A new rival golf league is leveraging Saudi billions to flip professional golf upside down overnight.

LIV Golf burst onto the scene in 2022, challenging the PGA Tour by spending eye-popping sums to attract talent and running events in a bold new team-based format.

Let’s dive into the full LIV Golf story including fierce backlash, potentially massive implications, and what comes next.

What Is Liv Golf

LIV Golf is a new professional golf league that launched in early 2022 and is seeking to challenge the current dominance of the longstanding PGA Tour in the world of men’s professional golf.

LIV Golf is financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund known as the Public Investment Fund, which happens to be one of the largest sovereign wealth funds on earth with assets estimated at over $600 billion.

Given its backing by the investment fund of Saudi Arabia, LIV Golf has access to seemingly endless capital allowing it to disrupt the world of professional golf in its inaugural year by spending astronomical sums to attract top talent away from the more traditionally run PGA Tour.

LIV Golf has adopted a completely new tournament format for running its golf events centered around a team concept to differentiate itself from the traditional stroke-play style used for decades by most professional golf tours and tournaments.

LIV tournaments feature just three rounds over three days instead of the usual four round, 72-hole format seen in the 4 major championships and most PGA Tour stops. In addition, LIV events have a simultaneously run team competition alongside the battle between individual golfers for prize money and individual glory out on the course.

Additional new innovative ideas by LIV intended to add an entertainment focus some view as gimmicky or especially geared towards more casual golf fans versus avid purists include shotgun starts to every round.

No player cut after 36 holes allowing all golfers to play the full three rounds, and even short player interviews mid-round during play itself out on the course rather than just standard post-round questioning.

Controversy Surrounding LIV Golf

Since LIV Golf burst onto the professional golf scene in early 2022, there has been intense criticism and accusations leveled at the upstart Saudi league from all sides.

Activists, human rights groups, families of 9/11 victims, and supporters of women’s rights have all heavily criticized and accused LIV Golf of blatantly attempting to “sportswash” the controversial human rights record of Saudi Arabia’s ruling regime.

They allege the Saudi Public Investment Fund is ruthlessly attempting to cleanse the kingdom’s global image among wealthier western audiences and corporate bigwigs by aligning with high-profile golfers and the often upscale country club demographic the sport of golf attracts.

Families of 9/11 victims have also lashed out directly at prominent American players like Phil Mickelson for taking what they call “blood money” from the Saudis given the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens.

Additionally, significant animosity has been apparent from within the professional ranks of many PGA Tour players themselves in response to LIV Golf’s arrival.

PGA stars like Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Justin Thomas have been extremely vocal and outspoken critics of LIV Golf, mercilessly bashing the league as well as some of their former colleagues who left the PGA Tour to join LIV.

Much of the hostility from PGA players stems from the fact that LIV is clearly attempting to directly compete with the PGA Tour through leveraging what is seemingly unlimited access to Saudi billions thanks to backing by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth public investment fund.

LIV has used exorbitant financial contracts worth previously unthinkable sums like $100 million or more for players to jump from the PGA Tour over to LIV Golf, completely destabilizing decades-long PGA Tour economics almost overnight.

Ongoing lawsuits now pit the powerful PGA Tour against both LIV Golf itself as an upstart league as well as defected individual LIV golfers. Issues at hand include whether the PGA Tour legally has the right to ban members for life if they choose to leave and join LIV Golf.

Several players already with LIV including Phil Mickelson have sued the PGA Tour on antitrust grounds in response to receiving a lifetime ban from PGA Tour events after teeing off just once in a LIV Golf event.

So despite gasping levels of Saudi funding available, LIV Golf can not necessarily buy itself out of mounting criticism and controversy across multiple fronts besieging its disruptive entry into the world of men’s professional golf.

Liv Golf’s Impact

The utterly unprecedented impact of LIV Golf’s arrival after just one year of existence has already permanently altered the landscape of professional golf.

The driving factor allowing LIV Golf to immediately shake the foundation of the traditionally staid world of men’s pro golf is the incredible amount of Saudi funding flooding into LIV Golf from the Public Investment Fund.

This fountain of almost unlimited capital has allowed LIV to successfully tempt waves of star PGA Tour pros to jump ship to LIV Golf by offering formerly unthinkable, massive sums as enticement.

As an example, former world #1 player and longtime face of the PGA Tour Dustin Johnson was reportedly offered over $100 million simply as a signing bonus just to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf.

