From spats, lawsuits and suspensions to a whole lot of cash, golf certainly had an interesting year, but for all its drama, LIV Golf was perhaps just what the sport needed.
From the minute the Saudi-funded circuit parked its tanks on the PGA Tour’s turf, trenches have been tossed between the two camps.
But despite all the taunting, should PGA Tour loyalists actually thank the rebels and their revolution?
PGA Tour loyalists should be thanking the rebels at LIV Golf and their revolution
A big topic of conversation has been the blockbuster mega-money deals LIV has used to lure away the biggest stars of the PGA Tour.
With its seemingly endless funds backed by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, LIV Golf has not only been able to shell out eight or nine figure sums in registration fees, but also has the ability to provide a prize fund so well stocked that last place Earn $120,000 in each event.
In the fight against LIV Golf and its invasion of the sport, the PGA Tour released a series of changes in August.
The changes were seen as enormous – particularly on the financial front.
LIV has used mega money deals to lure away the PGA Tour’s biggest stars like Cam Smith
There were many lively conversations between the two camps, particularly from Greg Norman
In an attempt to stem the steady flow of big names to the breakaways for money, Jay Monahan announced that there will now be a $500,000 minimum salary for all players on the PGA Tour.
Prize money also received a healthy mast, with the new average prize pool of $20 million to keep up with LIV.
In addition, Stars will receive $5,000 for missing tournament cuts, with unprecedented amounts being paid out to PGA Tour players even if they don’t win tournaments.
The PGA Tour has also added four more events to the 2023 FedEx Cup regular season, in addition to the eight they announced in June, with an average purse of $20 million.
Jay Monahan revealed a number of changes to the PGA Tour in a match against LIV Golf
This year’s Player Impact Program also rewarded 20 players instead of 10 and doubled the payout from $50M to $100M.
This meant that a player like Viktor Hovland without Twitter, who doesn’t have a huge social media presence, could finish 20th and still bag $2 million.
With the introduction of four additional elevated events for the 2023 season, the PGA Tour has now committed $99.8 million towards next season’s increased purses.
The tour also estimates that the four new raised events alone will result in approximately $46 million in raises, having previously committed a total of $48.8 million to fund the purses for the three FedEx Cup Playoff events, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational, Stock Up, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament, WGC-Dell Technology Match Play and The Players.
That doesn’t even include the $100 million the tour has pledged to match the money awarded by PIP in 2022 and 2023.
The newly minted PGA Tour stars undoubtedly have LIV to thank for their well-stocked bank accounts, as the changes stemming from the McIlroy Woods crunch meeting caused them to buck the breakaway – and Jon Rahm agrees .
“I think on that side of things we should be thankful that LIV happened,” the Spaniard said ahead of the start of the Hero World Challenge in early December.
“I don’t know if these changes would have happened if LIV hadn’t been in the picture. So to an extent, yes, we should be grateful.’
The changes mean Viktor Hovland finished 20th in the PIP and still bagged $2 million
Race to Dubai winner Jon Rahm said he and his colleagues should be grateful to LIV
Jay Monahan claimed the money for the new prize pools came from three main sources: increased revenue from the 2021-22 season, reserves, and sponsors and partners.
However, it remains to be seen how long these revenue streams will be able to sustain the tour’s new expensive structure.
Even with its monetary boost, the PGA Tour still doesn’t reach the same level as LIV Golf.
Tiger Woods himself recently conceded that the PGA Tour can’t match LIV Golf’s dollar.
He said: “They want to be a validated tour with world ranking points and they’re buying up tours all over the world and I don’t know what their end game is. It could just be an official member of the golf ecosystem and awarded world ranking points.
“I think that’s their intended goal. You know, they probably spent close to $2 billion this year. Who says they can’t spend $4 or $5 billion next year? We just don’t know. It’s an endless money pit.’
Tiger Woods himself recently acknowledged that the PGA Tour cannot match LIV’s resources
With the increased prize pools came the introduction of Enhanced Events, which will see the world’s best players compete in around 20 PGA Tour events over the next year.
New premier events include the FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship, Tour Championship/FedEx Cup, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Memorial Tournament, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship and the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
However, these events don’t benefit the entire PGA Tour, only the select Top 20, arguably only adding more fuel to the organization’s elite cycle and more division when it’s players outside of the upper echelons who need the most help.
When the PGA Tour realized it needed to better protect its blockbuster names, it may have isolated its future rising stars.
However, Rory McIlroy insisted that forming an exclusive club was not a move, claiming every player on the tour will do so
“This is not a renegade group trying to usurp the power of the PGA Tour,” McIlroy said. “It’s, ‘OK, how can we make this tour better for everyone who’s going to play on it now and everyone who’s going to play on the PGA Tour in the future?’
Rory McIlroy insisted the high-profile events were not an attempt to create an exclusive club
“The reason we’re trying to do that is because we’re trying to build a tour for the future [and for] young, ambitious players who want to be the best players in the game,” added McIlroy.
“If you want to be the best player in the game, the PGA Tour is for you because it’s a pure meritocracy. There’s nothing stopping guys from playing at these upscale events. There’s nothing stopping guys from coming to the PIP. You just play better. You work your ass off, you play better and if you do that you’re going to get into these events.’
Another catch with the elevated events is the requirement that the top players in the game must play in all of these designated tournaments, which is a requirement for participation in the PIP bonus pool.
As such, members of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, such as McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Hovland and Shane Lowry face challenges as they put together their schedules that allow them to perform at their best.
The arrival of the breakaway on the scene has not only lined players’ pockets better, but also added entertainment value to the sport.
The battle witnessed Mickelson’s outburst, suspensions, court cases and acrimonious exchanges of digs and insults – the only thing missing is a brawl outside the pub, maybe they’ll save it for season two?
Scottie Scheffler appeared to walk right over Smith’s line on the green in what many suggested was a dig at the Aussie, who has been linked with the Saudi-funded breakaway
Ahead of LIV’s first event, Phil Mickelson caused a stir with his Saudi mother’s comments
Rarely featured on the sport’s main news channels outside of Woods and the Majors, the gentleman’s sport has still been in the headlines almost continuously despite the fact that there was no Ryder Cup, no Solheim Cup and no Olympics this year – all thanks to the Furore by LIV.
Theaters have also provided fodder and hype for the upcoming Netflix PGA Tour documentary, which has already hinted at mentions of LIV Golf and “Memes” and has been building excitement for its release.
However, the soap opera continues with the second season of LIV with an expanded schedule that has already stolen a course from the PGA Tour.
There are still court cases to be settled, the uncertainty of the world rankings settled and possibly more defectors to come in.
We have yet to see how the Rebels will fit into the 14 events set around the traditional golf calendar, especially after news broke that the Augusta chiefs have opted against banning them from the Masters.
With this decision, Augusta will also be playing onstage for hopefully a Real Housewives-esque reunion of defectors vs. loyalists. A Garcia-McIlroy-Mickelson group, that could be interesting.
Whether Norman and company can lure more stars to the dark side and how both LIV and the PGA Tour can continue to fund their new mega-money programs remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – golf will continue to make headlines.