Better winners, more new signings: LIV Golf takes front-nine lead in 2024 war with PGA Tour

The Saudi-supported league continues to attract high-profile players, while the PGA Tour has been lacking excitement at the beginning of the season due to ongoing merger discussions taking place behind the scenes.

Greg Norman expressed his enthusiasm for the newest addition to LIV Golf this week, stating that Anthony Kim is an ideal fit for their goals. Kim, a former US Ryder Cup player, joins other notable golfers such as Jon Rahm and Tyrrrell Hatton in the LIV roster.

Kim hasn’t participated in professional golf tournaments on the PGA Tour since 2012, making his performance in Jeddah unpredictable. However, he is known for making headlines both on and off the course.

His return to Saudi Arabia is sure to generate excitement in the third tournament of the LIV season, which has seen more compelling winners and storylines compared to the PGA Tour, sometimes boasting stronger and more attractive fields.

The first two LIV tournaments were won by Joaquin Niemann – who has since been invited to the Masters – and Dustin Johnson. The first eight events on the PGA Tour this season have seen three first-time winners, including amateur Nick Dunlap. Jake Knapp won his first event at the Mexico Open last weekend ahead of Finnish rookie Sami Valimaki, German Stephan Jager, American Justin Lower and Taiwan’s Pan Cheng-tsung.

It was less a ‘Who’s Who?” of world golfers than a: ‘Who’s That?’ Former PGA Tour winner Mark Lye wrote on X: “I don’t know how the PGA Tour can defend this leaderboard in Mexico. Very good players, but who the hell are they??? This is a new low….

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the start of February was reduced to 54 holes because of the weather to deny a potential final day showdown between winner Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg. Niemann won a thrilling four-hole playoff on the same weekend at LIV Golf Mayakoba and SI.com reported that the LIV Golf YouTube channel had enjoyed a 173.3% increase in viewers at the Mexican event compared to last year. The second LIV event was held in Las Vegas in Super Bowl week.

The Saudi-backed league has succeeded in slowly signing up the biggest and most talked about personalities – if not all the best players – in the game: Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Rahm, Hatton and now Kim. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are all fine players on the PGA Tour but not big box office.

This week’s Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens has a stronger field – 19 of the world’s top 50 including Rory McIlroy – at the start of the Florida Swing. LIV Golf has tweaked the formula this season with an extra team to fit in Rahm and Hatton and two wildcard players.

There are still big issues with no ranking points for 54-hole, no-cut LIV events which is seeing their players slip down the rankings and become ineligible for Majors. There are currently 13 LIV players in the Masters field – including past champions such as Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia – compared to 18 last year.

It caused world No.449 Talor Gooch, who won three LIV events last season, to claim: “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk.”

And the LIV team competition – like not cutting captains like Lee Westwood for finishing at the bottom of the table at the end of the season – still fails to look like real sport. Eddie Pepperell tweeted: “I think the issue for LIV isn’t that the fields are weak, because they clearly are not. It’s that in spite of all the terrific players they have, the product itself is still so poor and hard to watch. Suggests to me anyway something is fundamentally missing.”

But these are uncertain times with negotiations continuing between the PGA and DP World Tours and the Saudi Public Investment Fund. And McIlroy’s refusal to rule out joining LIV Golf this week – albeit with a big smile – suggested anything can happen.

Having the Ulsterman join Rahm at LIV could have a negative impact on the PGA Tour. However, dividing and weakening the player fields is not beneficial for golf. Bringing together LIV and PGA Tour players to compete against each other could draw in more viewers.

One potential obstacle to overcome is reaching a deal to permit LIV players to return to the PGA Tour. This challenge is even more significant now that the US-based tour has received a $3 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group, which counts Liverpool owners Fenway Sports among its members.

“However, LIV, a very expensive sports marketing operation, will expand further thanks to the ongoing support from Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and his PIF, putting more pressure on the traditional tours to come to an agreement.”

DeChambeau expressed uncertainty about the outcome of the first LIV event at Mayakoba. He hoped that eventually everyone would come back together and believed it was necessary.

“I wish individuals would set aside their weapons and have a discussion to resolve matters, as it is beneficial for the game of golf and fans overall.

It may not align with everyone’s expectations, but over time, I believe there will be a positive resolution for all parties involved.”