Other household name golf major championship winners including the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, and British Open champion Cameron Smith have similarly taken offers seeming too lucrative to ever pass up from LIV.

Such financial figures were simply never seen before in golf and have led to accusations that players taking the money are shamefully chasing “blood money” with no regard for Saudi human rights violations.

There are also swirling questions around whether the LIV Golf model can become commercially viable as an actual, sustainable business long-term, or whether it will require continually massive cash infusions from the Saudi PIF to keep operations running and continue tempting more big names with oversized offers.

Issues around the lack of a concrete television broadcast deal and global sponsor interest that has seemingly been modest outside of Saudi Arabia itself point to potential problems should LIV need to stand on its own one day without endless Saudi support.

However, most industry experts agree LIV Golf has already forced the traditionally conservative PGA Tour to consider its own substantial changes to how it operates, including ideas around a new, more lucrative tour for golf’s biggest stars and most recognizable names to compete on amongst themselves year-round.

So while its complete long-term outcome remains highly unpredictable to even the most plugged-in golf insiders, what is obvious is that LIV Golf has disrupted the status quo of professional golf in shockingly quick fashion thanks almost entirely to its alignment with and reliance upon endless Saudi billions made available from the Public Investment Fund.

LIV Golf Players & Teams

Some of golf’s most high-profile and marketable global superstars have decided to leave behind the PGA Tour to take the unprecedented money from LIV Golf.

Phil Mickelson was the first truly household name to jump to LIV in a surprise decision that was likely only possible due to LIV Golf reportedly offering him a deal worth nearly $200 million despite being past his prime in his early 50s.

Other legendary golfers then soon followed Phil to LIV including 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson while still the #1 ranked player in the world at the time of his departure from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.

Several fellow major championship winners also joined LIV Golf such as Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed, and most recently British Open champion Cam Smith.

A unique differentiation point of LIV Golf in its quest to provide an alternative golf product from the PGA Tour features a focus on team competition between franchises drafted from the pool of LIV Golf players.

12 established team brands with names ranging from Niblicks and Cleeks to Hy Flyers and Crushers and more were created, each captained by a different high-profile LIV pro.

The inaugural 2022 team championship came down to a Sunday finale between Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC squad taking on the Cleeks GC captained by Martin Kaymer.

Teams leverage a draft process to build rosters intended to feature competitive balance between seasoned veterans, rising young stars, and even a few amateurs added to the teams to build out lineups.

However, analysis of current LIV Golf team rosters show some squads clearly built around a few anchor superstars like Cameron Smith carrying the Punch GC franchise almost singlehandedly.

Other teams feature more evenly distributed contributions across the full roster such as Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC with multiple seasoned PGA Tour veterans ready to chip in.

2023 Liv Golf Schedule & Results

LIV Golf’s 2023 tournament schedule is still taking shape but after hosting just four American events scattered across a handful of venues in 2022, LIV plans to significantly expand its US presence moving forward with five American tournaments slated for the upcoming 2023 season calendar.

Internationally, LIV Golf has confirmed it will be global in nature in the years ahead with future stops already announced in destinations like Spain, Australia, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia amongst other countries.

LIV is also committed to host an event in 2023 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, continuing LIV’s surprising alliance with the controversial former American president Donald Trump.

In reviewing results from LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 season, South African Charl Schwartzel fittingly won LIV’s first ever event in early June hosted outside London to take home the record $4 million individual champion’s prize.

A few weeks later, fellow countryman Branden Grace kept the international momentum going by winning LIV’s second 2022 event held near Portland, Oregon.

American heavyweight Dustin Johnson then slammed the door shut on the inaugural year by winning LIV’s final championship event as the individual and led his 4 Aces GC squad to the team championship as well over rival Cleeks GC, pocketing an unprecedented $35 million himself from LIV.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, LIV Golf is expected to feature an expanded 14 event global schedule. Rumors also persist around a possible LIV Golf stop in Asia and a Latin America event announcement amidst reports of several countries showing significant interest in hosting LIV tournaments.

Scheduling decisions may provide clues around which regions see the most long-term potential in alignment with the LIV Golf model.

While its overall long-term sustainability remains filled with uncertainty, LIV Golf has had no issues leveraging the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s billions of dollars to successfully establish.

Itself as a disruptive force and completely revamp the status quo at the highest level of professional golf in remarkably short order heading into just its second year of existence.