Golf
LIV Golf's Underwhelming Haul of New Defectors Paints a Bleak Picture of the Saudi-Backed Tour's Future
Writing professionally since 2015, Jack Dougherty spent six years as a sportswriter with publications such as GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, and the Associated Press before joining Sports7 in 2020. He covers the NBA, the NFL, and the world of golf extensively and has added expertise on any team located in or around his hometown of Philadelphia. Yes, that includes the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies. When Jack isn't writing about sports, he's watching them or playing them as he regularly heads to the gym for some pickup basketball or the golf course to hit the links. He's also an avid participant in the sports betting scene who worked at a casino sportsbook for a year and learned the ins and outs of the industry before bringing his expertise to Sports7 with one excellent gambling recommendation after another.
Get to know Jack Dougherty betterUpdated20 Feb 2023
When LIV Golf poached Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith away from the PGA Tour last year, momentum seemed to be building for the Saudi-backed league to possibly take over as the premier tour in professional golf. CEO Greg Norman likely anticipated another offseason full of marquee signings to further eat into the PGA Tour's monopoly, but that's not exactly how it played out.
LIV Golf did manage to sign five more defectors ahead of the 2023 season, but none of them are going to move the needle. The PGA Tour has countered LIV Golf's every move to keep the top-ranked players happy. We've already seen the peak of the once-promising golf league.
LIV Golf announces disappointing haul of new defectors
After LIV Golf's moderately successful inaugural season came to a close, the golf league was expected to go after more big names in an ongoing effort to cripple the PGA Tour blow by blow. Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, and other top-20 golfers were on the radar as the next possible defectors.
But LIV golf swung and missed on all of their top targets in the offseason. Instead, Norman was only able to poach Thomas Pieters, Mito Pereira, Sebastián Muñoz, Danny Lee, and Brendan Steele.
Pieters was the “marquee signing” of the group at No. 35 in the world, but he doesn't have a single PGA Tour victory on his resume and wasn't even a full-time member before joining LIV. Between the five golfers, they've won just five PGA Tour events combined, and Steele has three of them. Pereira might be the most popular name of the bunch, but that's only because PGA Tour fans know him from his nervy double bogey on the 72nd hole of the 2022 PGA Championship to blow the lead.
This is not the offseason Norman envisioned, and it paints a bleak picture of LIV Golf's future.
LIV Golf's peak has already passed
Of the five newest LIV Golf signings, only one is ranked inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Two of them are ranked outside the top 123. These aren't exactly needle-movers for the Saudi-backed tour, especially considering major winners Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith were the top defectors last year.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is thriving with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm leading the charge. The television ratings for the WM Phoenix Open and the Genesis Invitational were both up from last year, Tiger Woods made his season debut on the PGA Tour this past weekend, and the top-ranked players couldn't be happier now that purses are higher than ever.
LIV Golf's splash signings are likely behind them. The top players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour last year are here to stay, and LIV Golf will have to settle for the scraps from here on out. Norman's revenge-driven golf league is already past its peak, and its underwhelming offseason signings prove it.
