The Battle for Golf Supremacy is Over, and LIV Has Lost
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm gave LIV Golf some credit this week when they said it has benefited all elite male golfers, including them. So, in the words of a golf legend, LIV Golf has that going for it, which is nice.
LIV Golf has already lost its battle with the PGA Tour. Whatever happens in courtrooms and to golf rankings over the next year will not change that. With its new schedule featuring elevated events, the PGA Tour has co-opted the one argument in favor of LIV: That the best players in the world will compete against each other. The PGA Tour has also minimized the incentive for anybody to leave for LIV now—top players can make a fortune, and lesser players should have a clearer path to becoming top players.
Most importantly, the Tour has solidified its reputation as the premier men’s golf league in the world. This week’s Players Championship will be missing its defending champion, the since-defected Cam Smith, but Smith will miss the Players more than the Players will miss him. As a competitive entity, LIV Golf has zero credibility. It will never give Smith the platform or feeling he had at TPC Sawgrass last March.
LIV Golf
LIV Golf is a morally indefensible operation, funded by the murderous, propaganda-spreading Saudi Arabian government with no plausible business plan. But even if you forget where the money is coming from, you cannot forget it is there. For every single player who joined LIV, money was the No. 1 factor. There are no exceptions. Any golf fan understands this.
Yes, players run for the money in other sports all the time. But they switch teams, not leagues. (Soccer is an exception, but soccer has been embedded in the culture of so many countries for so long that comparing it to another sport is impossible.) When Gerrit Cole signed with the Yankees, we knew he went for the money, but also that he would try just as hard to pitch well there as he did in Houston or Pittsburgh. He still wants to win the World Series.