After an inaugural season with eight tournaments, the LIV Circuit’s second season schedule features 14 and added Spain, Australia and Singapore as destinations.
As its name suggests (LIV for 54 in Roman numerals), this competing circuit of the North American PGA and financed by Saudi funds, wants to continue to dust off golf with its millions of dollars and its tournaments disputed over three days (and 54 holes), in teams of four with flashy names and colors far from the sometimes stuffy atmosphere of clubhouses.
It is undoubtedly one of its headliners, the American Dustin Johnson, who best sums up what this circuit represents for the discipline and its participants.
My career on the PGA Tour has been wonderful and I am very proud of what I have accomplished
, explained the former world No.1 in the docuseries “Full Swing” broadcast on the Netflix platform.
$36 million for Johnson
I have now chosen to take a new direction in my life and in my career. The decision to play this circuit came from the offer made to me, namely to play less and win more, it’s as simple as that
, continued the captain of the 4 Aces team he is training. with his compatriots Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein.
Johnson, 38, dominated the first edition in 2022, winning the individual and team rankings, synonymous with 36 million dollars in earnings, in addition to the 100 million dollars, reports the specialized press, which he would have received for join the dissident circuit.
The Australian Cameron Smith, named PGA player of the year in 2022 after his victory at the British Open, the Americans Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson or even Bubba Watson, the Englishman Ian Poulter have also responded to the sirens of the LIV, even if this no longer allows them to score points in the world rankings.
They have been joined this season by lesser players like New Zealander Danny Lee and Belgian Thomas Pieters, while Spaniard Jon Rahm, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and American Tiger Woods continue to swear by the PGA circuit.
PGA Circuit Counterattack
Faced with this exodus, the PGA Tour initially pressured Grand Slam tournaments to refuse players who had gone over to the enemy. But, in December, the prestigious Augusta Masters decided to keep its “current criteria” to allow LIV players to sign up for the 2023 edition.
The North American circuit is trying to counterattack, creating “super-tournaments” endowed with $20 million and increasing the Players Championship prize pool to $25 million.
But to hear its boss, the Australian legend Greg Norman, the LIV Golf, whose three stages will be disputed on courses belonging to the former American president Donald Trump, has already hit the mark.
The format of our championship has already begun to attract new audiences
, assured the one who, player, was nicknamed “The Great White Shark” (the great white shark).
The LIV circuit still has challenges ahead: for many of its critics, it remains an instrument of Saudi Arabia’s sports diplomacy to gloss over its human rights record.
And if he has finally found a broadcaster in the United States, the audiovisual group The CW Network, his media exposure remains limited.
Source: Ouest France
