“It’s a business decision.”
That’s how Graeme McDowell tersely justified his reason for joining controversial LIV Golf in 2022. Just four years later, the LIV players are learning that another business decision might be the final nail in the coffin of the whole endeavor.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which has pumped billions of dollars into the tour without any tangible return – has decided LIV will have to fend for itself, cutting off funding after the 2026 season and potentially leaving some of the world’s most famous golfers in limbo.
LIV has always been a disruptor, a chaos agent trying to revolutionize professional golf, and it didn’t care about any collateral damage. It was “Golf, But Louder,” a grenade that was lobbed at the PGA Tour, igniting what was described as a civil war in the sport.
Accusations were made, lawsuits were filed, harsh words were spoken and feelings were hurt. LIV might soon die, or it may be reimagined under new ownership, but it surely won’t be as decadent for the players who stick around when the dust has finally settled.
Whatever happens, this seems to be the end of an era. So, what was LIV all about? What was it good for?
LIV Golf’s loud launch
There was no shortage of hyperbole when LIV landed like a thunderbolt in 2022, creating “an existential threat” to the golfing establishment; nobody seemed to be ready for it. Press conferences were transformed from forums to discuss everything from strategy and temperament to 9/11 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and even the so-called defectors were ill-prepared to answer the questions.
Amid a palpable sense of paranoia, golf writer Alan Shipnuck was even ejected from Phil Mickelson’s press conference at the inaugural tournament near London.
“LIV has been a gift from the content gods,” he told CNN Sports. “I mean, golf used to be boring, not anymore. So, we’re thankful that it arrived. If it blows away in a sandstorm, it’s gonna be four years of controversy, noise, bitchiness – without really accomplishing anything significant in the context of its own competitive arena.”
Thursday’s press release was essentially a For Sale sign for LIV, which said it was focusing on “securing long-term financial partners to support its transition from a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.”
The new chairman of the Independent Directors Committee, Gene Davis, added, “LIV Golf has built something truly differentiated – a global league with passionate fans, world class talent, and demonstrated commercial momentum.” LIV reports a 100% increase in revenue year over year.
But ironically, the biggest beneficiary of LIV might have been the Goliath that it was attempting to slay – the PGA Tour.
Until 2022, there had been no challenge to the Tour’s supremacy and there was no incentive to innovate. The PGA Tour’s sprawling schedule ran to 50 events per year, even though the biggest stars only competed in 20 of them. The players who chose to remain with the Tour watched as their friends and rivals departed for a lighter workload and greater financial rewards, and they expected to be compensated for their loyalty.
Under pressure from LIV, the PGA Tour switched from a non-profit organization to a for-profit entity, inviting outside private equity investment. They hired a new CEO, Brian Rolapp, from the NFL and they are reducing the number of events on the schedule over the next few seasons. Less will be more on the PGA Tour.
As such, Mickelson may now feel vindicated in his decision to leave; he was highly critical of the Tour which he said was run like a dictatorship which denied the players – the stars – much of a say in the running of the operation.
But those LIV players were cast as mercenaries and now face an uncertain future.
Brooks Koepka may have seen the writing on the wall at the end of last year when he sought a return to the PGA Tour. Patrick Reed has also left the circuit and is plotting a return via his performances on the DP World Tour. But not everybody will be welcome back, either because they now lack the star power that would benefit a more strident PGA Tour, or because it’s sometimes hard to forgive and forget.
The LIV era shaped the legacies of players on both sides of the aisle. If Mickelson was cast as the chief antagonist, Rory McIlroy emerged as the protagonist, the white knight extolling the virtues of the Tour and the golfing establishment.
He became the primary spokesman for the Tour, and he reveled in trolling LIV’s co-founder and original CEO Greg Norman, a distraction that sometimes came at the expense of his results on the course.
But he valued being on the right side of history, and his forthright stance has ensured that he won’t just be remembered for winning the career grand slam of majors, alongside legends like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. He’ll also be celebrated alongside the likes of Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as integral figures in the growth and development of the game.
Shipnuck, who chronicled the rise of LIV in his 2023 book “LIV and Let Die,” says the league will ultimately be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
“It just continues to generate headlines,” he said, but “not really for what happens on the golf course. LIV has legacies, but not the one it wanted to be.”