Just when it seemed as if the COVID-changed world might be emerging from that dreaded cliché – the new normal – it has become sadly apparent that professional golf has landed in its (pardon me while I cringe) new normal.
Ugh.
LIV Golf set foot in the United States last week, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour stacked their protective wall higher, and the first of what figures to be too many lawsuits was threatened by Englishmen Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, who are hurt that the tour that made them millions won’t let them play now that they’ve sold their souls for Saudi money.
It is, of course, all about them.
Giving credit where it’s due, the LIV Golf event in Portland last week had the best field in professional golf. One week doesn’t make a season nor does it change the balance of power in professional golf, but it did drive home the fractured point in time the game finds itself.
While there is an argument to be made as to whether players are selling their souls or not, there’s no question that LIV is selling hard even as it’s buying as many top players as possible.
Professional golf is not in a better place, no matter how Emerald City sparkly the announcers on the LIV Golf telecast try to make it.
“They all say to a person it’s the way it’s supposed to be. They feel treated like royalty,” announcer Jerry Foltz said of the LIV players early in the Thursday afternoon webcast from the Pacific Northwest, the irony practically dripping off his words.
It’s understandable that LIV Golf’s web broadcasts are essentially infomercials for the new organization whose money-soaked approach is as subtle as the hundred-dollar-bill shirt that Pat Perez wore to a pre-tournament party last week in Oregon, reconfirming that style can’t be bought.
That’s the same Perez to whom Fred Couples referred in an interview with Golf.com as “a grain of sand in this (PGA) tour,” evidence of the animosity and skewed values that have emerged in this sport-rattling schism.
Perez is fortunate to be swept up by Greg Norman’s group, which needs familiar names to fill out its 48-player bracket. Perez managed to shoot 80 on Saturday in Portland and still be part of the winning team that included Talor Gooch who, even by LIV’s promotional standards, jumped the shark when he compared the 4 Aces’ victory to what it must feel like to win a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.
No, it’s not like that at all.
Emboldened by what has happened two events into its existence, LIV Golf reportedly has decided to bump its schedule to 14 events next year, an increase from the 10 which the group announced earlier.
It would help if the players who have chosen LIV Golf – Paul Casey signed on Saturday – admitted they did it for the money. All the scripted answers about more family time and growing the game aren’t working.
Patrick Reed talked about the benefit of not having to play as many tournaments, backed up by a video of his family at the Greenbrier, among the most expensive places anywhere. That’s the same Patrick Reed who said over and over that he plays so often because he wants to. The same Patrick Reed who joined the DP World Tour so he could play more.
It’s not as if the PGA Tour is a sweatshop, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to some of the players who have left. Just admit that it was about the money and please spare us the “we’re just golfers” answer when the sportswashing question arises. Be honest and say you don’t care.
While the PGA Tour offered the John Deere Classic last week, its heartland charm wasn’t enough to convince any player ranked in the top 50 to tee it up between the green farm equipment tee markers in Illinois. That’s not because of LIV Golf but because there’s a superstar-stuffed pro-am in Ireland on Monday and Tuesday, followed by the Genesis Scottish Open and the 150th Open Championship next week.
Still, after captivating PGA Tour events at the RBC Canadian Open, the U.S. Open and the Travelers Championship, the focus last week turned to Portland. A friend sitting at a Major League Soccer match said the conversation behind him was all about what LIV Golf is doing.
They weren’t talking about the golf. They were talking about the disruption, and not happily.
Right or wrong, good or bad, care or don’t care, LIV Golf has arrived.
Or, as the webcast opened last week, “The LIV Golf Revolution is in full swing.” Then Dustin Johnson swatted his opening tee shot into a creek before finishing fourth to add $1.275 million to his fishing fund.
If, as a golf fan, you prefer the LIV model to what the major tours are offering, enjoy it. This shouldn’t feel like two sides locked in combat in a Marvel superheroes movie even though it quite possibly is.
Emboldened by what has happened two events into its existence, LIV Golf reportedly has decided to bump its schedule to 14 events next year, an increase from the 10 which the group announced earlier. It will again feature 48 players with four-man teams (the captains can recruit players) that will require every LIV member to play in every event, something not required this year.
More players are planning to join LIV Golf, according to gossip on the practice ground and elsewhere. Some will wait until after the Open Championship before taking the money being offered. Others could ride out the FedEx Cup season, cashing in on the playoffs, before joining.
Others will stay where they are, as Will Zalatoris declared on social media last week. The PGA Tour won’t have all of the same faces, but it already has strengthened its position by restructuring and re-capitalizing its schedule. It may be a situation of live and let LIV.
LIV Golf deserves credit for trying to freshen up the pro game with its Austin Powers-era graphics and its distinct format. It has succeeded in changing the game’s narrative. Even if winning a LIV event doesn’t come with much more than a $4 million paycheck, the impact has been seismic.
Will it last long term? Too soon to know.
If the Saudis aren’t getting from it what they want – and the shadow of their human-rights sins keeps coming up – they could step away in a year or two. Or, it might go the other way and grow from here. That’s what Norman and his group believe.
It brings to mind the old Temptations song, “Ball of Confusion,” in which they sing:
“Round and around and around we go, where the world’s headed nobody knows …
“And the band played on.”
The question is, Who gets the last dance?
Top: Pat Perez's attire for the LIV Golf party in Portland is more on the money than players' justifications.
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