LIV Golf welcomed the perfect storm this past weekend.
No PGA Tour event.
Jon Rahm’s debut.
The dead of winter.
The result: it feels like LIV has some momentum.
But still…hard to classify this weekend as anything but an excellent week for LIV.
With that, let’s get to your questions.
What impact to ratings did RAHM have for these TV days?
@chris_n_christy
A perfect place to start.
Im not sure well get proper rating information since LIV stopped reporting it late last year.
But I can say that within this little echo chamber this was a very LIV Golf Sunday.
This was the first full-field signature event and we’re talking about LIV Golf.
Now, that’s in large part due to the Pebble wash out, but still.
Before this season, Greg Norman bloviated about the sheer number of top players interested in LIV Golf.
Instead, the vast majority of the signing-players budget went to one man: Jon Rahm.
Its money well spent.
Take him out of the top of the leaderboard and the tournament isn’t the same.
He’s got that much gravitas in the game.
Its happened in pieces, but theyve assembled a really strong group of players.
Especially when the broadcast shows as many shots as it does.
Its way, way more actual golf than a PGA Tour broadcast.
But the players are competitors.
They wanna beat the other guys.
They were into it.
It was a good watch, at least for this golf nerd.
Im all for music while playing golfit should be fun after allbut this isnt a fun round with buddies.
Ive been to LIV events and the musics totally fine in person.
For my money, the entire broadcast is over-the-top.
But its just all a bit much.
The mute button was my best friend on Sunday.
I hear what youre saying about the team format - right now its awful.
But imagine if they followed the college golf model - 54 hole stroke play followed by team match play.
Team golf HAS to be match play - itd be electric!
@constantdave
Yep, thats another thing that stood out from the first event of LIVs third season.
The team thing is just a miss right now.
The format is hard to follow.
Its honestly more distracting than anything.
Youre absolutely right; team golf simply has to be match play.
There has to be a man-against-man component to it.
Theyve gotta split up the events in my opinion.
Some individual events, some team events.
Give us singles match play, best ball, alternate shot, all the fun stuff.
It can’t just be adding up stroke play scores.
Lean all the way into the team competition on certain weeks rather than going halfway every week.
LIV is in an interesting spot with the team stuff.
Thats the business model.
Or at least it was at the beginning.
But three years in and the team competition doesnt really have traction.
Its really, really hard to turn an individual sport into a team sport.
Tennis has tried and mostly failed for decades.
But thats not a novel concept.
In fact, its what fans have been wanting PGA Tour broadcasts to look like forever.
Does Clark’s 60 count when you’re able to pick up and place the ball?
@closr9
Lottttt of strong opinions on this online.
Mines not nearly as spicy: this situation is precisely why the language gods created the asterisk.
It counts, with an asterisk.
Opens, which obviously present a much tougher setup.
So the prior record of 61 was also kind of asterisk-ey as it wasnt in the U.S. Open.
A place can have multiple records.
Wyndhams is the best score ever shot at Pebble, with an asterisk that it was preferred lies.
Hurly Longs 61 is the lowest score shot at Pebble playing ball down.
62 is the lowest score shot in a professional event, ball down.
All these things can be true at once.
Niemanns quote was interesting.
He dropped six shots with his victory.
Ive said it ad nauseam: the OWGR is totally outdated and needs to be replaced, quickly.
But theyve already made their ruling.
The question now is whether the majors start to move away from using OWGR to fill out its fields.
Its not going to happen this year for the Masters as that criterias already set.
Its guys like Niemann and Gooch who must be getting increasingly annoyed.
A lot of what LIV pitched players has come true.
But the lack of OWGR points stands out as the biggest area where LIV officials were wrong.
Im sure Niemann and Gooch didnt think theyd be shut out from rankings for this long.
If they did, and theyre still complaining, then thats a you problem.
Opinion on the Sunday finish at pebble?
When was the last time the PGA had a 54 hole finish?
What implications does this have with LIV 54 hole finish, if any.
Was pebble in that bad of shape the couldnt play tomorrow?
The storm thats passing through California is no joke.
I know this first-hand.
Multiple players said it was a genuinely frightening situation.
Trees down on roads.
No flights getting out.
Some things just…are.
Top 10 LIV players vs Top 10 PGA Tour players.
Who plays, wins, and why?
@TatorThott
Gonna designate Tiger and Phil as non-playing captains.
Heres who Id pick.
Who know with the vagaries of match play golf?
The PGA Tour team would be favorited, Id guess somewhere in the -160 range.
With this new deal, PGA Tour purses are funded for three next five years.
Thats the whole idea here.
Because this investment group isnt just donating money, Homa wrote.
They want to make money.
So they need people to watch golf to make money.
So theyd better do a damn good job to make this more watchable and entertaining for the fans.
A lot of players, particularly the non-superstars, are frustrated with the tour right now.
Theres no shortage of guys bitching.
But the general consensus Im sensing from talking to guys across the board is cautious optimism.
The path the tour was on simply wasnt sustainable.
This gives them an influx of cash, a safety net to start to build something new.
How good was Caylab Surratt final round as a whole?
@jacob_j33598
Thats a really creative way to spell Caleb.
Its further evident of just how elite the competition is at the college level.
Its easy to see why LIV is so enticing to an elite amateur.
Its a much more direct path to millions of dollars.
Contrast that with the $0 paycheck he earned for winning the American Express.
Youre the commissioner of the PGA Tour for 24 hrs.
Whats the first change youre making?
The Masters has it.
Hell, LIV is going to debut it this summer.
PGA Tour Live isn’t good enough.
Its such a no-brainer.
Lets hope the Strategic Sports Group people and their cash address this problem ASAP.
Until next time,
Dan
