SINGAPORE – Uncertainty continues to swirl around the future of LIV Golf, though players in the breakaway series are confident that they are here for the long term.
A resolution has not been reached since the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which bankrolls the LIV circuit – announced a framework agreement in June 2023 for the creation of a new golf entity, placing a question mark over what it entails.
The development came after a year of upheaval and tension between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, as some golfers – including six-time Major winner Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and more recently former world No. 1 Jon Rahm – made big-money moves to the rival tour.
While a merger will put LIV Golf at risk, its players remain optimistic about what lies ahead.
Acknowledging that there are many unknowns, Mickelson is confident that LIV will continue to attract the game’s top talent as it expands to different parts of the world.
Speaking at a press conference at Sentosa Golf Club ahead of LIV’s May 3-5 event in Singapore, the 53-year-old said: “The quality of the players will continue to get better each year. I think the ability and the sites that we move throughout the world will continue to excite players and fans.
“We’ll be going to more countries outside of the United States that really are starving for world-class professional golf, and we’ll have a lot more receptions like we had at Adelaide.”
The LIV Adelaide event, which is one of the league’s most popular stops, drew over 94,000 fans at Grange Golf Club last week, while a Hong Kong leg was added to the series this season.
Using Singapore as an example, Mickelson said “a lot” of countries are in negotiations to host a LIV event. He added: “I see the global game of golf growing at an extremely high level. That is exciting for everyone involved in the game because we are going to reach markets that we didn’t reach before.”
Launched in 2022 to much fanfare, LIV lured some of the sport’s top names away from the PGA Tour with the goal of reinventing and modernising golf.
This included introducing 54-hole tournaments that feature both an individual and team championship, among other innovative features.
Bryson DeChambeau, the 2022 US Open champion, believes the appeal of the league will grow as it gets more competitive with time.
The 30-year-old American said: “You’re going to see a lot more interactions from teams. I think the competition between the teams will get heightened. The rivalries will get heightened.”
Graeme McDowell, who won the US Open in 2010, echoed DeChambeau’s sentiments, pointing to the fans’ reception of the team play-off in Adelaide, where Ripper GC beat Stinger GC to claim victory.
The Northern Irishman said: “We all believe that the product we’re playing in right now is strong and we don’t think it’s going to go away any time soon.
“I really feel like the trajectory is moving us in the right direction, and I don’t think this product is going anywhere any time soon regardless of any mergers.”
Former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who became the first LIV player to win a Major with his triumph at the 2023 PGA Championship, believes that more golfers will follow suit.
This is despite the challenges of joining the breakaway series, as many LIV players have seen their world rankings plummet as a result of them being unable to earn Official World Golf Ranking points, which are used for qualification to the Majors.
Stressing that the curbs will not stop LIV golfers from winning Majors, Koepka said: “It’s going to happen over time.
“There’s too many good players. You look at it consistently, you’ve got Jon (Rahm), Bryson (DeChambeau), Dustin (Johnson), Cam (Smith). Those are guys who are going to win quite a few Majors.
“As long as we’re in them, I think there’s a good chance that people over the next four or five years will have a few.”
