LIV Golf 1.0 Final Thoughts:
1)In my opinion, LIV Golf was the best thing to happen to the sport of golf since Tiger Woods! The sport had become stale and stagnant before LIV gave it the jolt that it sorely needed!
2)At the beginning, I was confused as to what LIV Golf even was. All I had heard about was something about Phil Mickelson getting into trouble about comments about a new league. I didn't think much about it until right before the first event was about to start in London. I remember that I was reading stories on ESPN and I read that Dustin Johnson had signed up to play in the initial tournament. I also read that legendary Greg Norman was heading up the league. That immediately opened my eyes and sparked my curiosity and I read more about it. I have been a lifelong golfer and golf fan and had grown bored of non-Major golf in the post-Tiger era. I read about teams and shotgun starts and the such. Phil and DJ had long been 2 of my favorites in the game, and so I decided to give it a chance. I've been a fan from that first tournament on! I was immediately hooked by the atmosphere and tv product and the teams! It wasn't long after that other big names that I loved started coming over. Brooks Koepka was always one of my favorites so I was pumped when he decided to come... was also excited when I saw Bryson, Sergio, and PReed! Then when Cam Smith won The Open and then immediately came over it felt so awesome! The PGA Tour finally had a rival to challenge the status quo! I loved it from the start! Attending a LIV Golf tournament in person is one of the most fun sporting events I've ever experienced in my life! It's hard to explain, but being at a LIV Golf event had such an amazing and exciting feel to it. Such a welcoming environment, great for families, and exciting having great golf happening all over the golf course at once!
3)The stratospheric rise of Bryson DeChambeau has been perhaps the biggest story in the history of LIV Golf. Bryson was obviously very well known and accomplished before he joined LIV. He was already polarizing and already a US Open Champion. But the Bryson that all of us see now? The one that is arguable the most popular golfer on Earth? The one that has the most successful YouTube Golf channel of all time? The one that the crowds follow around and that he stays for hours after to sign autographs and meet all of them? That has all come since he came to LIV Golf. He had been struggling for a while, and then right near the end of the 2023 LIV season he caught fire and then followed that up with an amazing Major season in 2024, including another US Open Championship. The LIV Golf environment and attitude towards YouTube, etc., helped Bryson to showcase what a showman he really is. He has been an incredible ambassador for LIV and for the sport as a whole. He has also not made it a secret that the team environment and that the influence of his older teammates Charles Howell III, Paul Casey, and Anirban Lahiri on The Crushers was very influential in his life as well!
4)Amongst the many great tournaments and venues... there will always be two that stood out to me that are unforgettable forever. Australia and South Africa produced as good of golf tournaments as anywhere in the world of golf. Adelaide was incredible from the start and gave LIV Golf a template on what could be. The fans were so into it, and the total buy-in by the all-Aussie Ripper GC team helped feed into that. By the end, LIV Golf Adelaide became the most attended tournament in the proud history of Australian golf. This year was the debut of LIV Golf South Africa, and I honestly believe that it was the greatest debut golf tournament in a generation. The crowds, the atmosphere, and the total buy-in also by the all-SA Southern Guards made it one of the most fun tournaments I've ever seen. And it also became the most attended golf tournament in the proud history of South African golf. There were a lot of great spots that LIV 1.0 traveled to, but nothing compares to these two amazing venues and tournaments.
5)The signing of Jon Rahm in 2024 was the electric shock that felt like the balance had finally swung in the direction of LIV Golf for good. It was such a shock and so exciting that I called my Dad in Colorado and told him to pack his bags for Mexico! We flew down and were there for his debut tournament at Mayakoba. I was standing right next to him when he took his first swing for LIV Golf. A proud Greg Norman was standing right there and all felt right in the world of LIV Golf! Adding Rahm added further legitimacy to a league that now included so many Major Champions and so many of the biggest personalities in golf. Rahm went on to be a Top 10 machine and win the Season Individual Championship in all 3 seasons as well as lead his Legion XIII team to back-to-back Season Team Championships.
6)Joaquin Niemann was already a rising young star in the golf world before he joined LIV Golf, but who could have seen this explosion coming from Joaco?! He has won so many times on LIV that it almost got to the point of being surprising when he didn't win! He has thrived in the type of environment that LIV Golf has produced, and seems to love the team environment as well! Although he never won an individual season championship, he won a record 9 TIMES, far ahead of the 5 won by Bryson and Brooks. Talor Gooch is another golfer that greatly benefited from LIV Golf. Before Rahmbo came, Gooch was the Season Champion and displayed the kind of iron play that was inspiring!
