t take the money” and then it just devolves into the same arguments over and over. It is getting old.
I stand somewhere in the apathy crowd when it comes to LIV. I have no problem with a rival league trying to get started. Hell, I have no problem with a league attempting to poach players from the PGA Tour. I do not like that it is backed by the Saudi government. I mean, they have unlimited funds and can offer players ridiculous amounts, which means they are starting with a top-down approach as opposed to bottom up. And look, I am critical of Saudi Arabia. I believe we should treat them like we do other adversarial nations.
Another thing that bothers me about the LIV Golf fandom is that a majority of them seem to be disingenuous about their love for golf. If you click on the profile of most of these people arguing for how great LIV is, they are almost always Trump fans, and a good chunk of them usually know nothing about golf. I saw one guy on a post trying to claim that Xander Schauffele was a nobody and the only reason he was ranked high was because Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau left for LIV. Clearly this guy is not following golf if he does not know who Xander is (he won the gold medal at the Olympics, he has finished top five in a bunch of majors).
There are things I like about LIV Golf. For example, I like the shotgun start. It is nice to be able to watch an entire round in a few hours. There are golfers that I really like who went over (I think most people know I am a fan of Brooks Koepka). I also think the team concept is cool, granted the names are idiotic. I also like how it caused the PGA to change things up on their own tour. Competition can be good.
I dislike the music, and just how it feels (and looks) too loud. Like the entire tour feels like something a bunch of 50-year-old marketing execs came up with when someone asked “how can we get young kids to watch more golf?” I do not like the no-cuts. I remember the first tournament, the last place guy made like as much as someone in the top ten at whatever PGA event was happening that week. There has to be some punishment for playing poorly. The last LIV event, Sihwan Kim finished +14 and made $122,500. I also hate that it is just three rounds. Look, if they wanted to compete with the PGA and try to steal some thunder, why not do four days, but have the events begin on Tuesday. That way on Friday, when most PGA events are on their second day, the LIV events would be on their final day. If you are choosing between watching round two or the final round, some fans may want to see the last day to see who wins, particularly if it is going to be a dramatic finish.
The part that drives me crazy about LIV Golf is the whining about is the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking). Since the events are only three rounds, the OWGR does not give points (or if they do, they are minimal). This means that most of the LIV golfers have started to drop out of the Top 100. You hear players complaining that the OWGR should modify the eligibility to include LIV Events. My argument is that those players knew this would happen when they took the boatloads of cash they were offered to go to the new tour. If they want to continue earning points for OWGR, then they should push LIV Golf to expand to 72 holes. Seems to be the easiest way. I do not think 54 holes is what driving “fan” interest. If done correctly, I think the team aspect could help. Hell, I liked hearing about the LIV guys saying if one of them won the Masters, they were all going to be there to offer congratulations. Kinda cool.
The idea that fans have to choose between the two tours is stupid. You can enjoy both. If you like golf and want to watch more golf, then go for it. Both tours have great golfers. The PGA Tour is incredibly deep right now, and there are tons of young players that are enjoyable to watch. LIV Golf has very familiar names who continue to play high-level golf.
