Leagues and Governing Bodies – Sports Business Journal

Much of the inaugural LIV Golf event at Centurion Club outside London looked and sounded different than a typical golf tournamentReuters via USA TODAY Sports

LIV Golf Chief Events Officer Ron Cross said he was “very happy and very excited” about what he saw during its inaugural event, according to John Huggan of GOLF DIGEST. Huggan wrote if we “divorce ourselves from the source of the money paying for all that went on” and “focus on the golf/entertainment aspect of the project, a lot of good things happened.” Yes, some tweaks “will be required” as the series moves on to Portland later this month, but “what was on view was, if not exactly thrilling, at least entertaining.” The team aspect “maybe needs to be emphasized more. … Adjusted too.” But something different amidst individual 72-hole stroke-play events “must be applauded.” Cross said, “We have a start-up mentality. We’re going to try a lot of things that sound good and work good on paper. But if they don’t pan out, we’ll be flexible and improve next time.” Under the microscope is the “perhaps restrictive nature of the 48-man field.” That helped when it came to the “much-ballyhooed shotgun start each day,” but with more and more names coming forward to play — former Masters champion Patrick Reed and three-time PGA Tour winner Pat Perez are the latest — Huggan wonders “will that be practical going forward?” Cross: “For now, we are not looking at changing the 48-man field. We haven’t had any conversations along those lines. we’ll have a stronger field in Portland next time” (GOLFDIGEST.com, 6/11).

GETTING LOUD OUT HERE: In N.Y., Andrew Beaton wrote much of the inaugural LIV Golf event at the Centurion Club “looked and sounded different than a typical golf tournament.” Parts of that “were intentional,” while others were not. There was music, the type “typically found at a nightclub and prohibited at a country club, blaring on the driving range,” as some players put in headphones. Planes did aerial stunts overhead. The crowd did not “seem to know where to go.” For much of the first day, it was “difficult to find who was actually winning the tournament.” From its outset, LIV Golf “aimed to diverge from golf norms.” Signs with “DON’T BLINK” and “GOLF BUT LOUDER” lined the grounds at Centurion Club. It was “definitely louder, though not due to roars from the galleries.” In stark “contrast to the stoicism typically associated with the sport, Top-40 music bumped on the driving range” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/12).

WORK IN PROGRESS: In Sydney, Andrew Webster writes LIV Golf’s event in London was “underwhelming at best.” LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman is “subscribing to the George Costanza theory that ‘it’s not a lie if you believe it.’” If he “keeps saying things out loud, they will eventually become true in his own mind.” Webster wrote speeding up play via a shotgun start, even shortening the tournament to 54 holes over three days, was a “brave attempt to rectify the fact that golf tournaments are, indeed, quite time-consuming.” Webster: “Four days is palatable, though, when the golf is actually quite good, or it has some sense of history attached to it instead of its participants just making loads of filthy cash.” LIV has a “long way to go” (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/13).

POPPING BOTTLES: GOLF.com’s Sean Zak wrote LIV execs “hugged each other like they’d won something.” LIV Golf is “more than just the 17 players now suspended from the PGA Tour, or the 31 others who played this week.” For starters, former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, was brought in to “moderate press conferences.” The seventh employee of the brand is Cross, “plucked from Augusta National.” LIV’s head of security also “hails from ANGC.” Longtime PGA Tour rules official, Slugger White, was “lured out of a brief retirement by Norman to manage LIV’s rules team.” As darkness fell on Centurion Club on Saturday, LIV staffers “popped bottles of champagne into the night.” Their work “was done” and their leader, Norman, stood on stage during the championship ceremony, “soaking up the moment.” Norman: “Over the years, for 27 years, there’s been a lot of obstacles put in our path. There’s been a lot of dreams that have been tried to be squashed. But they couldn’t squash us” (GOLF.com, 6/11).

MORE TO COME: In London, Rick Broadbent wrote this has been a week of “warning shots as much as winning ones.” It has, though, “been a good week” for Norman. Phil Mickelson confirmed he will “play all eight events this year” and in ‘23. Dustin Johnson has said that he will “only play LIV Golf and majors now.” Ten players, including Johnson, Sergio García and Graeme McDowell, “have resigned from the PGA Tour.” Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler “are set to join.” Critics have said this is a “golden oldies tour,” but they have got “three of the past six Masters champions and, including those about to join, 20 per cent of the world’s top 40” (LONDON TIMES, 6/12).