LIV Golf needs to lean in to the team match-play format in Year 3

April 20, 2024

I really wanted to enjoy it. I’d even say I looked forward to it. I talked to my editor going into the week about how much I liked the team championship format and how it had a chance to really turn the conversation about LIV Golf. Because at the end of the day — despite any moral issues about a league funded by the sovereign fund of the authoritarian Saudi Arabian regime — I do like golf. And I do like match play. Especially team match play. And even if you want to dunk on the fact many of the biggest names in LIV are aging greats and that might not make stroke play interesting, it is pretty cool to get to see historic players like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson face off in match play for large swaths of money.

But the LIV team championship was not very watchable.

The reality? For all the things that could work — might work — about LIV, it is still far from having the understanding or ability to present those strengths. But there are strengths. And as The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn broke down in fantastic, well-reported detail from Miami, the league is not going anywhere. The PIF deal with the PGA Tour looks less likely to go through, per Quinn, and the league is hinting strongly at more big-name golfers joining LIV this offseason.

The top sell for LIV is that it is team golf at a time when people obsess over the Ryder Cup as much as ever. The Ryder Cup is the coolest, most interesting three days in golf that we only get every other year. The Presidents Cup wets our beak, too, but the primary takeaway is golf fans love seeing team golf. The tension. The inner dynamics. The pressure of needing to hit a shot not just to improve your individual score and maybe jump from 35th to 30th but to help another golfer’s career and finances, too.

So even if you’re not exactly into LIV’s normal week-to-week format of stroke play with an individual winner and the best aggregate team also earning millions, its team championship last week at Trump Doral in Miami had potential. It scratched that team golf itch with the first two rounds being team-based match play with two individual matches and one foursomes match. Whichever team won two of the three matches advanced.

That idea is great. It’s what we love most about cup golf mixed with massive financial ramifications. You choke in your singles match? You might have just cost yourself — and your teammates — a chance at millions. And there were good moments! Watching Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks surprisingly take down Cameron Smith’s Rippers was fun.

But there were a few problems. For starters, the presentation was tough to watch. Another of LIV’s claims to fame is the shotgun start format in which everyone tees off at the same time. It was a plan to alleviate the issue of certain tee times being more favorable than others. But it meant there were 12 matches going on at the same time and all at the exact same part of their match. That is a lot to track, and credit to the broadcasters for trying to follow all the matches (a huge issue with NBC’s Ryder Cup coverage). The result though was just constant cuts to putts. Putt. Putt. Putt. Because they (like many broadcasters) understandably think it’s more enjoyable to see the payoff and result of the hole.

But it means there are no narratives to the matches. There is no tension of a tee shot or the different ways golfers might approach a hole. There is very little strategy or understanding of how golfers are actually playing. It was just a lot of putts, and that makes following the matches frustrating.

That winning moment from the team champs 🔥

🎥: @Crushers_GC #LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/vKqyRdZzGL

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) October 23, 2023

This is not specifically a LIV issue — NBC could not keep up with four Ryder Cup matches, and week-to-week PGA Tour coverage can leave a lot to be desired. But the LIV team format gives it a chance to differentiate itself, and instead, it actually wasted the opportunity.

The other issue is going to stroke play on Sunday. Though LIV did receive a fun ending with a remarkable Bryson DeChambeau shot on 17 to lead the Crushers to an overall win, moving away from the cool match-play format for the most interesting day is a mistake. The reason is understandable. Four teams would advance to Sunday in team match play, so it’s a little trickier to have an 18-hole winner between them without creating a 36-hole day (and leaving eight teams out). But there are ways.

LIV already has 13 events based on stroke play. This is the one completely team-based event. Lean into it. Team stroke play is harder to follow, less tethered to team vs. team tension and simply less enjoyable. The only reason there was (slightly) more intrigue from viewers into Miami was the format and getting to see actual team drama. Don’t zap the life out of that right when it’s down to the big stakes of the final round.

“Lean into it” is a bit of a theme of the frustrations with LIV, if we’re discussing it as something we know will exist and therefore would rather enjoy than not. It’s golf. We want more golf. And we want to see major stars like Koepka, DeChambeau, Johnson, Smith and Mickelson.

So lean into the team aspect. It’s what differentiates you. And you already lost the OWGR battle, so unless LIV wants to move away from 54 holes and the team system altogether, use it to your advantage. Put on more than one team match-play event. I’m not saying every week, but maybe three or four a year out of 14 events.

GO DEEPER

Greg Norman: LIV’s position has ‘never been stronger’

Next, people aren’t coming. I know the hope was “golf but louder” and to use the party atmosphere. It hasn’t worked. As Quinn wrote: Larger crowds came for the weekend, but it was exceedingly difficult to decipher audience from attendees. As one longtime observer put it: “More people are paid to be here, than pay to be here.”

And that’s the team championship in a major market. And that’s OK! It’s OK if LIV doesn’t get massive crowds. But again, lean into it. One of the tricky elements of tournament course selection isn’t finding great courses but finding ones that can handle the logistical requirements of hosting thousands of people. If LIV doesn’t have that problem, why not start picking super cool, interesting courses that can’t host big audiences. Going to Australia was a big coup for LIV, a golf-obsessed country that doesn’t get high-level golf events often. Do more things like that. Or pick Irish and Scottish links courses and let it get weird. Or some of the gorgeous American resort courses.

Then, another interesting element of Quinn’s story was an executive discussing LIV’s self-awareness that the team element is part of the product, so it needs to use the secret sauce of all team sports: offseason drama.

“There’s a lot that will be going on, with our trades and transfers, and the draft, and the promotions event, and finishing off the international series schedule,” said Gary Davidson, the outgoing COO, who will still maintain a role with LIV while returning to Performance 54. “We want to make sure that there’s a lot of talking points — that there’s a lot of news over the next three months.”

While it might be a headache for LIV executives, the Brooks Koepka-Matthew Wolff feud was good for LIV. It’s an example of the drama the format can bring. Teammates not liking each other. Teams breaking up. Others joining together. Sure, LIV needs to create a product that warrants people caring about these dynamics, but if done properly it can be a boon the PGA Tour doesn’t have. Talor Gooch had an incredible season to win the individual competition but doesn’t captain a team. Does he try to break out on his own? Does somebody try to poach him? It’s just a small, potentially fun example.

Listen, if you made it this far, you probably like golf and want to watch it. I’ve criticized LIV as much as anyone in past columns, but the reality is it isn’t going anywhere. It’s the home of some of the biggest stars in the sport (and more are potentially coming). We can try to boycott it all we want (and the product remains bad, so I still won’t watch often), but I’d rather have more good golf than bad golf.

There are ways for LIV to be genuinely interesting and relevant. It just needs to lean in.

(Top photo of, left to right, Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey, Bryson DeChambeau and Charles Howell III: Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images)

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