Golf isn’t exactly a sport in which you can imagine those involved being particularly tribal in how they watch tournaments play out.

Or at least, that used to be the case. From the moment that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund decided to try to sports-wash its reputation by launching LIV Golf, there has been a divide in the sport that is damaging to all involved.

Although the PGA and LIV have tried to find common ground, the reality is that there are long-term ramifications to golf as a spectacle that may take some time to resolve in any sort of meaningful way.

The question is, how damaging to the sport might the split end up being?

LIV as a Disruptive Force

The idea of a challenge to the PGA was first talked about as a concept in 2019. Back then the plan was for a competitor to the Professional Golf Association to launch with the planned title being the ‘Premier Golf League’. The PGA immediately responded by saying that golfers that joined it would be barred from taking part in any PGA events.

The Premier Golf League had discussions with investors from Saudi Arabia about a financial partnership, but Golf Saudi was brewing its own entity that would be known as the Super Golf League. In the end, it launched in the October of 2021 as LIV Golf Investments, with Greg Norman as its face.

The name of the new competition, LIV Golf, came from the fact that tournaments would see players play 54 holes with no Cut, the Roman Numerals for 54 being LIV. It didn’t take people long to point out that the entire reason why the Saudi monarchy had given the go-ahead for the country’s Public Investment Fund to pour money into the new project was in order to try to sports-wash the nation’s reputation, with corruption and human rights abuses high on the list of problems.

The competition’s defenders said that it was just intended to be something of a disruptive force in the world of golf, taking away the power of the PGA.

Taking Players From the Tour

The main thing that LIV Golf has going for it, at least in the eyes of the players, is that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has a virtually limitless pot of money from which it can pay the players. As a result, some of the biggest names in the sport decided to make the move over to LIV, not least of all some of the former world number one players in Lee Westwood, Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer.

Major champions also decided to take a blood money payday, including Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell. Over time, more champions such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed joined.

The guy who heads Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (and owns the Newcastle Premier League football team) just said at the #LIV Golf trophy presentation that if someone ever shoots 54 (18 birdies on a par-72 course) in a LIV event, he will be awarded $54-million.

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) June 11, 2022

It meant that there was a huge split in golf, with many of the players that remained with the PGA feeling let down when rumours of a merger between the two organisations emerged. Some of the best players in the world were initially unable to take part in PGA-organised competitions, with the European Ryder Cup team saying that no LIV Golf players could be on their team for the famous tournament.

Most golf fans just want to watch the best players in the world involved in the top competitions and playing at their very best, so the idea of not being able to do that, or of players used to play 54 holes instead of 72, was disappointing for everyone.

‘Not Sustainable’ for Golf

Although the LIV Golf players are being handsomely rewarded for their participation in Saudi Arabia’s sports-washing project, the tournaments that they’re playing in aren’t exactly taking the golfing world by storm. There is a small minority of die-hard fans who will forgive LIV Golf any and all problems, but otherwise the events are not well attended.

Even at the end of the tour’s third season, it had made little impact in terms of viewing figures, as summed up by Sir Nick Faldo who said, “Quite amusingly, pickleball was bigger than their two stars in a play-off, the sort of excitement everyone wants. But it got beat for viewership by pickleball”.

@lairymac LIV Golf ⛳️ #lairymac #golf #golftok #LIVgolf #PGAtour ♬ original sound – Mac the Lairy Golfer

Rory McIlroy has been a long-term critic of LIV Golf, with the PIF-funded tour reportedly offering him $950 million to join it. The Northern Irishman has been steadfast in his criticism, however, and believes that the split between the two sides of the sport is ‘not sustainable’ and ‘a shame’.

He is keen for the two sides of the game to unify, but the longer it doesn’t the more harmful to golf it will be.