Is it possible for LIV Golf to transition to 72-hole events? “Discussions will be had,” according to the league’s leading scorer.
Since founding LIV Golf in June 2022, Jon Rahm has maintained diplomatic relations with professionals signed to the league, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. No new league member has publicly challenged anyone who went in the first round. Conversely, he was not a fan of the LIV format, saying he “absolutely didn’t like” the idea of no-cuts, 54-hole events and shotguns.
Now that Rahm is the proud owner of a LIV golf assistant jacket after landing deals worth $300 million to $600 million on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, the question is whether he has enough clout to make adjustments. At the young circulation. The 29-year-old Spaniard was upbeat in his introductory press conference last week.
“Everything I love about this (LIV) movement, there’s always going to be things that aren’t perfect, but they are,” Rahm said. “I hope the leaders at LIV Golf will heed my advice and see some changes for the good of the game going forward.”
It is not clear what exactly he wants to change. On the surface, the most beneficial change the LIV could make would be to expand the tournament to 72 holes and introduce a 36-hole cut. That seems to please Rahm, who previously said, “Totally [starting], three days is not a golf tournament for me.” Hosting a 54-hole event was also one of the many reasons LIV declined to bid for Official World Golf Ranking points in October.
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The newsmakers of 2023
But how will this affect the other members of the LIV, whose roster includes big winners like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau? The most noteworthy player is 2023 LIV individual points winner Talor Gooch.
“He (Rahm) has talked about things he doesn’t like, but if he thought he was going to win 10 tournaments a year and not compete at all, he wouldn’t have come to LIV,” Gooch said. “It’s a real competitor. [Having Ram] is no fun.”
Gooch won three titles in 13 individual LIV events in 2023. He also had five top-10 finishes. All of this adds up to more than $15 million in individual prize money and $18 million in individual championship bonuses. The 32-year-old Oklahoma native believes there are two schools of thought when it comes to maintaining LIV’s 54-hole identity.
“We haven’t had an open forum discussion with all the players,” said Gooch, who switched from Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC to Koepka’s Smash GC last week. “But there are two sides. Some people are against the 72 holes and some are against it. “There will be discussions and it will be interesting to see what the outcome is.”
Gooch claimed there was a diversity of opinion among players, and while some votes were in favor of adding four rounds to LIV events, he was not in favor of the move. “In my opinion, LIV Golf had to be different. I don’t think this should be a carbon copy of the rest of professional golf. I tend to keep it to 54 holes,” Gooch said. “In my experience on the PGA Tour, Thursday doesn’t really matter from a fan perspective (except a few times a year).
“I always insisted… I definitely think majors should be 4 rounds, but I don’t think they should be 4 rounds like tennis. “We want to do everything we can to create not only the most fun product possible, but a product for the best golfer.”
Gooch’s comments on tennis show how men’s Grand Slams are played in a best-of-five-set format, while regular ATP events are played in three sets. Despite strong play on the LIV circuit and no events leading to world ranking points, Gooch fell from a career-high 31st to 298th in the OWGR. So Gooch is by no means exempt. With four men’s majors to choose from in 2024, anyone will have to adjust their schedule to meet the OWGR criteria. To qualify for the Masters in April, Gooch will need to play several non-LIV Asian tournaments and other sanctioned events to be ranked in the top 50 by the end of March. The PGA Championship in May will also be tough. However, at the US Open and the US Open, respectively, you can earn a spot in your field by participating in qualifying tournaments.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think about it,” he said. “Of course I want to play in all the top leagues and now [2024] starts, I hope we can figure out how to do that. “If selection is one of the options, we will look at it,” he said.
