This is the kinda of nitty-gritty golf stuff that tells a story on its own. A story about Koepka, the 5-time major champ who was unhappy with his game this summer. About Elliot, the caddie who was speaking very frankly with his pro — something Koepka says he needs from his team. And McDowell, the teammate who probably wouldn’t give a damn were Koepka not essentially his employer.
It may not be much but it felt like a window into the team element of LIV. Team stuff matters as much as anything to that enterprise because it needs to. They’re reportedly upping the team purse for 2026 events, but it’s not all money. Sergio Garcia absolutely believes he’s doing something for the future of Spanish golf by signing young Spanish players to his team. Bubba Watson says he’ll be a non-playing captain in the future, maintaining belief that the Range Goats will live for years down the road. (Who knows if that’ll be true, but Watson has to believe it. He may have no choice!) The Majesticks have built out larger and larger activations at every U.K.-based LIV event over the years, and it seemed to be a hit with their home crowd. Again, they have to do this. It’s their model! And it’s ultimately undercut by their bleak TV viewership. But it still feels worth noting when you see it.
3. How much bigger should The Open get?
It’s possible the sheer size of this Open was perfect. Particularly for the R&A, who claimed it “set a new benchmark” for overall viewership, in person and through broadcast and digital channels. But there’s a worthy question to be had about how big the Open has become.
This year’s Open was massive, and we may have looked past its size because of the spectators’ obsession with the reigning Masters champion. You could scale dunes at Portrush for a better view, but you cannot do that at St. Andrews. Or Royal Liverpool. That complicates anyone’s ability to actually see the golf. The 2025 iteration was aided by the meandering, criss-crossing course routing, which allows fans to move about from hole to hole, from front nine to back nine, quite easily. But on out-and-back courses — two of them named above, in addition to Troon — the immense crowds tend to gather toward the start/finish area and not leak out into the extents of the course.
All of that is relevant … before even discussing the commutes — quietly, spectators were left disappointed by two-hour delays from a park-n-ride on Tuesday at Portrush — or how many beds there are in these tiny, lovely beach towns. I don’t anticipate this to be much of an issue during next year’s Open at Royal Birkdale, in which both nines return to the clubhouse, with plenty of hosting towns nearby, but it will be the first Open with a play-in qualifying tournament on the Monday of Open week. Attendance for that day will surely be up. The R&A wants attendance to keep going up. But where is the ceiling?
4. Where will LIV history…live?
During my time in Manchester — post Open and pre-LIV — I made a stop at the National Football Museum, tucked into the town’s Northern Quarter. It’s a multi-level building that mostly caters to dynamic visuals (and interactive areas for children), but I appreciated how the curators didn’t balk at the inclusion of some of English football’s more angsty topics.
Included were sections about racism and sexism — some of the obstacles that have hindered not just football but society for centuries — but also more soccer-focused, recent issues like Super Leagues, foreign investment and priced out fans. It got me wondering about the main angsty issues in golf these days, and if we’ll see that chronicled in, say, the USGA Museum or the R&A Museum someday. It’s probably too soon to archive LIV Golf in an official capacity as it keeps chugging along, but I certainly have a few artifacts/videos to contribute from my time visiting its tournaments.
5. 13 rules seems perfect
While we’re on the topic of European football, I found it cute (and nothing more) that the original list of rules for football was just as long as the original rules of golf. Thirteen decrees deep!
Within it was another reminder of just how well the original rules of golf have held up — and for longer — because the footie rules have certainly changed a lot since 1863. The original pitch? Two hundred yards by 100, basically twice the size of the current field of play. How about catching the ball? That was apparently a thing.
In golf’s original rules, though, made in 1744 by the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, plenty has sustained. You still aren’t allowed to change ball once you’ve started a hole, you still must play it as it lies, and you still must start each hole from an area that fits the original definition of a “teeing ground.” This stuff largely hasn’t changed in 281 years. The folks at Muirfield got a lot right. Something tells me they could have seen golf’s distance problems on the horizon, too.
6. Not the only one on summer vacay
During July, I noticed a lot of people — outside the ropes and inside — clamoring for the PGA Championship to return to August, willfully ignorant to the fact of what it left August to begin with: the NFL schedule. Our sport cannot, and should not, try to compete with football, which many executives agreed with when the PGA was moved to May in 2019. The month of August is best left to the PGA Tour — the most important purveyor of the pro game — and its chief sponsor, FedEx, and that’s that. The toothpaste is already out of the tube!
My thoughts: embrace this fascinating moment in the pro golf schedule, where the game’s stars are going on holiday… so long as they’re in good standing. Viktor Hovland went mountaineering in Norway. Ludvig Aberg enjoyed some time at home, too, and even ran a 6k race with his girlfriend. Justin Thomas went on a golf buddies trip. Rory McIlroy took a non-golf trip to Saint-Tropez before taking in Padraig Harrington’s Open win at Sunningdale. These are examples of summer break that is badly needed for anyone on Tour. The players who haven’t earned it, unfortunately, have a bit of summer school to tend to. Many of them flew from Belfast to Minneapolis for the FedEx Cup points on offer at the 3M Open. Adam Scott, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler might not have been happy about the commute, but their professional standing is better for it.
