The LIV Golf League is off and running. Three tournaments have already been contested, and the fourth is set to be played this weekend in Boston. What was once an abstract idea is now a full-fledged operation.
Through three events, fans and players alike have seen what the upstart league offers. Shotgun starts. Smaller fields. Team golf. Not to mention the boatloads of cash up for grabs. But despite everything that LIV does have, there are still areas they’re lacking.
“They look like they’re having fun,” Davis Love III said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “But Fred Couples and I won a bunch of tournaments in November and December. We got paid to play in them and then we played and won them and won money. [But] they were exhibition events … They don’t count.”
Therein lies the problem with LIV events in Love III’s eyes — they don’t count. They’re glorified exhibitions matches played with fun setups and with party-like atmospheres. The only thing LIV offers is fat paychecks.
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“There’s no problem doing that,” Love III said. “But you can’t make a career out of the silly season events.”
The prestige of the PGA Tour is what separates it from its rival upstart league. The Tour may not be able to compete with the cashflow of the Saudis, but history and heritage is where they have them beat.
“None of us stood on a green as a kid and said, ‘This is for $5 million or this is for $10 million,'” Love III said. “We said, ‘This is to win the U.S. Open. This is to beat Jack Nicklaus.’ … That’s what it’s all about.”
Check out the entire Subpar episode below as Love III discusses money games at his home course, Greg Norman and more.