The breakaway circuit will soon be enjoying the last individual event of its season at the Bolingbrooks Golf Club. For the first time, the Chicago course will host a professional tournament after the PGA Tour scheduled the Forme Tour in 2021. However, after it was announced that Bolingbrook GC would be the venue for LIV Golf’s $25 million individual championship, it became a bit of a controversy in the golf world.

But why would it be a controversial topic? First of all, the Bolingbrook Golf Club has never been a course where many professional events were ever held. That means from fairways to the greens, the course may turn out to be significantly easier than the PGA Tour’s choices the Olympia Field North Course which was the venue for the 2023 BMW Championship, or the Medinah Country Club which held the iconic 2012 Ryder Cup.

It has always been a practice that the leagues frequent the courses, which can prove to be tough work for the golfers as it entertains the fans and also delivers better competitions on the field. Remember Pinehurst No. 2 and how it was enthralling to watch every hole? Hence, as Bolingbrook GC has not been one such course, the golf world doubted that it would be difficult for the 54 LIV Golf players and entertaining for the fans. They called it a “sh*thole” and accused the Greg Norman-led circuit of choosing easier courses deliberately.

The LIV Golf, on the other hand, has not addressed the allegations, and the individual championship will start in just five days at the Bolingbrook Golf Club. Will it be an easy gateway for the 54 golfers to collect the guaranteed paychecks without cutthroat competition? It remains to be seen. But if it does happen, the LIV Golf will suffer a huge blow which will affect them where it already hurts.

What will happen if Bolingbrook Golf Club turns out to be as expected?

Since the Saudi-backed circuit started in 2022, the perception of it by the majority in the golf world has not been positive. In the last three years, LIV Golf has attempted, with its promise of taking golf globally, to engage with the young audience with its unique format to turn the haters into fans. And it has succeeded, but only partly.

The league still struggled to attract a wider audience to watch its events, unlike the PGA Tour which, despite low TV ratings, still has millions of people tuning in. On the other hand, LIV Golf has amassed only a few thousand. At its last event in Greenbrier, only 136K tuned in for the Saturday round on The CW Network, whereas 165K watched on Sunday. Although LIV Golf also streams on LIV Golf Plus, the watching still could not cross the half-a-million mark.

With the Bolingbrook Golf Club already on the radar of golf fans, and touted as an unchallenging course for a season-ending event, it would not be wrong to assume that an unexciting event will worsen the TV rating to another abysmal end. Nonetheless, Bolingbrook will host the LIV Golf Chicago from September 13th and the fans would hope that their doubts do not come true.