BEDMINSTER — First, could we stop calling this weekend’s LIV Golf event LIV New York?
The tournament is being played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. That’s New Jersey. Not across the river. Not on the border. Deep in New Jersey. New Jersey. We can handle having our own golf tournament.
Now that we have that out of the way, the bigger question surrounding LIV Golf is far more interesting. What exactly is LIV Golf? And why, despite doing a lot of things right, does it still feel like people aren’t buying in?
For years, the shadow hanging over LIV was whether it could survive. Could the controversial Saudi-backed golf league actually make it in the long term?
Well, it survived. And with new private funding entering the picture, it appears LIV will be around next year as well. But surviving and succeeding are two very different things, because standing at Trump Bedminster this weekend, I couldn’t get one question out of my head…
Where is everybody?
LIV does a lot of things right. Kids can get in free. There’s music. There’s entertainment. There’s energy around the course. It doesn’t feel like the traditional golf environment where somebody looks at you sideways because you dared to make noise while a golfer was 150 yards away.
It feels younger. It feels looser. It feels like LIV is actually trying to make professional golf fun for the entire family. So why did it feel like maybe 1,000 people were there? Why aren’t more people embracing LIV?
Was it the location of this weekend’s tournament? Maybe it’s the Saudi money?
Maybe people still view LIV as the rebel tour that entered professional golf, threw enormous amounts of money at players, and tried to disrupt an institution that had existed for generations. But here’s the irony.
That rebellion helped professional golfers everywhere. LIV forced the PGA Tour to react. Prize money increased. Players gained leverage. The entire economics of professional golf changed because suddenly there was competition for talent. Competition generally forces businesses to evolve, and professional golf was no different.
But LIV could have become something even bigger than the anti-PGA. It could have become the family-friendly alternative to the PGA Tour. That’s where I think the missed opportunity might be.
Instead of constantly asking people to choose between LIV and the PGA Tour, why not sell LIV for what it actually does differently? Bring your kids. Listen to music. Make some noise. Watch professional golf without feeling like you accidentally walked into a country club where you’re afraid to touch anything. Have fun.
Maybe we have become so skeptical of everything that we don’t allow ourselves to acknowledge when something is entertaining. Every time I attend a LIV event, I find myself thinking the same thing: Man, this is actually fun. Why can’t we have more of this?
That doesn’t mean LIV doesn’t have legitimate problems. Watching some of these players also creates another uncomfortable question.
During the tournament, you had recognizable professional golfers who, if they were playing in a major championship, would be expected to contend — yet some were coming in around 11-over par. That makes you wonder. When you’re guaranteed a huge amount of money, is the motivation the same? Are these players practicing with the same intensity? Are some simply going through the motions until another opportunity comes along? Do some eventually want to return to the PGA Tour?
I don’t know the answer. But I think it’s a fair question. Guaranteed money changes the dynamic of sports. We see it in baseball. We see it in football. We see it in basketball. Golf isn’t magically immune to it. And LIV has to figure that part out because ultimately the entertainment surrounding the course only works if people believe the competition on the course matters.
But the PGA Tour should also be paying attention. Because there are things LIV understands that traditional golf still stubbornly fights. Walkout music for golfers? Absolutely. Imagine each player approaching the first tee with his own entrance music. Tell me younger fans wouldn’t connect with that. Shorts? Please. It’s August. It’s hot. We don’t need pants to prove somebody is a professional golfer. And maybe most importantly, stop treating noise like it’s the enemy of golf. The old-school quiet atmosphere has its place. The Masters should feel like the Masters.
But not every tournament has to.
Sports evolve. Baseball added a pitch clock. Cricket embraced Twenty20. Even tennis has experimented with different formats and presentation. Golf can evolve too. LIV understood that part before the PGA Tour did. The problem is LIV still hasn’t completely figured out how to turn that idea into something people feel they have to attend.
Will LIV Golf survive long term? I’m still not sure. Will it ever seriously compete with the PGA Tour for the attention of the American sports fan? I’m even less sure. But I do know this: every time I leave a LIV event, I find myself questioning why more people aren’t there.
Because despite all the controversy, all the money, all the politics people attach to it, and all the questions about its future, there’s a pretty simple truth that sometimes gets lost in the conversation.
LIV Golf is fun.
Now they need to figure out how to convince everybody else to experience it. Oh, and one more thing….
Joaquín Niemann won again because apparently that’s just what he does.
