The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Have Made Their Moves, Now They Should Drop the Lawsuits and Battle It Out in the Marketplace
The PGA Tour and many of its players have taken the stand that LIV Golf is not the catalyst for the new designated events that include much larger purses and more restrictive, but deeper, fields.
Instead, according to Tour officials, the new enhanced program has always been a work in progress and, coincidentally, the fact that these new and lucrative events are happening less than a year from when LIV launched its $25 million events is just happenstance.
Yet, as in any good crime show, from Sherlock Holmes to Kojak, the detective does not believe in coincidence and instead believes there are direct connections and parallels.
That connection is that competition, whether Saudi-backed or not, forced the PGA Tour to take a hard look in the mirror, and what they saw was the need to put some much-needed oomph behind their product.
“In general, competition I think is always a good thing,” says Josh Kroenke, a sports entrepreneur who is involved in running the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal of the Premier League. “But the traditions of the PGA Tour and some of the things that I know that they uphold for the game of golf are obviously very important and unique to the game.”
Kroenke has unique insight into the backers of LIV Golf, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, since they also own a Premier League soccer club, Newcastle United.
“It’s a very unique dynamic that has been created out of almost thin air,” Kroenke says. “Some of the investors are also involved in the Premier League. They are very wealthy individuals that are behind it. I’m not sure what it does to the game, in particular, but from a competition standpoint, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
Kroenke may be right. The golf world has experienced two elevated events in 2023, the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaiʻi at the beginning of January and last week’s WM Phoenix Open in the desert of Scottsdale, Ariz. This week, a third event is being contested at the Genesis Invitational.
Another PGA Tour elevated event is this week at the Genesis Invitational, the result of LIV Golf's entrance into the sport.
Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
The TOC unfolded into a great Sunday with Collin Morikawa taking a six-shot lead into the final round only to be tracked down by Jon Rahm.
It put Rahm on a path to try to recapture world No. 1 and started a debate on why the Spaniard didn’t move up a single spot in the world rankings after the win in Hawaiʻi.
The debate continued through the next week and had some legs when Rahm showed up in Palm Springs, where he would win again, then finish T-7 at Torrey Pines, where he won the 2021 U.S. Open.
Sitting third in the world going into the WM Phoenix Open, Rahm—and Scottie Scheffler—could move into the top of the world rankings with a win.
Luckily, due to the enhanced nature of the Phoenix Open, Rahm, Scheffler and then world No. 1 Rory McIlroy were in the field along with most of the top players in the world.
None of this happens if not for LIV Golf.
The final two days of back-and-forth in Phoenix between Scheffler, Rahm, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Nick Taylor and Sungjae Im had something for everyone with big names and underdogs part of the story.
Again, none of this happens if not for LIV Golf.
That the PGA Tour is a better product for its fans and its players in early 2023 also seems without contradiction.
“It’s a tough predicament for everybody, but in general competition is a good thing,” says Kroenke, himself a longtime fan of the PGA Tour. “And I hope that for golf, it does turn out to be positive in the end.”
After two elevated events it seems like it has been a positive, and now we have three more elevated events in four weeks, first with Riviera and Tiger Woods teeing it up.
When you consider the fact that the NFL season is done, golf has a more equal playing field for fans’ eyeballs against the NBA and NHL.
It makes you wonder why the PGA Tour wants to countersue LIV Golf. It seems they should be embracing the rival league for forcing it to finally do the right thing for professional golf.
Of course, it’s a legal tactic by the Tour to countersue after being sued by LIV.
But it makes you wonder as LIV prepares to launch its second season—in less than a year’s time LIV built a roster of good players with good fields who play for large purses every week. Most of those players don’t appear interested in returning to the PGA Tour. So, why is this suit still ongoing?
If you want to fight it out, fight it out on the field. As Kroenke says, competition is good. It shouldn’t matter where it comes from, just compete and let the best Tour win.