Opinion
GAJTKA: For LIV To Truly Take Off, It Simply Needs More Runway
Bryson DeChambeau has always attracted a crowd for various reasons, but the amount of attention he’s pulling in these days is definitely different.
For instance, I’ve attended the LIV Chicago event three years running as a reporter, and the level of buzz around the U.S. Open champ was obviously crazier this time around.
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As I wrote back in June, that’s a function of his unprecedented-in-golf embrace of YouTube and social media in general, which has allowed him to connect to golfers more deeply.
Whether that’s manifested by fans yelling “Break 50!” as he walks past or the merchandise tent selling out of Crushers GC hats, Bryson is clearly the player moving the needle the most on LIV.
“It’s definitely gone in a really cool direction recently,” DeChambeau told me after his Sunday round at Bolingbrook Golf Club, one that ended with his Crushers winning another team competition. “The fans and people around have been fantastic, anywhere in the world, not only just here in the States but everywhere.
“Ever since I won the U.S. Open, it’s kind of opened people’s eyes, I think, to what LIV Golf is, meaning like we’re here to stay, one, and two, we’re here to provide fans an awesome experience. We really do enjoy providing that opportunity for them.
“I certainly feed off of it. I know that my team, I feel like, feeds off of it, and hopefully I can continue to provide some energy and we can all gather behind this great product because it’s here to stay, and there’s a lot more fun to come from it.”
Projections aside, I remain more convinced than ever that the way LIV presents its product is a major step up for professional golf. From the interactive fan village to local food trucks to the countdown to the shotgun start to, yes, the still-controversial music thumping during play, the on-site package is a revelation on what this sport can look and feel like.
Jon Rahm, LIV’s priciest free-agent signing to date, was asked about his impressions of the whole scene shortly after he clinched the season-long individual championship.
“For anybody out there that’s wondering, it is a little bit different experience than any other tour out there, but it is closer experience to pretty much any other sport out there,” Rahm said. “I think this league has gotten … quite a bit of a bad rap without people having experienced it. They’ve been too quick to judge. I think the vast majority of them would absolutely love spending a day out here.
“Most people that don’t like the music, the second they come, they get over it. It’s part of the atmosphere like in many other sports, and as a player and as a family man, it’s been a fantastic experience for myself and my family the times that they’ve been able to come.”
2024 Individual Champion Captain Jon Rahm of Legion XIII and his caddie, Adam Hayes, celebrates onstage during the trophy ceremony after the final round of LIV Golf Chicago at Bolingbrook Golf Club on Sunday, September 15, 2024 in Bolingbrook, Illinois. (Photo by Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)
Rahm touched upon it, but one thing I’ve appreciated about the LIV scene is how it’s attempted to thread the needle between catering to the day-drinking crowd while also remaining appealing to anyone too young for a driver’s license. The team branding might still seem a little out there, but I know that when my two boys (ages 7 and 4) watch the broadcast, they’re always noting whose team each player is on and get some of their viewing enjoyment out of it.
At the same time, there’s also a real appeal for the Barstool set, regardless of whether it’s about the nightclub-ish vibe behind several of the greens, or just the general outlaw appeal of a tour that’s been a major disruptor to a tradition-loving sport.
“I’ll tell you that it’s the perseverance of the LIV product and what all us players, 54 of us, including staff behind closed doors, have worked hard to do,” DeChambeau said. “This is just the beginning. I know I’ve said it before, even said it in Nashville, but this is just the beginning.
“There’s a lot more to come, and super excited that people are starting to appreciate what LIV is, what we’re trying to do, how we’re trying to impact the community. Man, it’s a great next step in our evolution.”
These are self-reported numbers, but LIV declared a new single-day attendance record for Saturday’s action in Chicagoland, with 15,000 fans recorded walking through the Bolingbrook GC gates. My eyes matched the digits, as the property seemed about as packed as you’d want it to be.
You almost have to talk about the LIV presence in two ways, because the streaming viewers and TV ratings are still undershooting external expectations, I’m sure. For various reasons, I still sense a hostility toward the league and its product on social media and comment sections, as well.
On the other hand, what I’ve seen with my own boots on the ground tells me this thing is gaining real-world traction. The problem for LIV is that it simply needs more runway, more events like last weekend’s to get the word out on the value of the product organically.
That means it needs more months and years of operation to make inroads against the established brand of the PGA Tour. And that means the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia needs to maintain its appetite to pour resources into this thing.
How bad do the big bosses want it? And how do the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the PIF factor in on this long-term appetite? There’s so much we don’t know at this point. The pro-golf landscape could change again with a few strokes of the pen.
For its part, LIV has already announced the first four events of 2025, overseas jaunts headlined by the wildly-successful Australian stop. It’ll have to continue to build on the buzz of U.S. stops like Nashville and Chicago, too.
Oh, and it’ll need its studs like DeChambeau, Rahm and Brooks Koepka to keep showing up at majors and making noise. (No pressure, boys.)
In the end, though, every year that passes embeds LIV deeper into both the golf world and the sports entertainment scene. The thing it needs most is time.
