LIV Golf Invitational League...... NO Political/Ethical conflict posts, see Post#2

https://archive.ph/2026.04.29-210225/https://www.wsj.com/sports/golf/liv-golf-pga-tour-bryson-dechambeau-3abf7b85

Wall Street Journal article there, the inevitable demise comes closer.

Westwood and Poulter telling everyone they’re wrong and literally calling people idiots for thinking they knew what was going on. Expect them to go underground now. At least for them they got a few quid and career was over. It’s the younger players like mckibbin etc who went for the pay day will have to suffer the consequences going forward.

while it probably ruined some golfers careers it was their choice to jump ship for large chunks of money so it’s on them as opposed to LIV. But I agree realistically what should have happened if they wanted a genuine entry in to golf was joining forces maybe sponsoring some signature events or supporting the dpwt or Asian tour etc. and build up that side of the game. I’ve probably only watched an hour of Liv golf and that was probably because I had someone backed in it!! It will be interesting to see how PGA tour handles things now, Koepka, Reed etc had to go through the process will it be the same for the mass exodus in a few months.

Can't see it happening but agree 100%

Just thinking, if the PGAT kept the signature events and the Saudis decided to run their own series of events (WGCs in all but name), say similar to the ARAMCO events for the ladies, I wonder what the prize funds would have to be to attract top players ?

Can PGAT sustain the funding for the signature events going forward ?

I would say the guys at the top end are pampered, but for everyone of them, there are hundreds on Tours , moving around every week, staying in budget hotels, trying to make a few cuts and enough money to get by. A fairly unglamorous existence.

Yet LIV have announced a big deal with Sony India to show all their games live.

Maybe a sea change in direction for them but being seen all over the most populous country in the world isnt a bad move.

Cocktails and range balls by Steve wheatcroft is a good read and insight to what the existence is like even for those who make it into the big tour.

https://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/13540584/bryson-dechambeau-if-liv-golf-fails-ill-prioritise-youtube-channel-over-potential-pga-tour-return

I assume Bryson knows he can’t get into majors based on YouTube views

Now that PIF has confirmed they’re ending their financial support of LIV at the end of the season, I’ve been looking at where various players might go after this season. I know LIV are seeking alternative investors but with such a bad business plan including unsustainable purse sizes and massive sign on bonuses and nowhere near enough in return, it’s hard to see LIV continue next season unless there is a 80-90% drop in prize money and spending which will see the flight of big players and therefore hinder future sponsors so it’s a vicious cycle and why I think it’s unlikely to continue beyond August with the postponed Louisiana event never being held.

I’ve roughly grouped where I think players will go next season:

PGA Tour Returning Members/ Major Exempt Category - Rahm, DeChambeau, Cam Smith (maybe)

The PGA Tour only cares about getting back a couple of players straight away and I think they will roll out another program similar to the Returning Member program that Koepka availed of except it will be less generous in terms of playing rights, charitable donations and other stipulations. DeChambeau might even be treated differently from the others because he was a part of the anti-trust lawsuit suing the PGA Tour.

DP World Tour - Hatton, Puig, McKibbin, Smylie, Detry, Canter, Perez, Meronk

Possible - Ballester, Garcia, Masaveu, Pieters, Ben An, Leishman, Herbert, Ortiz, Ancer, Niemann, Munoz, Burmester, Grace

Those eight players have DP World Tour cards currently as they’ve agreed to play at least 6 events this year while also playing LIV. The other players would have varying degrees of eligibility and would have to pay off their fines presumably unless a deal is made between LIV and DP World Tour to facilitate their return or even an exemption into Q-School final qualifying. This could be the launchpad for several players to get back to the PGA Tour via the Top 10.

Senior Tour/Majors - Casey, Bubba Watson, Poulter, Westwood, Bland, Schwartzel, Mickelson

These veteran players mostly over 50 are not going to look to grind weekly on the PGA or DP World Tour but are previous winners who could play on the Champions Tour regularly (Bland, Casey), play the Senior Majors (Poulter, Westwood) or turn up to play Augusta every year (Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Schwartzel).

Asian Tour - Campbell, Danny Lee, Minkyu Kim, Song, Horsfield, all wildcards (Scott Vincent, Richard T. Lee, Tabuena, Asaji, Hellgren)

These really are the lower rump of international players who don’t have PGA or DP World Tour status and are too young for the Champions Tour. Some of these players played on the Asian Tour before LIV and got their place on the Tour through their International Series rankings and may be a soft landing spot for those players

PGA Tour Q-School/Korn Ferry Tour - Varner, Lahiri, Surratt, Gooch, La Sasso, Tringale, Steele, Uihlein, Wolff, Howell III, Kokrak

These players are perhaps in the most precarious situation as they’re US-based players who are under 50 and won’t be readily welcomed back to the PGA Tour so they will be relying on access to the Korn Ferry Tour or perhaps having to come back through Q-School.

Retirement - Kaymer, Dustin Johnson, Anthony Kim, McDowell, Oosthuizen

Surely some players will simply just retire, Dustin Johnson seems totally disinterested and might just ride off into the sunset, Anthony Kim will have no status anywhere so might just disappear again, McDowell and Oosthuizen are too young for seniors tour but not going to grind weekly on the DP World Tour and Kaymer is playing so badly the last few years and despite still being young, what motivation is there to play anymore?

This is obviously all speculative but interesting to see how it is resolved but still interesting to see Rahm resolve his standing with the DP World Tour. Additionally, the PGA Tour might target the 11 players who were part of the original anti-trust lawsuit, of those Pat Perez is playing Champions Tour I believe, Matt Jones has been let go from LIV but Hudson Swafford has been gone from LIV a couple of years and is still suspended. The likes of Poulter and Mickelson are unlikely to be affected as they won't want to come back to the PGA Tour but Gooch, Ancer, Ortiz, Kokrak and Uihlein could be hit with longer suspensions than others if the PGA Tour seeks retribution.

Bryson only saying YouTube to make out he’s not desperate to go back to pga tour but he knows he needs pga tour then they need him. I don’t even think pga tour care about cam smith. I guess they bundled him in because he’s a recent major winner but another player gone off the boil.

Hatton is one the few who still can compete with the best of them. I wouldn’t take any of the South Africans back. Really I wouldn’t take many back to be honest. Let them work hard grinding away. Show us you want to earn it

I think I'd have had more respect for any golfer signing for LIV if he actually had the honesty to say "It's for the money." But no, all we got was the "growing the game" schtick. Which LIV never did, of course. No good saying it now McDowell.

Those like McDowell who are trying to jump from the LIV sinking ship need to keep their heads down with their mouths shut to try regain credibility in the sport instead of this retracting their insincerity when in reality all of them are now only concerned about is how do they regain a PGA Tour/DP Tour card or get on the Senior Tour.

Same also applies to Bryson with his embarrassing scutter about becoming a YouTube exclusive Golfer, the more he opens his egotistical mouth the more of a pushback there will be on opening up routes back for him and other LIV golfers

Poulter turning into a snake oil salesman with his comments lately. Why would anyone invest in Liv in its current structure. Paying hundreds of millions to players to just play. Never mind prize fund.

maybe having investors in team might raise some money but what’s in it for them. Investors want return on their money and not just give it to an over the hill golfer to take away.

Himself and Westwood have become unbearable at this stage, so detached from reality.