LIV Golf Adelaide was the upstart circuit’s quintessential event: tens of thousands of starved golf fans, a party hole with a DJ and a team competition that came down to the wire.
By all accounts, LIV’s first stop in Australia was a success. But can they replicate that effort at other events going forward? Players like Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau seem to think so.
“That’s what LIV should be, in its heart and its DNA, I think that’s what it can be every single week, and will be when people start understanding what the real deal is here,” said DeChambeau of last week’s event ahead of LIV Golf Singapore this week at Sentosa Golf Club. “There’s been a lot of controversy and a lot of things going on, but we are here to play golf, and we are here to do the best we possibly can every single week, and it was fun seeing the fans support us.”
The fan support Down Under was strong, there’s no denying that. Adelaide aside, last year’s Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral was LIV’s best-attended event. It wasn’t a Donald Trump rally like the event at his Bedminster property last summer, and fans showed up in droves compared to other LIV events. This year, however, the Team Championship has been moved from Miami to Saudi Arabia, where beer showers around a party hole are more than unlikely, they’re illegal.
Even this week’s event in Singapore will be a stark difference to what fans saw in Australia. DeChambeau expects 6,000-7,000 fans per day, which is less than half of Adelaide’s daily turnout.
“I think it’s going to continue to grow and grow exponentially, just the attractiveness of what the product is, sort of creating that festival type atmosphere,” said Cameron Tringale. “That’s what people want. I think the next generation is looking more for a good time, and to be entertained, just as much as they are for quality golf, and you get both of them with LIV.”
Cameron Smith admitted LIV fields aren’t very deep at the Masters, and Phil Mickelson has pointed out that LIV was smart not to just go after great players like Smith and Dustin Johnson, but also the characters in the game like himself, DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.
“Whether you love them or hate them, they’re interesting and people want to watch,” said Mickelson.
“Now a lot of other countries are wanting us to go there, so it was a big step in Adelaide in showcasing what it can be, what LIV Golf can be,” he added. “There’s no stopping LIV Golf now. It’s on a vertical trajectory, and it’s pretty exciting to be a part of it.”
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LIV Golf is proud of its disruptive nature, and players are still taking shots across the professional golf aisle. However, some players are already starting to see the mood shift towards LIV just 12 events in.
“I think the tide is changing. People are starting to see how (much) fun we are having, the team aspect, the competition at a high level,” said RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson. “I think it’s definitely changing … everybody has their ideas of what golf should look like but we are changing it and I think we are changing it for the better.”
As the schedule currently stands, it will be impossible to replicate the scenes in Australia at all 14 events, and maybe that’s a good thing. Watson noted how golf was missing a team atmosphere and that fans love the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, “so why not do it all year round?”
What makes the cup events special apart from national and regional pride is the fact that they aren’t every year. Anticipation builds. Not every LIV event will be a spectacle, especially if host countries and venues aren’t changed. That said, fans have seen what LIV can do in a short time thanks to the deep pockets of the Public Investment Fund, and LIV has plans to continue to grow.
“We are talking about having teams from different parts of the world. We are talking about having our own golf courses that, basically, we’ll call them our stadiums. We are talking about having golf academies to help young golfers, but also young golfers that want to play at our level, just like any other sports team around the world,” said Watson. “So there’s a lot of dreams and aspirations and a lot of things that we’ve already accomplished in less than a year, but we still want to keep going forward.”
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