7)The return of Anthony Kim in itself might have made LIV Golf worth it even if that was the only good thing that happened during LIV. AK was such a positive jolt to golf 15 years ago and then his disappearance was mysterious and sad for the game. When he made his return to LIV it was electric, and his story is even greater. To watch him struggle to find his game and then see his hard work pay off by returning to his top form was such an inspiration, but to see the man he has become as a husband and father and recovered addict is even more inspiring.
8)My favorite moments in LIV Golf history:
- 10. Michael La Sasso, as a 22 year old rookie, defeated Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Sergio Garcia to get his first professional win at the last event of LIV Golf 1.0!
- 9. DJ made a really long birdie putt (it banked off the back of the hole like a basketball backboard!) to win the first LIV playoff over Lahiri and Joaco in Boston in 2022!
- 8. The 2025 Team Championship - Rahm's Legion XIII were trailing Bryson's Crushers for much of the tournament, but they came powering back and forced a playoff that Legion ended up winning! It was an electric powerful feel!
- 7. Phil Mickelson has always been known for his unbelievable shot making abilities around the green. The shot he hit in Virginia in 2025, though, was one of the greatest shots I, or anyone, has ever seen! He was on the 17th and faced the deep slope of a bunker and somehow hit a nearly backward shot up and over himself that somehow went in! Incredible!
- 6. Bryson shot a 58 at Greenbrier in 2023 that was so electric that it helped propel him into another stratosphere in golf. The height of his jump when his last long birdie putt went in said it all!
- 5. Chase Koepka's party hole ace at Adelaide in 2023! When the ball went in the hole was possibly the first truly viral moment that LIV Golf had ever had. The true joy from Koepka as he jumped around and the amazing Adelaide crowd showered him and the entire area with flying beverages!! Truly a unique moment that will live on forever! Patrick Reed hit one the next year that invoked similar passion! Nothing like the party hole at Adelaide!
- 4. LIV Golf South Africa - Not only did this event produce an epic playoff between Bryson and Rahm, but the environment surrounding the Southern Guards was almost indescribable. The party hole was so so good, and watching Dean Burmester show his showman side there was amazing! The best was on 18 when the crowd was singing the South African National Anthem and watching the emotions of Dean, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, and Branden Grace as they took it all in. An absolute home run and one of the best environments I've ever seen for a golf tournament.
- 3. Mayakoba in the dark! At the conclusion of LIV Golf Mayakoba in 2024, Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia locked into an epic playoff battle that lasted into the 4th playoff hole. By the end, it was so dark that the officials were encouraging them to wait until the next day to finish. Both Sergio and Joaco wanted to continue, though, and lit up only by the scoreboard that was next the 18th green, Joaco finished off the amazing finish with his first of many LIV Golf wins!
- 2. The first team playoff! At Adelaide in 2024, a better script could not have been written as Ripper GC, the all Aussie team, and Stinger GC, the all SA team, went into the highly charged team playoff! The home crowd was rowdy and fully behind their Ripper boys, and Cam Smith teamed up with Marc Leishman to make the home crowd happy! Total electricity!
- 1. Anthony Kim wins in Adelaide. This is pretty easily the greatest moment in the 5 year history of LIV Golf, and one of the greatest moments in golf history period. AK had been so bad with his game after his return that he ended up getting relegated after 2025. His offseason was so good, though, that he earned his way back to the league with his results. In Australia, with massive crowds watching, AK came from way behind to pass all the LIV Golf giants by making long putt after long putt, and in the end stood tall as a triumphant golfer and human being. Seeing him holding his wife and daughter on the 18th gave the feel of it all being so much bigger than golf. Such an amazing moment!
9)Things I was disappointed with in LIV Golf
- Lack of wins in Major Championships over the past few years. Brooks and Bryson winning in 2023 and 2024 were so huge, but the drought over the past few years has been hard on the reputation of the league.
- Brooks Koepka's lack of buy-in on the team aspect of the league and then leaving this season.
- The change in television format this season. I understand why the league chose to do it, but the pylon of the first 4 seasons was so amazing. This year, it looked really nice, professional, and more traditional, but I really missed being able to see both the team and individual standings at once!
- The ending of the pre-round and post-round shows! Loved those so much. The energy, the context, the interviews... another thing that made LIV Golf so awesome! Loved having Christian Crosby host that along with other members of the team!
- The ending of fan tweets being shown during the telecast. Honestly, it was pretty cool and always surprising to see my tweets or tweets of my friends on the screen! It encouraged fan involvement and was fun!
- Lack of communication from LIV Golf leadership about many issues over the years. It's been well documented over the years as to the lack of direction from LIV Comms over television issues, scheduling issues, etc.
- The cancelling of the "Any Shot, Anytime" feature on the app. That was such an amazing feature to have and was a tough one to lose.
- PIF pulling the funding of the league after Yasir repeatedly assured the players that the league was funded well into the future. I understand that war in the middle east, etc., were contributing factors, but this year has been embarrassing with reports of vendors not being paid, etc.
