Greg Norman Needs Major Format Change for Temporary LIV Adelaide Formula to Work. Here’s Why

LIV Golf officials might rest easy after Adelaide. That’s certainly a temptation after a hugely successful, relatively mishap-free event with 94,000 people. Greg Norman has spoken of replicating the model elsewhere. But it’s not just the DJs, flight decks, and shoeys—all of which were fun to watch, hands down—that made Adelaide what it was.

The most intriguing thing about last weekend was how successful Ripper GC was. As if for further validation of team golf, on the other side of the globe, the PGA Tour’s lone team event, the Zurich Classic, was also a massive hit.

But even by a serious stretch of the imagination, it is hard to imagine any team receiving the claps, chants, and roars that Ripper GC got. So what gives? Well, there are ways to make the team format more appealing without creating home bases, as Cameron Smith suggested.

Restructure the $25 million purse to pour more into teams

Currently, LIV Golf has a $25 million purse. Only one-fifth, $5 million, of that is reserved for the top three teams. At Adelaide, team champion Ripper GC earned $3,000,000, a million less than what Brendan Steele pocketed as the individual winner.

Second-placed Stinger GC received $1.5 million. Louis Oosthuizen, who finished one shot behind Steele, secured a prize of $2,250,000. His teammates in the all-South African squad, Charl Schwartzel and Dean Burmester, tied for the third spot along with three others. Combined, they earned $1.84 million. Andy Ogletree, who also tied for third, nabbed $920,000, almost double what his team, HyFlyers GC, received for finishing third in the team leaderboard.

Have you seen the paradox yet? Six players earned more than what the HyFlyers received as a team. The top team of four players earned a million less than the individual champion. The great imbalance in prize money automatically pushes team formats to the backseat. It doesn’t mean that the PIF-funded side is rigid in that structure. LIV has changed the distribution chart this year, and a further shake-up shouldn’t cause a massive headache.

PIF can keep the $4 million winner’s payout intact since the PGA Tour also offers the same amount in eight signature events. A minor restructuring around the remaining 53 spots can set a few million people loose. While that will increase the weight of each team, the stakes also need to rise. And for that, LIV might have to take the risk of irking a few ‘core’ fans.

LIV Golf calls for a 36-hole cut

Heresy, you say? Well, so be it. Where does Legion XIII stand on the season-long leaderboard? At random, ask any golf fan. We believe only four people can give the right answer. And those four are… well, take a wild guess.

The point is that Jon Rahm’s performance, position, and stature have no bearing on how Kieran Vincent plays. The Zimbewan is 51st on the season-long leaderboard, and Rahm is second. At the Grange, the former was 50th, while the Spaniard was T3.

Yes, how everyone plays matters, because only the top 24 players receive points. And those points count towards the team’s score. But why does a casual fan who is here to watch Jon Rahm or Joaquin Niemann care how Vincent or Sebastian Munoz performed? And, more importantly, where Legion XII, or Torque GC, stands on the leaderboard.

On top of that, not every team has a binding thread like the all-Australian Ripper GC or the all-South African Stinger GC. To make teams matter, players’ individual chances need to depend on the team. Just like how it is in other team sports like the NBA, NFL, and soccer.

LIV Golf can introduce a 36-hole cut. But rather than keeping the cutline on par, make it team-based. What happens when only the top ten or top eight teams and players qualify for the final eighteen holes? Yes, that effectively cuts down the field by a good 22%–35%, depending on the number of teams knocked out. But more importantly, it would make the team format actually thrilling.

When you have a top player suffering individually because of the other three in the team, that’s nothing but savory fodder for conversation on fan forums (which LIV Golf teams, unsurprisingly, don’t have). Which players are carrying the team on their shoulders and who is piggybacking on whom will dominate the conversations. That also means no more quiet and unceremonious transfer moves like the Talor Gooch swap deal.

As for one Dustin Johnson or one Brooks Koepka missing the Sunday spot because of his team, that’s a risk you invite in a team game. Caitlin Clark couldn’t secure the NCAA title on individual performance alone. Lionel Messi, one of the greatest of all time, had to wait 16 years to lift the FIFA World Cup.

The only outlier is where wildcard entrants factor in. But before that, why bother? Two wildcards, Hudson Swafford and Anthony Kim, sit in the 53rd and 54th spots on the individual leaderboard. The rationale wasn’t and still isn’t clear, other than creating a path for the cult hero of the PGA Tour to return. The LIV Golf Adelaide and Zurich Classic showed why the Ryder Cup never disappoints.

For the PGA Tour, team golf is entertainment. But for PIF, it’s part of an identity. More reasons for Greg Norman to sit with his board members. The Great White Shark might have to take some tough calls and invite more scrutiny, maybe even from his apostles. But when has the swaggering gentleman from Down Under given two hoots about popularity and mass acceptance?