I’m your average, 22 handicap American golfer. I don’t play as much as I would like to, but I do like watching golf on the weekends. Usually, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, I go down into my basement, get a little work done, and watch whatever PGA tour event was on.
That was until LIV Golf came around. My favorite golfers to watch are Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. Both have defected to LIV.
Clearly, LIV has the best American golfers, with Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reid, Matthew Wolff and Brooks Koekpka joining Phil and Bryson.
This past weekend, (July 29-31) LIV Golf came to the tri-state area, and Trump Bedminster Golf Club. And yes, former President Donald Trump was there for the opening and answered a few questions. After that, Trump was gone and it was all about the golf.
It turned out to be an exciting weekend, with Reid leading after the first round, and then Henrick Stennson holding on two win the tournament, and the $5 Millon winners check. But Dustin Johnson and Matthew Wolf hung around long enough to make the ending in doubt until the last hole.
A few of the innovations that LIV has implemented make it easier for me to watch on my weekends. First, LIV only plays three rounds instead of four. Not playing a Thursday round of golf only gives the LIV golfers a bit more energy for their Sunday round.
All 48 LIV golfers, (that’s all that play every tournament) start on different holes, and all of them end their round at the same time. That makes a Saturday or Sunday watch for people like me a bit shorter and a lot more exciting, because LIV has all of their golfers out and playing after 10 minutes, and they flash back and forth to each hole, each birdie and each interesting happening.
There has been a lot of criticism of the fact that the Saudi Government is funding LIV Golf. And they are paying huge sums to lure the best golfers over to their tour. Mickelson got a reported $200 Million to come to LIV, and Dustin, Bryson and Brooks got somewhere around $50 Million just to sign.
Then if you win a tournament, there’s a $5 Million winners check, and large checks for second place on down. LIV also has a team dynamic that is similar to the Ryder Cup. Four man teams also can collect a large winners check for the best team score.
I’m not into that dynamic yet, but its growing on me. At the end of the Bedminster tournament, The Chain Smokers performed. And during the round a budweiser girl was handing out free beers. For the kids there are video games and other activities.
LIV Golf is trying to make this a different type of experience, which is something that is needed to lure more people to watch golf. Mickelson explained last week the reasons why he joined LIV, not including the $200 Million.
“LIV has a chance to bring professional golf throughout the world. We might not feel it here in the United States, but globally I think that’s going to be a big impact, as we try to grow the game of golf throughout the world.”
“The other thing is we as a game and sport, the viewership has gone up five years to the average age, I believe, of 64. We have to target younger generations. It’s not a 12-hour day, having to watch golf all day. You’ve got a four-and-a-half-hour window,”
“Second, when I think a streaming partner comes about, I think it’s going to revolutionize the way golf is viewed, because you’ll have no commercials and you’ll have shot after shot after shot. It will capture that younger generation’s attention span. We’ll open up a lot of opportunities to get the younger generation, which again, for 30 years we’ve tried to do and it’s gone the other way,” said Mickelson.
I have been watching LIV on YouTube, but its also available on Facebook. Eventually, perhaps next year, someone will become the official streaming partner for LIV.
Back to the Saudi angle, which has been a huge talking point for those who are jealous, or can’t understand why any professional golfer would leave the PGA tour.
I am a journalist, and I want journalistic freedom around the world. But the PGA is not free from criticism in this regard. One of the PGA’s largest international partners in China, and we all know that the Chinese Communist Party is not the beacon of democracy either.
And for the thousands who criticized LIV for playing Trump courses, (later this year LIV will play at Trump Doral in Florida), Bedminster stood the test as a great course. The best players rose to the top and the top players were on the leader board at the end.
I also had the chance to turn back and forth between the PGA and LIV last weekend. The PGA was playing at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and Tony Finau, one of the tours young stars, won the event.
But the PGA option looked stale and old and without any buzz or excitement compared to switching the channel to LIV.
Even with Phil and Bryson and Brooks playing badly, I enjoyed my weekend watching LIV.