- The disappearance of Greg Norman as the leader of the league. This has nothing to do with Scott O'Neil, who I feel has been working hard and is doing a courageous job trying to save the league. But I do miss the strength, disruption, and leadership of Greg Norman.
- The silence of Phil Mickelson this season. I know that there is a lot going on in Phil's life right now, and I hope and pray that everything is ok with his family, but having LIV Golf go through this trying time without having Greg or Phil present has been tough. I think they are the 2 most important people in LIV history, and having them there to answer questions or give their leadership through this time would have been big in my opinion.
- The choices of locations each year in the USA... I'm not sure what all went into where LIV chose to go in America each year, but there were a few places, such as Nashville, that were a home run and the the league never went back there. When they would choose to return to other locations that had no vibe or crowd, it seemed like a puzzling choice.
10)My favorite things about LIV Golf
- Shotgun starts! Amazing! Besides Major Championships, I wish golf would adopt this as a whole. So great on TV and especially in person to have everyone out there at once! Gives the feel of an event so much more!
- Teams! So great having multiple things to care about when watching the tournaments! The guys still have things to play for even if the individual tournament is out of reach, and some of the team competitions over the years have been great!
- Ad-free golf! Being able to watch the tournaments on the app without having to watch commercials was so great! It spoiled us!
- Great in-person environment! The family emphasis, music (amazing in person), fan villages, shotgun starts, access to the golfers, concerts, etc. made going to LIV Golf events second to none!
- Golf played around the world! It was so awesome to see world-class golfers playing at stops around the world that were starved to see top notch golf! I think this will always be one of LIV's biggest legacies... there is more and more emphasis and conversation about all golfers playing more globally. Also, another reason I liked that was because in a lot of ways it made it easier for me to watch many of the tournaments. I have a busy life with family, work, and hobbies and watching golf on traditional weekend times has always been hard for me, especially in summer. Having golf on in the evenings or mornings (or sometimes in the middle of the night) was actually awesome for me to experience!
- The television crew... it's actually felt kind of hard to wait this long to talk about this team because I think they are some of the best aspects that LIV ever displayed. A big thank you to Arlo White, Jerry Foltz, David Feherty, Su-Ann Heng, and Dom Boulet for giving us so many years of THE BEST golf broadcast I've ever seen. The recent years addition of Rachel Drummond was a home run also, and I think she is a huge talent. Even the shorter term members of Annabel Angel, Troy Mullins, Pat Perez, Nicolas Colsaerts, Brett Rumford, and others all did a nice job. I don't know that the future of LIV Golf looks like, but if there is a 2.0 I sure hope that Arlo, Jerry, and David are all a part of it. Thank you for bringing expertise, humor, and entertainment into our golf lives!
- The LIV Golf fan community... It has been such a pleasure meeting some really good people from all over the world through this awesome online community of fans. There are too many to try to name them all, but it has been an absolute pleasure interacting with all of you over the past 5 years. The vast majority of LIV Golf fans that I've interacted with have been just GREAT people! Thank all of you for the interactions, chat rooms, DMs, and sharing of opinions over the years! I appreciate all of you!
- The LIV Golf media - both professional and fan versions - It's been fun to read the LIV Golf news and opinions online here on X over the past 5 years! Matt Vincenzi (who is as good as it gets and LIV was lucky to get him!), JCAGolfReport (amazing in-depth reporting), Conrad Golf Rankings (one of the first that ranked fairly across all tours), Luke Elvy (professional reporter with common sense), Tee Times (consistent passion and dedication from the beginning), Red Harrington (great ambassador for LIV amongst online golf conversations), Flushing It (one of the first that was willing to tell the story of golf that included LIV in the context), and in my opinion the best of all fan accounts from the beginning has been LIV'r & Onions (he's been consistently bringing us updates, information, positivity, kindness, podcasts, and dedication from very early on)! There are so many more! Thank you all for your dedication and information!
- The golfers - For the most part, the golfers have embraced being in LIV Golf and have seemed to enjoy the journey! They have let their personalities shine and have done a great job of putting on a great show. I have especially enjoyed the golfers who have fully embraced the teams and have leaned into the LIV Golf vision. Thank you to all of them for the entertainment and inspiration over the past 5 years!
Well, honestly I'm a little emotional thinking about the end of 1.0! This has been a really fun 5 year journey and it's been fun sharing my thoughts about the league and about the events. I don't know if this will be my last write-up or not, or what the future of LIV Golf 2.0 will even look like if there is one, but it sure has been fun. Thank you to those of you who take the time to read my long thoughts and for your interactions for 5 years! Take care of yourselves and may God bless each of your lives.
#LIVGolf