It's never too late to go back and take a look at origin stories in the world of sports, particularly when they are still relevant today. That certainly applies to the LIV golf league, which has been fighting for attention and publicity for the last four years.
It took an odd combination of events for the LIV (Roman Numerals for 54, or 18-under par on the par-72 golf course) to begin play on some of the world's golf courses in 2022. It's still around, still trying to fight the more established golf leagues, like the PGA Tour of America, for talent and sponsors. Those first couple of years are nicely reviewed by golf writer Alan Shipnuck in "LIV and Let Die."
There has been talk forever about trying to come up with better ways to present professional golf to the public. The problem, to some extent, is that the players are essentially independent contractors with very different interests and incentives. A union, like the ones in team sports, isn't completely practical in that setting. The superstars don't really have much in common with the guys who are simply happy to make the cut this week. On the other hand, a pro tour is survival of the fittest in some ways. If you don't play well and at least make the weekend cut, you go home empty-handed - even if you are one of the players who attracts crowds.
The plans for something new started to bubble in 2019, but Covid-19 pushed some of it back. Then in 2020, Saudi Arabia and its Public Investment Fund (a huge supply of cash created by oil sales) started talks about creating a new circuit. The Middle Eastern nation is long on dictatorial rules by short on human rights for its citizens, which has caught the attention of many. A golf league was one way to attract attention to its efforts to improve the public image of the country. Phil Mickelson called the technique "sportswashing," which is rather creative.
Representatives starting throwing around big money at established players in order to lure them to LIV play. Big money, indeed. Dustin Johnson supposedly signed for a guarantee of $150 million to jump in the summer of 2022. Others, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, eventually joined that crew, as did Mickelson - even though he was more of a drawing card than a top competitor at that point in his career.
LIV did eventually take off, even if the process was predictably bumpy. The lawyers got rich on this, of course, and the Saudis spared no expense - even by their standards - to make the idea work. Shipnuck is one of the most well-connected reporters on the golf circuit, and he has great fun reportedly on all of the back-and-forth conversation between people and their organizations. It doesn't sound like the hard feelings were healed during that time period. That led to some major changes in how the PGA Tour operated, including more money for the top players who hung around in the form of different schedules, guarantees and bonuses
Shipnuck - who wrote a fun biography of Michelson a while ago - has to stop at some point, and he does so in 2023 when the PGA Tour and LIV negotiated the starting framework to some sort of merger between the two sides. Since the book was published, not much progress has been made on bringing the two sides together. Let's face it - the PGA had a major advantage in this battle. Its weekly results reached the masses of golf fans out in the public. Some stars may be gone to LIV, but the "star-making machinery" that Joni Mitchell used in a far different context creates new heroes to come along with each golf season. It's difficult to follow the LIV tour in America without some effort, especially because of the time zone changes featured in a worldwide tour. Jon Rahm, not surprisingly, is the leading money winner on that tour in the last two years, but you might be hard-pressed to find someone who knew that fact for sure.
This is not the usual golf book in some spots. For example, a chapter is devoted to the history of the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia, which doesn't come up much in books otherwise filled by bogeys and birdies. A few other spots offer some difficult reading. Happily, Shipnuck has a nice touch for navigating through the corridors of golf power to explain what the heck was going on. Considering that golfers aren't often quote machines for media members, the stories of some of these pros and their attitudes are sometimes eye-opening. And he doesn't waste too much time telling the story here, keeping things brisk.
It's hard to say where this will wind up, and when. It's obviously in everyone's financial interest to work together to establish a structure that is relatively equitable for everyone. In the meantime, "LIV and Let Die" is a good place to go for the background on these squabbles. Possible readers, however, should know that it's more of a business book than golf book in some ways, so keep that in mind.
Four stars
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