DORAL, Fla. — It’s taken a season and change, but Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson say their LIV Golf franchises have attracted interest from a variety of potential buyers.
Two-time Masters champion Watson said he had been receiving offers to buy his RangeGoats team since April at LIV Golf’s $50 million season-ending team championship in Miami.
The 48 players on the LIV Golf roster are divided into 12 teams of four. Each franchise is owned by the league, which is funded by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, to the tune of 75%, with each captain owning the remaining 25%.
Major champions like Watson, Johnson (4 Aces), Sergio Garcia (Fireballs), and Cameron Smith (Ripper GC) are among the captains.
Talor Gooch, the LIV’s 2023 season-long individual champion, as well as Harold Varner III and former DP World Tour champion Thomas Pieters are among Watson’s RangeGoats. Watson would not say how much he had set for them.
“The evaluation, it’s not a small number,” Watson said at Trump Doral. He is also part owner of the AA baseball team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. “We’re pretty high up. Luckily, I’ve had a franchise, I’ve been part of a baseball team, so I know how things work and run and been part of those discussions about things.
[We have had] anywhere from 10 to 20 people have asked to buy the RangeGoats. There were three in Singapore [where Gooch won the LIV Singapore event], and then after Singapore the floodgates opened, there was even more. There’s been talk this week. I met with people this week.”
Added Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open winner and 2020 Masters champion: “There’s quite a bit of interest. Each team is going to differ. We’ll get more into that in the offseason once we are done after this week.”
Without Watson or Johnson revealing who the potential suitors were, it’s difficult to know what companies LIV franchises would attract and how the investment would work. Perhaps the value in purchasing a LIV team would hinge upon a buyer receiving a percentage of the team’s prize money and sponsorship deals. In 2023, Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC had collected $12.5 million before Miami, while Johnson’s 4 Aces had won $11.25 million. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC had amassed $9.5 million.
I am aware of the RangeGoats, which you mentioned. It is true that there is a great deal of interest from people looking to purchase the team,” Norman said. “Five months ago, that was definitely off the table, in my opinion. We can now relax here and simply speculate about what that might imply.
The team championship winner this week will distribute $14 million among its four players. Third place will receive $6 million, and second will receive $8 million. At Doral, even last place will be split into $1.25 million.
The Majesticks GC outperformed their rivals in terms of sponsorships, securing deals with OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange, Redvanly, a clothing retailer, and Seamless, a digital marketing agency.
No matter how wealthy it is, I don’t want just any random company, said Watson.
But yeah, there’s also a number, right?” Niemann chimed in.
“For the right number, everything is out the window.”