A key element of Masters intrigue exists outside the ropes. Will Greg Norman and Yasir al-Rumayyan appear at Augusta National next week? It has become increasingly futile for golf’s establishment to ignore LIV and its Saudi Arabian backers but Augusta’s custodians are extremely precious about potential distraction from the first major of the year.
If Norman and the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund are spotted under the famous oak tree at the Masters it will serve as the latest indication of the normalisation or legitimacy LIV has craved since it was merely a PowerPoint plan. This has been the most expensive foot-in-the-door project in sporting history; LIV continues apace in year three with $25m (£19.8m) events, even before the hundreds of millions spent on coaxing players in the first place is considered.
The Masters, given power and standing, should be playing a key role in elite golf’s potential unification rather than fretting about uncomfortable conversations on the clubhouse lawn. LIV is not going away. The head of a sovereign wealth fund is fundamentally more important to this sport now than Tiger Woods.
A notable absentee from this LIV stop in Doral is the property’s owner. Two years ago, Donald Trump played in the pro-am here while making frequent jibes about Joe Biden’s lack of golf ability. Trump has been in West Palm Beach this week but has failed to make the short trip to Miami. His book, The Art of The Deal, remains for sale at $28 in the club shop.
Trump branding is front and centre elsewhere; from ping-pong balls to mugs and T-shirts. Yet the man himself, normally such a fan of golf-related publicity, isn’t here. One gets the impression LIV’s tournament staff are far from upset about that. Doral staged LIV’s team championship last October. Quite deliberately, there will be no 2024 repeat; the same window would be close to the US election.
Doral’s recent history feels intrinsically linked to the chaotic state of men’s professional golf. It was a host venue for a World Golf Championship, a series of events created in part to fend off a rebel tour plan fronted by Norman in the 1990s. Sergio García spat in a hole here. Rory McIlroy flung an iron into a lake; only for it to be retrieved and put up in the clubhouse bar by Trump.
By the time the 45th president became too hot for the PGA Tour to handle, the WGC was shifted to Mexico City. The tournaments no longer exist but Norman’s dream, funded by endless petroleum pounds, later took off. Trump seized the opportunity to get his own back on the PGA Tour by welcoming LIV with open arms. Trump’s close links to Saudi Arabia have raised eyebrows in the US.
“I think it’s the first big boy golf course we’ve played this year,” said Brooks Koepka, in what can be taken as a dig at the lack of bite supplied by venues elsewhere. Yet it is also true LIV works best outside the United States. Galleries this week are nowhere near the level that used to attend the WGC. They are, however, noticeably younger. Amateurs paid thousands of dollars for a pro-am appearance.
Speaking to media in his native Australia this week, Norman predicted 30,000 people each day will attend LIV’s upcoming stop in Adelaide. “The journey has only just started,” said an emboldened Norman. He says he has a timeframe in his own mind to walk away from this business. Norman revealed he takes calls from industry leaders in other sports on a weekly basis. This tallies with the rising theory Saudi’s PIF will look to make inroads into other mainstream US sports. The Strategic Sports Group, which has completed a business deal with the PGA Tour and also wants PIF involvement, looks an obvious vehicle for that.
Tournament organisation is clean and efficient, a situation explained in part by the number of experienced golf executives who have, like players, switched to LIV. The playing of 54 holes and absence of early starts renders this a caddie’s dream but those outdoor butlers insist they are treated far more fairly than was ever the case on traditional tours.
“Everyone now feels far more comfortable in their own skin out here now,” said one experienced bag man. That, too, is readily apparent; gone are anxious glances or once common complaints about unfair media coverage. The likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and García took the brunt of that negativity. By the time Jon Rahm, the Masters champion, signed for LIV in December the majority of people shrugged. Rahm was spared moral outrage.
There are competitive issues. LIV’s failure to command world ranking status – Norman had told players this would be resolved – has a negative impact on those seeking to participate in majors. Talor Gooch, for example, has played in the last two Masters but is not eligible for next week’s edition after slipping to 550 in the world. Some golfers do not like playing the week before Augusta; in this domain, they have no choice.
That a number of LIV players fall out of contract, along with whispers about new LIV teams at the end of this year, should worry the PGA Tour. Scope for new arrivals means scope to continue a talent drain from a circuit that recently had to stage its marquee event, the Players Championship, without household names. McIlroy this week bemoaned a fall of 20% in PGA Tour television audiences; the Northern Irishman rightly acknowledged LIV’s viewing figures are hardly impressive either but this emphasises how golf’s fractured state is no particular use to anybody. Whether casual golf fans tune in to the Masters or have been suitably turned off by infighting and money obsession remains to be seen.
“I’m putting my trust in Yasir on where the game is headed more globally,” said Phil Mickelson. That’s Yasir, not anybody involved in pre-existing tours or governing bodies. One explanation for that is that the PIF can write the biggest cheques. Mickelson’s deliberate language, though, illustrated how golf has been turned on its head. The scene at Doral is testament to that.
