Getty Image
LIV Golf has spent most of its existence attempting to justify its existence while largely failing to do exactly that, and it sure seems like Bryson DeChambeau has essentially admitted it’s soundly failed in its purported quest to Grow The Game™ during a recent interview.
I’m going to assume the vast majority of people reading this aren’t even aware there’s a LIV Golf event scheduled for this weekend, but the league comprised of beloved teams like the *checks notes* HyFlyers, RangeGoats, and Majesticks is set to kick off a three-day affair at Trump National Doral in Miami on Friday.
At this point, countless words have been devoted to discussing LIV Golf’s links to Saudi Arabia, the true motivations of the notable names who were handsomely rewarded for leaving the PGA Tour behind, and the staggering amount of money that’s been spent to buoy a league that largely relies on its beef with that rival organization (as opposed to what unfolds during events that routinely attract an anemic audience) to make headlines.
As a result, I won’t rehash any of that, but now that we’re closing in on the second anniversary of LIV Golf’s first tournament, it seems like a pretty good time to talk about its impact on the sport as a whole and whether or not it’s succeeded in its goal to broaden the appeal of golf.
According to ESPN, LIV Golf veteran Bryson DeChambeau got the chance to do exactly that on Wednesday while discussing the damage he thinks its feud with the PGA Tour has caused, saying:
“The fans are what drive this sport. If we don’t have fans, we don’t have golf. We are not up here entertaining. That’s the most important thing as of right now—the low-hanging fruit. There’s got to be a way to come together.
And it needs to happen fast. It’s not a two-year thing. Like, it needs to happen quicker rather than later just for the good of the sport. Too many people are losing interest.”
It’s pretty hard to read that quote without thinking about Tim Robinson in a hot dog costume saying “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this!”
I know there are plenty of LIV Golf loyalists out there who would attempt to argue the PGA Tour deserves blame for creating the conditions that led to players pursuing an alternative path in the first place, but it’s absurd to argue the upstart league has managed to attract a significant number of people who weren’t already fans of the sport since it started poaching big names.
At the end of the day, I’m not going to blame the golfers who secured a massive bag for cashing in. However, it’s asinine for DeChambeau to suggest the beef between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is causing people to lose interest as opposed to the lack of interest generated by an organization whose largest contribution to the sport is making its rival worse by luring away talent it’s subsequently failed to do anything compelling with.
At this point, I think most golf fans would be thrilled to see the PGA Tour welcome back players who made the leap to LIV Golf in order to reach a pretty obvious end goal: getting to watch the best golfers on the planet compete against each other on a regular basis.
Whether or not that will end up happening in the near future is another matter entirely.