Is LIV Golf Adelaide the Answer To PIF’s Golf Majors Struggle?

Quite predictably, LIV Golf Adelaide lived up to its expectations. In fact, one can argue that it has exceeded the hype. Reports indicate 35,000 fans flocked on the opening day itself. The watering hole, despite no ace, showed no miserliness in showering golfers with beers. You can say they went a little overboard. 

Blueprint for success, said Greg Norman before the event began. It was, after all, the best golf event, ahead of the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and THE PLAYERS. But can the high jinks of Adelaide eclipse the major woes for the PIF-funded league? 

At the Masters, only 13 of its 52-man regiment were called upon. LIV Adelaide was the penultimate event before the second major, the PGA Championship, where only 12 LIV golfers are qualified as of now. Can more events like Adelaide fill the void left by the major snub? 

LIV Golf Adelaide is ‘fun’ for only a week

Undoubtedly, LIV Golf Adelaide was inspired by the WM Phoenix Open. And if ‘golf but louder’ meant anything, it’s exactly what we see in these two events. Massive crowd, the majority of which come for entertainment and stay for the game. But a huge crowd does not equal dedicated fans. Fans who would watch the next event on TV or streaming. 

And WMPO has been mired in trouble. At one point, it became a choice between keeping drunk and disruptive fans happy and letting the players do their job. Whether that brought any sober sense to the PGA Tour remains to be seen. But LIV Adelaide had to face similar problems this weekend. 

An injured caddie. A disgruntled player asking fans to stay quiet. The problem that comes with a larger crowd, a majority of whom came solely for the fun, was evident. It’s easy to forget that golf, unlike cricket, (which is massively popular in Australia) or the NFL, or the NBA is not as fast-paced or adrenalizing each minute.

There is nothing wrong with how LIV tried to market the Adelaide event. But mistaking the boisterous bunch for core golf fans will be a grave error. Also, let’s not forget that the WM Phoenix Open, despite all that, had a 35% year-on-year drop in viewership numbers. 

What PIF can (and should) do instead

Golf thrives on tradition and legacy. Which is why some PGA Tour events carry so much weight and also why LIV has struggled to carve a niche for fans. However, legacy and history are also attached to national majors that are snubbed and somewhat forgotten. 

Instead, the PIF can invest in the national majors. Besides increasing the purse, a few majors can also be part of LIV Golfers’ contracts, as some Asian Tour International Series events are now. This will also add credence to LIV golfers’ vapid claims of growing the game. 

It is worth remembering that while viewership in the US has indeed declined, interest in golf has increased globally. A trend that has not gone unnoticed by those newly invested in the game – Strategic Sports Group. Arthur Blank recently said, “I think that the, the dynamics and mix of players that you see on the PGA tour today is much more diverse than we’ve ever seen before. And I think that’s attracting more ratings and more TV viewership on a worldwide basis.” If the PIF can return the National Majors to their former glory, the criticism against the Saudi-backed side will lose a little edge, aside from getting a new section of the audience spread across the globe.

LIV Golf’s Major trouble hasn’t neared an end 

While announcing the decision to withdraw its plea from the OWGR table, Greg Norman announced that PIF is separately in talks with the majors. The memo read, “We continue to seek meaningful communication and relationships with each of the majors to ensure that LIV golfers are fairly represented and golf fans around the world have opportunities to see the best competition possible.”

If the hint was at creating direct pathways for LIV golfers, Augusta chairman Fred Ridley discarded the notion in no unambiguous terms. Dubbing LIV a ‘closed shop’, the Augusta chairman said, “There is some relegation, but not very much. It all really depends on what new player they sign. Those concerns were expressed by the OWGR.” Worth remembering is that all four major representatives were part of the board that rejected LIV’s world-ranking bid.

That effectively means the LIV Golf pros have to depend on subjective considerations from the major organizers. Otherwise, they have to go the Joaquin Niemann way of globetrotting. Or, like David Puig, win a National Open to get an Open Championship spot and take it from there. LIV Golf Adelaide doesn’t help with any of that beyond a week’s fodder on social media. Finding a way to tie up with the national majors might be a better idea.