With the 89th Masters this month, it’s a time when the Professional Golf Association golfers and the LIV golfers come together to play with plenty of tension in the air.
Through many comments made during the past Masters, it appears that there is a grudge held against the PGA golfers who left to get paid by LIV.
However, the LIV tour isn’t actually as bad as most people think, as it is perfectly fine that the PGA has a competitor and that golf has a new way to grow.
The LIV tour is a professional golf league that was founded in 2021 by Greg Norman and is the first competitor to the PGA. Once it was founded, it offered many PGA players a lot of money to switch tours, and when they do, it’s very controversial.
According to GOLF magazine, LIV offered Tiger Woods $700-$800 million to switch, but Woods turned down the offer. Some notable golfers that switched to LIV from the PGA are Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith.
What’s different about LIV from the PGA is they only play a total of 54 holes in a tournament compared to 72 holes in the PGA. They also allow their players to wear shorts while they play. LIV also allows golfers to talk to each other and the camera during tournaments. These are rules that the PGA is very strict about: they require long pants and golfers and caddies can only talk to each other while they’re playing.
Due to their new rules, many golf fans are not fond of LIV, but it’s really not as disruptive as a lot of people think. It is a great opportunity to grow the viewership of major golf tournaments and golf in general. For example, The 85th Masters tournament last April had approximately 16.25 million viewers compared to the 2022 Masters, which had approximately 10.17 million viewers, both according to Sports Media Watch. The difference between the 2023 Masters and the 2022 Masters is that LIV golfers competed in the 2023 Masters and the viewership grew by about 6 million viewers.
According to Golf Monthly, LIV offered Phil Mickelson $200 million, Brooks Koepka $100 million and Cameron Smith $140 million. This is obviously a lot of money, even for a pro golfer, because it’s a lot more than they make when they win a tournament.
Why is it such a bad thing that a golfer chooses to accept this amount of money? They’re golfers because they love the sport and they can make a lot of money doing it. With an amount that big, it just seems prudent that they accept it. Think of it as a promotion. You would accept a promotion, right?
A lot of people say that golf has a history of rules being strict and gentlemanly and that LIV is taking that away from the sport, which is true to a degree. Golf has been the same way for a very long time, and LIV and its rules are definitely a nuisance to the sport. However, it shouldn’t matter because it’s not affecting how they play the sport at all. On top of that, the new rules offer a new way to watch golf.
Sports fans are often very stubborn and take pride in their opinions, so I don’t think the hate toward LIV or their golfers will change very much. Nevertheless, the reality is that LIV golfers can outshine PGA golfers. But maybe the ban on shorts really is disrespectful to golf, and the rule is just over my head.
