Okay, so here’s a question. Do you remember who won the FedEx Cup in 2021? Or how about say, a golfer who won any of the five Majors in that year? If it wasn’t my job to keep abreast of the game I’m quite certain I’d be hard pressed to answer the first question. Chances are that most amateurs—at least those who follow the professional game—are likely to remember Mickelson’s age-defying heroics at the PGA Championship, or Collin Morikawa’s fantastic precision play at the Open Championship last year. But hardly any would recall Patrick Cantalay’s stupendous performance in the Fed-Ex Cup Playoffs last year. That’s no indication of the quality of Cantlay’s play during the playoffs that culminated with his scintillating triumph at the Tour Championship. It’s not that at all…the FedEx Cup has just never resonated with fans the way the Majors or even National Championships do.
There are many reasons for that: for the first few editions of the Playoffs, the rules were too complex and convoluted. Other times the winner of the Playoffs was decided even before the final event got underway, robbing the last event—the Tour Championship—of any suspense and excitement. But most of all, in my opinion, the lack of interest in the Playoffs has had to do with the fact that the only real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was precisely that—money. The pros were playing for the richest prize on the PGA Tour, and the fans, honestly, didn’t care.
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The reason I bring this up now is because it’s precisely the same lack of interest the LIV Golf Tour’s events have been afflicted by. To be fair, with no major broadcast partners, the Tour’s events aren’t exactly beaming out to millions of televisions around the world. But the telecast is free to watch, and it is online. Plus some of the game’s marquee names are in the mix. The fact that the events don’t accrue the players any World Golf Ranking points might affect the players but shouldn’t have any bearing on fan interest.
From whatever I’ve seen yet, the players themselves seem somewhat shorn of the fire we’ve grown to expect from them over the years. I wonder if the players, already assured of stupendous returns merely by taking part, don’t have the same fire to win, and seem a bit like they’re going through the motions.
I’ve had plenty of conversations about the LIV Golf Tour, the PGA Tour, and the hegemony in place for professional golf over the past few months. There are friends and players who’re appalled at the PGA Tour’s shunning of the LIV Golf Tour and the players who’ve moved across to that Tour. Others are morally condescending to the players for having deserted ship only on account of the lucre being offered by the Saudi-backed golf tour. I’ve been jumping ship myself, questioning the validity of my initial reaction (shock and disbelief), and wondering if the world isn’t, really, as simplistic as that argument. Most of the world, including countries in the West, continue to support, and do business with Saudi Arabia whilst purportedly taking the high road on human rights. Why then, should we expect professional golfers, who play for money, to turn down fantastic sums of money that surpass their career earnings exponentially?
Some players, at least those in the elite bracket of the top 100 ranked pros in the world, make enough money. Rory McIlroy, has been vocal not just in his support to the USPGA Tour, but has remarked on how his life wouldn’t change if he had another few hundred million dollars.Then there’s Tiger Woods—the first sportsman ever to cross a billion dollars as an active player, and the highest-earning golfer in history. Woods’ impact on the game’s television viewership, and the sponsors that attracted is peerless. In the early 2000s, television audiences would drop 30% to 50% when Woods was not in contention at a tournament. The ‘Tiger Effect’ propped up the PGA Tour that tripled its tournament purses between 1996 and 2008, a stretch in which Woods won 14 major championships.
Not surprisingly, as news filtered out earlier this month, Woods was approached by the LIV Golf Tour to sign up in the early days of the Tour. Even by Woods’ lofty standards, the reported $800 million offered to him is an astonishing amount of money. Woods turned down the offer—presumably because he figured another billion or so wouldn’t make much of a difference to his life.
Now the pre-eminent player of his generation has decided that despite his limited playing appearances, he’s going to take a leading role in consolidating players support for the beleaguered US PGA Tour. Even though he wasn’t participating at this week’s BMW Championship—the penultimate event in the 2022 FedEx Playoffs—Woods flew down to the events’ venue at Delaware reportedly to take part in a meeting with the game’s top-ranked players and canvass their support for the USPGA Tour. Conspicuous by his absence was the Open Champion—Cameron Smith—who withdrew from the event citing a hip injury.
Coincidence? Smith’s potential move to the LIV Golf Tour has been the subject of speculation for the past few weeks. The Australian has reportedly been offered $100 million dollars to join the LIV Golf Tour. If he does jump ship, that news will take centre-stage over the next few weeks, eclipsing that other highlight—who will win the blighted FedEx Cup this year. Not that anyone cares about that.
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game