However the demise/diminution of LIV Golf ultimately plays out, there will remain the matter of trying to clear up after the mess left behind by Greg Norman’s latest (and surely last?) ill-fated attempt to become the among biggest players in global golf. This was among the points starkly made in the Sunday Times this past weekend by Paul McGinley, who was involved with the European Ryder Cup team in different capacities across a total of six Ryder Cups, during which he was never on the losing side. (There is no need to mention this to Keegan Bradley.)
“I think golf now exists in a false economy,” he said. “The Saudis have left an incredibly poor legacy [courtesy of LIV]. They’ve corrupted the business model; left the Tours in a very difficult spot, with levels of prize-money that are not sustainable.” In the United States, the goal of the chief executive, Brian Rolapp, is to have from the beginning of 2028 a PGA Tour Championship Series of 20 tournaments, each paying out $20 million purses. McGinley is not the only one who feels this may be over-optimistic in a world in which TV audiences are falling and the image of professional golf has been harmed.
LIV squandered an estimated $6 billion to create its product. For tour pros, it was good news. Those who went to LIV were paid a fortune – even if in the case of Jon Rahm, for example, it turned out to be a less immense fortune than he had envisaged. Those who stayed with the PGA Tour were rewarded for their loyalty in part by the Tour accepting investment from private equity so that it, too, could offer stratospheric prize-money. But there is one entity in particular which might soon find itself in a position of distinct jeopardy: the DP World (European) Tour.
Five years ago, the latter organisation became the junior partner in a ‘strategic alliance’ with the PGA Tour, a deal designed to combat the threat posed to both by LIV. The PGA Tour took a 15% stake in the European Tour’s media company in return for which it would cover any losses incurred by the latter as a consequence of LIV. According to the Sunday Times, in the last financial year the European Tour was duly given £59 million by the PGA Tour. Although the collaboration was outlined in a 13-year contract, it also contained a review after five years. Which is now. In McGinley’s words: “The Americans are saying ‘Guys, this is not working for us. We can’t afford to pay you tens of millions every year’. That’s where we’re at at the moment.”
Recently Rory McIlroy said of the situation: “I think the alliance is only going to get stronger.” I guess that remains to be seen; things may not shake out that way, as McGinley seems to be keenly aware. But if the arrangement broadly continues it might justify the premise of one usually astute observer of the game, reflecting on the sway McIlroy generally holds these days on both sides of the Atlantic. “The strategic alliance was created to fight LIV,” he told me. “It’s now for the benefit of Rory because he wants to play less in the US.”