LIV Golf

Seeing P Reed tee off in Bahrain in totally plain black clothes with no sponsors looked a bit weird.

I would expect him to be sponsored up to the hills at his next event.
Like him or loathe him he is always in the news and relevant, now more than ever probably.
 
From launch through the end of 2023, LIV clearly held all the momentum and negotiating leverage which is why the framework agreement was announced in June 2023.

Since then, the balance has shifted. Right now, the PGA Tour has regained both momentum and leverage.
If Bryson were to leave, it would feel like the beginning of the end for LIV.


The only realistic positive future scenario for LIV from here in my view looks something like this:

Bryson stays
LIV secures OWGR status
PIF doubles down with major signing bonuses again for top PGA Tour players.
With ranking points available and after Brooks and reed showing a clearer pathway back to the PGA Tour after two or three years on Liv, those offers could become far more attractive and far easier for players to justify accepting.
 
Reality check.


Brooks has gone back to the PGAT - he's out of form and out of motivation, wants to be around his family - Understandable.

Rollapp (Tiger) has tried to woo Rahm and BDC, and Cam back with some arbitrary rule they've made up - right now it looks like that's failed.

Reed isn't playing any PGAT events for 7 months (subject to no more arbitrary rule changes)

Kevin Na, Hudson Swafford and Pat Perez have also gone back to the PGAT.

The media will make out it's a massive win for the PGAT, but it just isn't
 
Reality check ii

Reed makes no difference in my view. Liv still has only two players I'd bother about going to see live. (BdC and Rahm) The rest? Disappeared from consciousness, or never were, or well past sell by date. (Personal view)

So, I'm thinking what might make it generate interest. (If you see past the usual objections)

The first thought I had was if several of the "McKibbin generation" develop sufficiently to win Majors and become big starts regardless of how world rankings are calculated.
Could that happen? Jury's still out.

Edit: see what I mean? I forgot about Hatton! 😉
 
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Reality check ii

Reed makes no difference in my view. Liv still has only two players I'd bother about going to see live. (BdC and Rahm) The rest? Disappeared from consciousness, or never were, or well past sell by date. (Personal view)

So, I'm thinking what might make it generate interest. (If you see past the usual objections)

The first thought I had was if several of the "McKibbin generation" develop sufficiently to win Majors and become big starts regardless of how world rankings are calculated.
Could that happen? Jury's still out.

Edit: see what I mean? I forgot about Hatton! 😉

You also forgot about Dustin Johnson - no bother almost everybody seems to have.

Anyway last time I posted a link to the sports section of the Guardian I was told it counts as politics but here's a pretty good summary of the state of it.

Guardian article
 
I found it very weird that the PGA made an exemption that included Smith but not Hatton. Smith's game is in the bin at the moment, whereas Hatton is still ranked 21st in the official rankings (making him the highest-ranked LIV player in fact). Plus, you'd probably have more chance of coaxing Rahm + Hatton back as a pair than you do dividing them up. Missed a trick there.

Even in Data Golf, Hatton is 36th to Smith's 122nd.
 
I think you're right, but maybe that's based on Major wins?

Hatton's also a better potential source of fines? ;)
It was, yeah, they said something about major winners across the last x number of years didn't they? But they didn't have to say that at all, they could've made the criteria anything they wanted. Maybe add in anyone who's maintained a top 50 world ranking for example. I'd have thought Hatton was a very desirable asset to try and win back.
 
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