LIV Golf Tour runs out of cash and maybe patience

It was Everett Dirksen, a senator from Illinois, who, when reviewing the defense department’s request for financing, said, “A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

Which is what golf has been talking about forever, particularly since the ill-fated LIV Tour came into existence some five years ago, fueled by money from oil sheiks who hoped to force the established PGA Tour into acceptance. And as the American Football League once did with the NFL, a merger. 

That possibility was doomed on Thursday, when those who fund the LIV tour—operating under the banner of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—withdrew their substantial financial support.

In other words, the war is over. The PGA Tour won. 

That may not matter to us prols who believe that paying $50 to play a municipal course or attend a tour event, but it certainly will have an effect on the sport. Maybe it already has.

Rumors that the LIV board was about to change its approach have been floating around like so many miss-hit shots the past two weeks or so. The rumors were denied, naturally, but came to be true, naturally.

Golf and tennis, sports without home games, need recognizable players to get attention, something the LIV folks realized early on. So they tossed around those six-figure promises, believing that a few wealthy and famous players would create interest. 

They had a few stars, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, both of whom won multiple majors, to name two. What they didn’t have was much substance or depth. How many fans could be lured by Patrick Reed, although he won a Masters? The PGA Tour had Tiger Woods on its side, even though his career was hindered by injuries and time, and no less Rory McIlroy, whose personality as well as his championships were the stuff of high TV ratings and top headlines.

If you haven’t noticed, golf is in a transition period. There is a new incoming tour commissioner, Brian Rolapp, who is moving from an executive position in the NFL, seems determined to restructure Pro Golf, reducing the number of less important events. Already, the tournament in Napa has been eliminated, as have the long-time winter stops in Hawaii, including the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open in Hawaii.

If that gives fewer opportunities for the less established and exempt players, so be it. Ratings are what count, and if you are going to compete with the NFL, which of course is impossible, then you have to provide an attraction that is special. Or people who are special.

Scottie Scheffler fits perfectly there. As do the Masters and other majors. If you are going to spend Sunday afternoon in front of a set, there better be a solid reason. 

So, LIV, with its competition limited to matches of three rounds, not four, and with virtually none of the big boys, was at a disadvantage. The Saudis finally opted to pull the plug. Even the wealthiest of groups or individuals will not accept endless failure. It’s a blow to the ego as well as to the bankroll.

Thanks for the memory.