LIV Golf has been warmly received on Australian shores this week while basking in the glow of a successful Masters challenge.
That should come as no surprise given this part of the world has been starved of genuinely world class men’s golf, outside of the rare Presidents Cup.
This weekend’s LIV Golf event in Adelaide, however, must not simply be an exhibition for an easy-to-please crowd that’s just grateful for the spectacle. Nor should it serve as some sort of victory lap for those who performed well at Augusta.
Watch every round of the PGA Tour LIVE & Exclusive on Fox Sports, available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
READ MORE
‘THEY WERE BITTER’: Aussie LIV Golf recruit takes stunning ‘jealousy’ swipe at ex-colleagues
Why AFL photo might’ve just accidentally confirmed golf villain’s worst-kept secret
‘IT’S PUMPING’: LIV’s answer to big golf problem exposed by rock star’s Aussie snub
For LIV Golf to make more ground in its battle with the PGA Tour, it’s crucial for exciting tournaments, where its biggest names contend, to regularly take place.
For all of the Saudi money spent by chief Greg Norman, there has been an alarming lack of excitement between the ropes, and an even more concerning lack of form from its biggest players in season two.
Exposing this issue further was last week’s Masters, which heavily featured LIV Golf stars vying for the green jacket until late on Sunday.
PGA stalwart Jon Rahm ultimately won comfortably, but LIV’s Brooks Koepka was in contention for three-and-a-half days, Phil Mickelson held the clubhouse lead until the final hole, while Patrick Reed also finished inside the top-five.
Their feats at Augusta National must be acknowledged as a big win for LIV Golf, even if its PGA rival ultimately produced the winner.
In having three players inside the top-five, there was proof that playing for LIV Golf has not rendered its players totally uncompetitive against the world’s best, even if questions remain around the effect of playing 54-hole events.
It also did wonders for LIV Golf’s argument that the Official World Golf Rankings are now obsolete given they don’t recognise its events.
Indeed, Brooks Koepka being ranked No.39 behind Ryan Fox and Seamus Power is a laughable reality of the current OWGR.
But if LIV Golf’s biggest drawcards this week fall back to being uncompetitive when actually producing the product, then those gains are immediately lost.
The Masters challenge of Koepka and Mickelson will likely bring more eyeballs to LIV Golf’s Adelaide event – but for how long will they stay tuned in if it degenerates into a shootout between Peter Uihlein and Sebastian Munoz?
In LIV’s infancy, its tournaments must be more often than not duels between Koepka and Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, or any combination of the above.
LIV Golf simply hasn’t produced that sort of drama outside of its event in Boston last year, when Johnson won a three-way playoff, which Smith missed by only one shot.
In season two, you’d be forgiven for not being able to name more than a single winner from the first three events.
Koepka won in Orlando, but the champions in Mayakoba and Tucson were Charles Howell III and Danny Lee respectively.
In Mayakoba, Howell III led Uihlein by four shots, followed by Brandon Grace two further back, while Smith was the only big name inside the top-10 at a distant six-under.
Lee beat Carlos Ortiz, Brendan Steele and Louis Oosthuizen via a playoff without any genuine stars inside the top-10.
“For a league that’s desperately trying to build buzz, those two winners are not ideal,” Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapaport said.
“The stars just aren’t really showing up.”
LIV Golf Adelaide to feature Party Hole | 01:30
Koepka got his act together in Orlando, but the $100 million (A$148m) recruit started the season with a 31st in Mexico and 29th in Tucscon in a field of just 48 players.
Keep that number 48 in mind when considering the results of LIV Golf’s other most expensive buys this year.
Smith, reportedly poached for $140 million (A$208m), finished sixth in Mayakoba 10 shots behind Howell III, 26th in Tucson and 29th in Orlando.
“So the ‘Cam Smith is the best player in the world right now’ argument looks pretty week,” Rapaport said.
The $150 million ($A223m) Johnson was out of sorts in a 37th place finish in Mayakoba, before coming 13th and seventh.
Meanwhile, DeChambeau is nothing but a shadow of his former US Open-winning self, coming 24th, 44th and 16th despite his own reported deal of $100 million (A$148m).
The most damning of all, however, has been the production of LIV Golf’s most-expensive and most decorated signing, Mickelson, who hasn’t even finished inside the top 25 at an event this season.
This from the man — signed on a reported $200 million deal (A$297m) — who at least found a way to catch fire at the Masters, where he somehow finished in a tie for second.
Prior to the Masters, Mickelson was under heavy fire for cashing his cheque despite a string of poor performances on the LIV tour.
Among those taking aim was former Masters champion Fred Couples, who said: “If you’re willing to give Phil Mickelson $200 million at age 53 to shoot 74 and 75, God bless you.”
Owen Slot of The Times also called out the six-time major winner for “struggling to keep up with his own revolution”.
“If you choose to see LIV as a band of rebels leading a charge to pastures (deserts) new, then Mickelson should be at the front,” Slot wrote. “But the truth is that he currently can’t stay the pace.
“What the Saudi owners of the LIV tour were hoping their money would buy them would be riveting tight finishes fought out by some of the best and most exciting players in the world. But that is exactly the opposite of what they have been getting this year and Mickelson, the highest-paid signing, has been struggling as much as anyone.”
Lucky that money is no object to LIV Golf’s Saudi paymasters, because if it was, then they are certainly not getting its worth, especially from those five names worth more than A$1bn in sign-on fees.
These players need to step up now otherwise they will perpetuate the notion that they only defected from the PGA Tour to fill their pockets.
Other questions would be raised, such as whether they are simply using LIV Golf as a financial means to an end, while focusing their best golf efforts on the four majors – for as long as they have exemptions to do so, at least.
Also, it would also do nothing to help sell LIV’s team component, which is its key point of difference on which its long-term viability may hinge.
If we’re to believe these players genuinely care about their recently-created franchises, then they have to show it on the leaderboard.
That is already an accusation players are struggling to deny, with Harold Varner III saying to The Washington Post of his colleagues: “They’re full of s**t … you didn’t come here to f**king grow the f**king game.”
By comparison, just days after Augusta, many star golfers were teeing it up on the PGA Tour at Harbour Town, including Rahm despite having just won the green jacket.
Rory McIlroy was a notable absentee in a disappearing act that cost him $3 million due to a ‘designated events’ agreement with the PGA Tour – but he wasn’t missed.
A thrilling final day saw the likes of world No.2 Scottie Scheffler and No.5 Xander Schauffele contending, before it ended in a captivating three-hole playoff between exciting young major-winners Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Speith cruelly denied win on TWO putts | 02:58
“The PGA Tour has done so much to keep going forward,” prominent player agent Andrew Chandler told the BBC. “Now LIV have got to find a few gems and (Belgian world No.46 Thomas) Pieters doesn’t quite fit that bill.
“They’ve got to keep adding to their roster or it will be very dull, won’t it?”
The PGA Tour is proving a tough act to follow, but the ball is at least in LIV’s court again.
Arguably, there hasn’t been a more anticipated LIV Golf tournament given the momentum generated by the year’s first major.
There is also genuine buzz surrounding it with the event sold-out, promising large galleries and an atmosphere yet to be created by LIV in the United States.
The fact Koepka contended so prominently at Augusta, Mickelson and Reed caught fire, while Smith is back playing an Aussie sandbelt course, there’s a feeling that this, finally, could be a sparring match between genuinely big names.
If it isn’t, then it’s a massive opportunity missed for LIV Golf, and a blow that would take some time to recover from.
