While Tiger Woods Becomes the Most Googled Golfer in 2023, Where Do LIV Golf Pros Stand?

It seems like LIV Golf Pros were on the headlines throughout the year. Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson found enough reasons to come under the media spotlight. But in the end, it’s Tiger Woods, who played three tournaments this season, tops Google’s most searched-for golf subject. In fact, only three current LIV Golfers are in the top ten.

Although the search engine doesn’t offer raw data, the list of most-searched golf terms and subjects, accessed by Golf Digest brings out some surprising details. For example, Koepka, despite winning the PGA Championship in May, was one-upped by Michael Block that month. But in the yearly standings, he did find a spot in the top three. Where do other LIV Golfers stand?

How popular are LIV Golf pros?

Brooks Koepka (3)

2023 was quite an eventful year for Koepka. In February, the LIV Golf pro was shown as an injury-prone and vulnerable golfer, in Full Swing’s Episode 2 ‘Win or Go Home’. 

However, a month later, the 33-year-old gave Jon Rahm a hot chase, in the 2023 Masters. The LIV Golf pro came back again next month. This time, Koepka cruised past Viktor Hovland, at the 2023 PGA Championship to become the first LIV Golfer to win a major. Naturally, the LIV Golf Jeddah champion garnered 70.8 percent of the search interest. 

Jon Rahm (4)

The Spaniard garnered much spotlight as a PGA Tour player but will now take that fanfare to the other side of the frontier. Rahm kicked off this year with two titles in the first month itself. The promising signs for a great season eventually became reality with his maiden Green Jacket in April.

The Spaniard went on to have a stellar Ryder Cup campaign—it’s always special for the former PGA Tour pro—winning 3 points from four matches. Rahm also came third in the PGA Tour’s Players Impact Program (PIP) list. On top of that, the Defending Masters champion was also in contention for the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award. The Spanish International garnered 62.1 percent of search interest.

Phil Mickelson (8)

You can’t keep the Lefty out of the spotlight, can you? The 53-year-old only made one top-ten finish this season in LIV Golf. Furthermore, in the 12-team leaderboard, Hyflyers GC was at the ninth spot with 40 points to their name, 152 behind the leader, 4Aces GC. 

Regardless, Phil Mickelson garnered 46% of search interest. In August, the 45-time PGA Tour winner’s gambling addiction blew up the internet. Billy Walters claimed that the Lefty called him to place $400,000 on the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team which he was a part of. The 2021 PGA Championship winner, although, denied this particular claim, came out on social media with a lengthy post detailing his troubles with sports betting.

Although PGA Tour players outnumber the LIV Golf pros in terms of Google search interest, LIV Golf as a term tops the search results, followed by ‘us open golf’ and ‘golf channel.’ Rory McIlroy is the second-most searched golfer after Tiger Woods, with Rickie Fowler (5), Scottie Scheffler (6), Jordan Spieth (7), Justin Thomas (9), and Viktor Hovland (10), rounding off the top ten.

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