Phil Mickelson dropped a touch about LIV’s future; how a lot can we learn into it?
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Phil Mickelson mentioned one thing fascinating on Thursday. Or possibly he didn’t. However we are able to surprise.
This weekend marks the ultimate competitors of LIV Golf’s 2024 season. Whereas the person competitors wrapped up final week in Chicago, this week marks the crew championship, held for the primary time at Maridoe Golf Membership in Dallas. The conclusion of the league’s third season has LIV gamers looking forward to subsequent yr and past. However it’s unattainable to look to subsequent yr and past with out questioning how LIV’s future intersects with the PGA Tour’s future; any settlement between the 2 stays in complicated, protracted limbo.
Mickelson’s feedback got here close to the tip of a Thursday press convention, which started with LIV’s crew captains choosing their opponents for weekend match play and completed with questions concerning the league extra broadly. It was really Martin Kaymer who first broached the topic, responding to a query about what he hopes for going into 2025.
“Initially, I believe all of us want to know that LIV continues to be a startup,” Kaymer mentioned. “They began solely two and a half, three years in the past, and the place we’ve come to so far in the present day has been completely superb.” He cited the necessity for additional changes “till we get all of it completely proper.” However he additionally advised a notable tweak to the schedule.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do subsequent yr, if possibly the crew side will stand extra in — let’s say extra — I suppose the place the crew is extra vital than the person scores, so there are loads of talks occurring proper now. That will be implausible as a result of that is what LIV is all about, the crew side.”
Louis Oosthuizen chimed in, echoing that team-first method.
“I believe going ahead all of us really feel that the crew facet of it, it’s going to most likely take over and LIV Golf goes to most likely be extra crew than something,” he mentioned.
That’s the place Mickelson chimed in, first teasing the concept there stays curiosity from exterior gamers to signal with LIV — “Sure,” he mentioned, although he declined to increase past that — earlier than he expanded on the concept of LIV doubling down on crew play.
“The match play, the head-to-head side of it’s bringing a unique dynamic, a unique really feel, a unique vitality,” he mentioned. “And I believe the wonderful thing about LIV Golf is the flexibility to pivot and alter and do issues slightly bit extra fluid than different excursions, and possibly that is one thing we take a look at sooner or later having extra crew occasions all year long somewhat than simply the season-ending. This can be a lot of enjoyable. We’re all having fun with it. There’s extra curiosity. You discover there’s much more laughter, much more fascinating matchups.
“I believe this week is known as a particular week. It’s an thrilling week, and I believe it resonates extra with loads of followers, and possibly we should always do that slightly bit extra typically.”
So how ought to we learn into these feedback and the way do they connect with the bigger golf world? One interpretation could be that it is a bunch of nothing, simply guys speaking off-the-cuff at a press convention. Perhaps they’re trumpeting the deserves of crew match play as a result of this week they’re taking part in crew match play, the best way you may go bowling for the primary time shortly and say to your buddies, “y’know, we actually have to go bowling extra typically.”
However I doubt it. When Mickelson speaks publicly he normally means one thing by it. And the captains’ alignment on the topic suggests they’ve no less than spoken internally about this team-first emphasis, which, by the best way, isn’t any small change: it will signify a big departure for the league. Whereas LIV has marketed itself as a team-first product — the uniforms, the captains, the franchises — the mechanics of the league have nonetheless rewarded and prioritized particular person stroke play. Particular person purses have dwarfed crew purses and crew winnings reportedly return to the franchise somewhat than the people, anyway. Most weeks, the crew side has felt like an add-on to the person competitors somewhat than the focus. What they’re speaking about, then, is the “capability to pivot” to one thing totally different: a league that might be team-first for the primary time in trendy skilled golf historical past.
This looks as if a good suggestion for just a few causes. For one, it will additional differentiate LIV from different golf leagues; regardless of its shotgun-start, 54-hole format LIV continues to be stroke-play golf on the weekends, similar to the PGA Tour and each different big-time tour, too. For one more, crew match play is a reliably thrilling model of golf — within the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup, no less than. The Cleeks, up thus far, don’t have the identical built-in fan base as the US of America, however the format no less than has promise. Plus, LIV doesn’t have a lot to lose; it has already deserted its quest for World Rating factors and their sagging TV scores counsel that one thing has to vary, in order that they have the pliability to take action. And if long-term worth is the purpose, leaning additional into the crew side may theoretically juice the worth of the league’s franchises.
Let’s not cease there, although. Include me one step additional on this connect-the-dots journey. Let’s circle again to this concept that skilled golf is looking for a means ahead the place the PGA Tour and LIV can exist in the identical universe and overlap extra typically than simply the majors. Whereas there was some sensationalist reporting earlier this week that the sticking level in negotiations is Jon Rahm and different LIV professionals paying again signing bonuses, sources I’ve spoken with don’t give that a lot credence. As an alternative the larger questions contain the Division of Justice, the dimensions of the Saudi Public Funding Fund’s funding and — this one’s our focus right here — learn how to incorporate a model of LIV into the PGA Tour’s schedule.
Too many individuals with an excessive amount of cash and satisfaction have gone too far down the LIV path to only fold up store; that appears unlikely at this level. However maybe if LIV focuses extra in what makes it totally different — the crew side — it’s simpler to shift it from a direct competitor to a complementary piece of the professional golf puzzle. Maybe there’s a world the place crew golf stays as LIV’s legacy, that crew schedule folds into the PGA Tour schedule, the franchises proceed exist and LIV’s particular person gamers have a pathway to play in PGA Tour occasions.
None of that is going to occur shortly. That a lot is evident by now. Not all people needs the identical factor, both. However there are indicators of schemes and indicators of compromise. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler arranging a made-for-TV match with Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. The PGA of America clarifying that LIV golfers shall be eligible for the PGA Championship and U.S. Ryder Cup crew going ahead. The DP World Tour working with Jon Rahm and others to permit them to attraction their sanctions and compete within the meantime. And now, for the primary time, we could possibly be seeing LIV make a change that makes it extra suitable with the remainder of the golf world.
Professional golf’s unified future requires assembling a puzzle. In time we’ll see whether or not the stakeholders wish to discover a approach to match it collectively — or in the event that they’d desire to drop the field on the bottom, sending vital items skittering below the sofa.
