Golf Goes Nuclear: LIV Free Or Die Trying
After two years of government-enforced shutdowns the Canadian Open golf championship still couldn’t buy a break. Despite having five of the Top 10 men’s players in the world in the field this past weekend at St. George’s G & CC—and a rip-snorting finish from Rory McIlroy— the Open was overshadowed by a week of turbulent news from the upstart LIV league.
Even McIlroy couldn’t avoid taking a shot at the upstarts, putting in a dig at passing a certain player with his 21st career win on Sunday. That player being Greg Norman, the Snidely Whiplash of golf.
While organizers and host broadcaster CBS struggled to keep the focus on the event in Toronto (take a drink every time they show the CN Tower) the PGA Tour stole the spotlight, levelling the death penalty against the 18 Tour players who chose to play in London for the Saudi-backed startup. They are banned from playing in Tour events till such time as they repent and return to the organization run by the Tour players themselves. Their Ryder Cup points are cancelled, and they are ineligible for the season-ending event.
There were high-profile names featured in the heretics list, many lured by upfront money and the staggering purses put up by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Dustin Johnson reportedly received $125 M. to make the leap, while Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Brendan Grace, Sergio Garcia, Kevin Na, Talor Gooch, Ian Poulter and Graham McDowell were induced to get in on the payouts. (It’s rumoured Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed will join them.)
Schwartzel earned $4 million for the three-round, 54-hole event. Schwartzel’s four-man team, Stinger GC, also won the team competition by 14 shots over Crushers GC and will split the $3 million prize. Those are numbers that have to catch the attention of all but the top layer of the Tour.
Still, it was hard to fight the perception of a geezer Tour populated by veteran Tour players and Euro “who’s that?” players like Richard Bland.
The reason the initial numbers were small is likely due to the idiotic comments made by Mickelson as the financially troubled star tried to recruit others to the LIV. As we noted in February: “Mickelson waded into the politics of partnering with the Saudis in an interview with author Alan Shipnuck. Admitting his potential partners are “bad motherfuckers” who murdered Adnan Khashoggi, behead gays and have a terrible human rights record, Mickelson then added, “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Bad idea, Phil. (He tried to claim he was misquoted, but that flopped.) Within hours, the entire golf establishment was condemning one of their meal tickets… The Saudis flipped, and Mickelson’s corporate sponsors dropped him like a busted four-iron. His legacy took a one-way trip to a dumpster fire.
Mickelson’s only defender was, predictably, Greg Norman, the former golf legend who has been an organizer of the LIV super league. Never known for his tact or timing, the Shark brazened out his longtime feud with the Tour. When PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced that anyone who went to the new circuit was banned from PGA Tour events, Norman was defiant. “Surely you jest,” Norman wrote to Monahan. “And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.
“Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf. Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like. I know for a fact that many PGA players were and still are interested in playing for a new league.”
Well, Norman got that right. Should LIV prove viable there will be competition for the 48 spots in the eight events they have planned. The next move in this chess game will be the inevitable lawsuits to determine just how binding the PGA Tour contracts are and how many of the USGA (which is staging this week’s U.S. Open), the R & A (which stages the Open Championship at St. Andrew’s next month) and the PGA (who staged last month’s PGA Championship) will follow the PGA Tour bans.
And what happens to the Ryder Cup and President’s Cup participation of players on the LIV Tour? Will they be excluded? Almost all the PGA Tour defectors quit the organization before the punishments were levelled— hoping that the Majors can’t use sanctions against non-members to prevent them playing in those prestige events.
As for the Canadian Open, what was supposed to showcase RBC’s brand ambassadors like Johnson and McDowell was tainted by the bad blood created by Norman, Mickelson and LIV. Johnson and McDowell were punted by RBC, and the debate has split the Tour players who remain. Elite players such as Rory McElroy, Jon Rahm, Scotty Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Colin Morikawa and Cameron Smith— still in the heart of their careers— are holding firm. But others just beneath them have to be wavering in the face of generational wealth in a shorter schedule.
The key question is how much top-end golf does the market need or want? The LIV has no live broadcast partner as yet (the London event was shown online), and all the major U.S. networks save FOX have a piece of the PGA Tour contract. Even with the bottomless wealth of the Saudis there must come a time when their LIV investment should be leveraged.
The only prediction that can safely be made is that this will get uglier, much uglier, before it resolves itself.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx