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Wednesday: This doesn’t feel like a golf tournament.

Thursday: This doesn’t feel like a golf tournament.

(Friday and Saturday: I didn’t watch any golf.)

Sunday: Oh wow, this feels like a golf tournament.

I haven’t exactly been quiet about my general skepticism toward LIV Golf. The league has, after all, been an easy target. Take the recent announcement from LIV about its shorts policy. The press release read: “It’s believed to be the first time an elite professional golf league has allowed shorts to be worn during a round.” My immediate reaction was: What, so they don’t consider the LPGA to be an elite professional golf league?

There have been other little misses. I’ve had a tough time getting into the events’ YouTube broadcasts. I scoffed at Talor Gooch comparing his team’s LIV victory at Pumpkin Ridge to a Ryder Cup win and chuckled when an announcer said “Joaquin Lahiri” instead of “Anirban Lahiri.” And then there’s the considerable human-rights issues that come with the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia funding the league, which has created a divide in men’s golf.

I arrived at The International, the site of LIV Golf’s Boston event, for Wednesday’s pressers and practice rounds with little idea about what to expect. I’ve been to my fair share of PGA Tour and high-level amateur events but knew this would be different. But different how?

WEDNESDAY

It was easy to confirm my biases early in the week. LIV doesn’t allow spectators for practice rounds or pro-ams, so The International felt empty. While there were some notable moments from the Harold Varner-Bubba Watson shared press conference  — Varner was brutally honest about how tough the first 24 hours were in regard to social comments and feedback after committing to LIV — there were a handful of “what is going on?” moments for me, too.

A few guys in the media center (comedians, I think?) had some fun with their questions and asked Watson, “Since you have an injury right now, do you think there’s a chance maybe I could play for you? I’m like a 6 handicap, so I could hold up, maybe be like a 4 on a good day.” Later, the same guys asked Cameron Smith if he would “try to buy Florida” and about his hair routine. I tried to think about what would happen if someone asked major champions those same questions at, say, the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But this isn’t Bay Hill, nor does LIV want it to be.

After Wednesday’s pressers, I headed out to the course. I thought I was being punk’d. Aside from workers setting up a stage and LIV guest village, the course was empty. Turned out, the players weren’t starting their practice rounds until later in the afternoon. l walked back to the range and was relieved to find players there, alongside a handful of military veterans, whom LIV had invited for the day. I talked to a few vets who were loving the access. They were inside the ropes, standing just a few feet behind Cameron Smith on the range. “How cool is this?” one said. He had been to a handful of pro tournaments, but never this close. Thirty seconds later, he was asking a pro for a photo and an autograph while the player switched clubs.

The whole thing felt like a private event for which I had arrived awkwardly early.

THURSDAY

I returned to The International on Thursday. Based on festive social-media footage from the previous night’s LIV gala, I was hoping for a bit more action at the course. I met a member of the club who was caddying in the pro-am who told me that the membership was psyched about the event. He and his wife were volunteering for the week, and a few members had rented out their houses for players to stay in. I did what I usually do at events, walking most of the course forward and then turning around, walking it backward back toward No. 1, catching a shot or two from each group along the way.

I passed by Phil Mickelson’s group and learned that I share a mutual friend with one of the amateurs in his group. I walked two holes with him and his wife. They raved about the pairing party, and understandably so: They got the third pick of the night and discovered no one had chosen Phil yet. They were ecstatic at the opportunity to play with Mickelson and said he was the “nicest guy ever.” Martin Kaymer had played in a previous pro-am with the other amateur in the group, who was rocking a J.P. McManus Pro-Am bag. When a spot opened up, Kaymer invited him back to play this week. 

Phil got pulled aside to answer some questions for a video on the tee box of a par-3 and was definitely enjoying this particular hit. His energy was high and he was fully engaged. I wondered what it was like for him to go from playing all of his practice rounds and pro-ams in front of thousands of eager fans to no one at all. I continued my trek back to the media center. On the way, I ran into another amateur. He gestured to his group. “Don’t the pros just seem so much happier here?” he asked. It’s a point everyone in attendance delights in making.

I lost my bearings somewhere between the 3rd tee box and the 1st green (The International is quite a walk!), so I asked two guys for directions. They were LIV employees who looked to be in their early- to mid-twenties. It was their first week on the job. One came from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the other from the finance world. They were mostly there to observe the scene, just like I was. The whole us-vs.-them thing doesn’t exist at LIV events. After all, those on the ground assume everyone else there is all in.

I had had a conflict on Friday and Saturday, so I didn’t go to the tournament. Let’s fast-forward to Sunday morning.

SUNDAY

I arrived at about 10:30 a.m. Because the shotgun start wasn’t until after 1, I figured I’d be one of the first people on site. Wrong. The media lot was full, as was the fan zone, and people were milling all around the range. This was a full hour before any of the players even headed out. It was a crisp morning, music was playing, fans were playing putting and chipping games and the mood was up. It’s worth noting that big-time Tour events are electric on Sunday mornings, too, but this exceeded my expectations for LIV. It felt like a college football tailgate.

The practice area started to fill up just before noon. I was curious how it’d be with every player needing to use the practice facilities at the same time, but with a 48-player field, it worked. No one had to wait for a spot on the range or a hole on the green. Players were sorted by team on the range, and the mood felt relaxed. Cameron Smith went over to Lee Westwood and tried to pull down his socks. Smith jammed to the music playing over the speaker, and a few of the caddies lingered together. Matt Jones took a few moments to inspect Smith’s divot pattern (I learned he hits in a horizontal line as opposed to a vertical one). The ropes were fully lined with spectators, probably two people deep by the putting green and at least four deep by the range.

“Golfers and caddies, you have five minutes until the range closes and it’s time to go to your carts to head out to your starting hole.”

The emcee was doing his thing. He announced that Diplo would be performing after the round (and that they’d be selecting a lucky winner for a meet and greet, provided you used the correct hashtag). This part reminded me a bit of halftime at a college basketball game. He reminded spectators to check out the merchandise tent and even offered directions to the players. 

“Golfers and caddies, the range is now closed. Please head to your carts to be driven out to your starting hole.”

The players headed over to the left side of the range to hop into their carts, and I made my way over to the 1st tee. It was early afternoon and officially hot out. I didn’t count by hand, but I’d guess there were a few hundred people around the tee box and lining the 1st fairway. The gender ratio seemed to be close to 1:1, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen at a golf tournament before. I also was surprised to see the fans skewed younger than your average Tour event, a point the pros repeatedly hit on later. I saw a lot of college golf shirts from nearby Boston schools as well as parents with young kids. A volunteer told me they capped the event somewhere between 5,500 and 6,000 fans.

There were also at least 30 people inside the ropes. I found myself standing next to Bubba Watson as he mixed it up with fans and got people pumped up. Some sort of smoke machine went off in the middle of the fairway as the first group off No. 1, which included Matthew Wolff, made its way to the tee. A few skydivers appeared. People were cheering, and little kids were loving it. There was a huge countdown from 10 to the shotgun start, and people went nuts after reaching zero. It was like the fratty Massachusetts countryside’s answer to Times Square at New Year’s.

While the rowdiest, frattiest fans may be hushed at other events, they were fully embraced at LIV Boston. When a videographer saw one group of bros going nuts, he encouraged them to dial it up a notch while he recorded. The music is turned down slightly when players tee off, but it definitely doesn’t stop.

Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch came to the 1st tee next. LIV has the last two groups go off the 1st hole to make for a better finishing stretch. The crowd had stayed in place after the first group teed off, waiting around to see these guys. I’ve spent a lot of time watching Johnson play golf, and something was different this time: I have never seen him talk this much. He and Greg Norman stood together, catching up and cracking jokes. Norman reached into DJ’s bag at one point to take a swing with his 9-wood, a club he was curious about.

I stood on the 1st tee for a couple hours to watch groups come through. There was at least 15 minutes of waiting time in between each group, which felt like a slightly longer interval than normal but made sense for a shotgun start. I chatted with the volunteer who was in charge of the 1st tee; this was her third LIV event. She was in her 50s, wore a Trump golf shirt and has spent much time around golf. She has volunteered at the Honda Classic for years and decided to do some LIV events this year.

“Take this long and we’ll be here all effin’ day, right, Harold?”

Oh no. This won’t be good. The first fan misdemeanor of the day occurred when Ian Poulter stepped off his tee shot at No. 1, and an over-served man delivered this observation to Harold Varner, who was playing in Poulter’s group. I anxiously awaited Poulter’s reaction. He walked to his bag, put away his driver and fired back at the fan with a choice two-word phrase.

The volunteer told me about a fan who shouted to Patrick Reed on Friday, “Hey, make sure to mark your ball this week!” Reed, the volunteer said, had the fan escorted off the property.

I waited a while for Phil and his group to make their way to the 1st tee. I expected there to be a huge crowd with him, but there wasn’t. Maybe that was due to his place on the leaderboard, or the distance from the 18th green to the 1st tee. I met a golf influencer who LIV had brought in to cover the action via Instagram, and she told me to check out the back nine.

News

I headed to the 18th hole, which has an amphitheater green. About 150 people were sitting there watching. I heard a rumor that a Saudi prince was in one of the private boxes above the green as well.

I had to get back to work (my primary role at GOLF is in social media) so I settled in front of my computer to watch the final holes via the YouTube broadcast. I think any golf fan would have been excited to see DJ’s putt drop on the first playoff hole.

I’m glad I went back on Sunday because it allowed me to see LIV in action, to feel the energy of the event. It did have a different vibe than a typical tournament; the music guaranteed that. LIV’s focus is clearly on fan enjoyment and engagement.

I left LIV Boston with a different perspective on the whole thing. I’m not overly enamored with Greg Norman. I don’t like the way this has fractured the PGA Tour. I have serious misgivings about the source of LIV’s money. And (shoutout to Judge Freeman) I think the LIV players’ lawsuit is a little ridiculous. I was surprised to hear how many players believe they’ll tee it up on the PGA Tour again.

But it was eye-opening to see LIV’s model at work. As a spectator experience, the league undoubtedly is a draw for fans who want to cut loose and enjoy getting a little rowdy. The fan village was an easy win for kids, as were the skydivers and thumping music.

Someone asked me if I’d compare my experience at The International to what I’ve seen when the Harlem Globetrotters come to town. From a festivities and celebrations standpoint, maybe. But the Globetrotters aren’t trying to replace the NBA, nor do they have some of the biggest talents in their sport. LIV Golf does. And that’s what makes its future so complex.

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It’s taken months for LIV Golf to deliver what it has long promised to bring to the golf world, but it finally arrived Sunday: the first LIV Golf playoff, a highlight for one of the best golfers in the world and, before that, an hour of absolutely chaotic golf. 

Thanks to its everyone-on-the-course-at-once nature, the ending of LIV Golf’s Boston Invitational saw a host of its best players sprinting to the finish. There was Cameron Smith, the No. 2 player in the world and perhaps the most polarizing LIV commit to date. There was Dustin Johnson, two-time major winner and the biggest fish to join at its launch. There was Lee Westwood carding the best round of his season, and Anirban Lahiri nearly making eagle to win the event and Joaquin Niemann, another recent signee, trying to finish what he started. All around them were thousands of lubricated fans creating a boisterous setting at The International Golf Club. Mix it all up in a blender and that’s exactly what LIV wants to serve at its cookouts.

It was Lahiri who who locked up a score of 15 under first, about 10 minutes before the others. Then came Niemann, who preceded Johnson by only a couple minutes. When Johnson got up and down for a par to earn his spot in the playoff, it figured to be a lengthy one that dragged into the night. They’d play the par-5 18th as many times as necessary to crown a champion. 

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Just seconds later, at least according to the TV broadcast, Westwood stood over his par putt on the 3rd hole, in a completely different part of the course, and for the first time the balance of a tournament hung in the air somewhere other than the 18th hole. Deeply important shots, just seconds apart, adding immediate context to this sprinting format. It’s unlike pro golf as we’ve known it, and it’s still imperfect. You weren’t always sure what hole was a par-4 or a par-5, and it isn’t always obvious whether it was a putt for birdie or a par-saver, but the goods are being served constantly. Do you like this golfy chaos? That’s up to you. 

Johnson, Lahiri and Niemann were quickly whisked back to the 18th tee, where Niemann played first, pumping his tee shot into the crowd, bounding off a spectator. That happens everywhere in golf. It’s one of the odd spectator costs of doing business. What wasn’t normal was that we soon learned the fan’s name, Rich, because LIV Golf’s broadcast team stuck a microphone in his face and asked how he was doing. No, we’ve never seen this before. Do you like it? That’s up to you. 

Rich was a jolly man, nursing what will surely become a bruise on the left side of his chest. Encouraged by the people around him, he removed the sunglasses from his ball cap mid-interview and smiled. The front of his hat read “TRUMP.” He proceeded to say, “I want the PGA [Tour] and the LIV tournament to get along and get together.” 

Rich wasn’t speaking for for LIV Golf, as he was quickly ushered off the broadcast, nor the PGA Tour, which was off this week before a new season begins later this month. But he did seem to represent the fans at the Boston event. They were as loud and discordant as any LIV event we’ve seen thus far. That’s LIV’s motto: Golf, but Louder. Do you like it? That’s up to you.

The three-man playoff lasted only a few more shots, which was probably best for all. Niemann failed to give himself a birdie chance, and though Lahiri had a 3-foot birdie attempt waiting for him, he didn’t even get the chance to try it. Johnson took that away when he rammed in a 40-foot bomb for eagle. It smashed into the back of the cup, popped up and then dropped into the jar. Playoff over. The fans and the announcers went wild. It doesn’t matter what tour that happens on — most everyone is going to love it.

Lahiri couldn’t be angry. Nor could Niemann. They both smiled and dapped up DJ. They were both also set to make more money than they ever have before. 

To this point, LIV Golf finishes have exclusively been about that one thing: cash. Charl Schwartzel made a quiet bogey in London to finish a wire-to-wire victory in the inaugural event. The focus afterward largely was on his winnings. Branden Grace won by two in Portland, and it never really felt that close. Henrik Stenson won the New Jersey iteration of LIV Golf by two as well. There seemingly were no nervy shots along the way, only Stenson preparing a jab for the cameras about having his Ryder Cup captaincy taken from him. Through three events, the talk was mostly about the money, little about the shots, even less about the courses and holes the winning was happening on. That flipped, if only slightly, Sunday night in Massachusetts. 

Do you like it? That’s up to you. The next LIV event is just 12 days from now.

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The post Copy the 6 keys to Dustin Johnson’s powerful swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Copy the 6 keys to Dustin Johnson’s powerful swing appeared first on Golf.

Dustin Johnson was just a skinny kid when we first met, which was long before I recruited him to play at Coastal Carolina. He’s packed on quite a bit of muscle over the 20 years I’ve known him, yet the same athletic elements present in his swing way back then still exist today.

Just as he’s done with his physique, he’s elevated the athletic moves that made him a promising junior to bag two majors, hold a stint at the top of the OWGR (135 total weeks, 3rd most all time) and build a reputation as one of the most powerful drivers of his generation.

Instruction

Dustin, 37, has always bowed his left wrist at the top of his backswing. This requires him to rotate at breakneck speed on the way down, otherwise the face would remain closed, resulting in a left miss. Luckily, Dustin has always been fast, and with the work he’s put in at the gym over the years, he’s even faster. 

Surprisingly, Dustin’s athleticism helps him most when he’s not swinging his best or when faced with tricky lies. He has the uncanny ability to adjust to adversity without even thinking about it and still perform at an elite level. His 24 PGA Tour wins didn’t happen by accident. That’s the true proof of his one-of-a-kind athleticism. 

Here’s how his swing works.

Allen Terrell is a GOLF Top 100 Teacher and is the director of instruction at the Dustin Johnson Golf School in Myrtle Beach, S.C. 

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Dustin Johnson began Sunday’s Open Championship in seventh, should he go low at St. Andrews, he’ll flirt with the lead, and all of that is very respectable. It’s just that Paul McGinley wonders. 

Could he have applied the pressure after a birdie at 10 moved him to 12 under during Saturday’s third round? (The leaders started Sunday at 16 under.) Would DJ have been sharper ahead of a 4-foot miss on 13? Would he have been more careful on 14, when he rolled his ball, from just off the green, into a greenside bunker? 

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Johnson, you may have heard, plays his golf now for LIV Golf, and because he does, DJ has played three tournaments since the PGA Championship, and two if you drop the U.S. Open. And McGinley believes there’s a connection between that and Johnson’s Open fate. 

The longtime pro and former Ryder Cup captain, now working as an analyst for Golf Channel, believes you need reps.  

“I’ve played professional golf for 25 years; I’ve observed the very best players, as well as I’ve played at a very top level myself,” McGinley said Saturday on Golf Channel’s Live from the Open Championship. “And a lot of it is my experience and instinct and feel. I’m a great believer, at the very, very elite level of so much of it comes down to competitiveness. And I’m also a great believer in preparing, being prepared, like training, like athletes train. You got to train to be competitive. 

“And you do that from cutting your teeth in professional golf.”

And what does that accomplish?

“Playing four-round tournaments, there’s a rhythm to doing that,” McGinley said on Golf Channel. “You got to be playing a lot of that to keep the rhythm going. And you work your way into the rhythm of playing and winning in tournaments.”

A few things here. McGinley was quick to say his thought was not so much a LIV Golf one, as it was for any pro player who opts for a limited schedule. In fact, he holds the same belief for the chances of Tiger Woods, who’s played only the Masters, PGA Championship and this week’s Open, where he missed the cut. And yes, it’s very possible to play well and even win with little tournament play, and golfers have done that. 

Then again, McGinley said it makes playing the most difficult events all the more so. 

“I don’t see the body of work going in for the reasons that he’s gone to the LIV tour and he’s playing over there — this is not an anti-LIV statement — but when he’s going over there and playing in these three tournaments, shotgun starts, it’s a completely different vibe. It’s not preparing yourself for a four-round tournament that a major championship is,” he said on Golf Channel. “… I don’t see the body of work going in, and preparing for that exam is really important, getting into the rhythm of professional golf. And, as I say, it’s the same reason I’m not fancying Tiger Woods until he can hopefully play some PGA tournaments in between these majors before we can ever see Tiger competing to any way reasonably to the standard he used to do. 

“And that’s what I saw with DJ: He’s off the pace because you’re not playing the same exam that these are. It’s a very, very different test and a different mindset.” 

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The post Dustin Johnson had a hilarious reaction to his 18th-hole miscue at the Open appeared first on Golf.

Dustin Johnson carded a birdie at the 18th hole on Saturday at the Open Championship, but that 3 on the scorecard doesn’t tell the entire story. This birdie was an adventure.

With the fairways firm and baked-out this week, nearly every player in the field has the length to reach the par-4 finisher from the tee. But instead of flying the entire distance, players have landed the ball short and let the ground do the work.

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Johnson’s plan was no different in Round 3 — but he accidentally took that ground-game strategy to the utmost extreme.

As soon as his ball left the clubface, the two-time major winner knew it wasn’t the shot he intended to hit.

“Oh Jesus,” he said. “That was low.”

“Low” might be an understatement. With the trajectory of his ball, he was threatening the local earthworm population. Not to mention the famed Swilcan Bridge.

Instead of a low stinger, Johnson semi-topped the ball and watched as his ball zipped past the bridge, barely cleared the burn that runs in front of the tee and hopped down the fairway. Luckily, with the conditions as they are, the miscue didn’t hurt his distance too much with the ball rolling out and ending up over 280 yards from the tee box.

You can watch the shot below.

“That’s hilarious,” said NBC analyst Paul Azinger. “You know what, even the best players are going to hit some shots that are pretty ugly. He sure did get away with it.”

Never one to take himself too seriously, Johnson even had some fun at his own expense as he walked off the tee box.

“We were walking off the tee, and D.J. looks at me, and he goes, ‘Man, I forgot to get the cover there. I didn’t think about that,'” said Scottie Scheffler, who played alongside Johnson on Saturday. “It carried the burn by like 10 yards.”

In the end, though, the miscue didn’t hurt Johnson. From his position in the fairway, he pitched on the green and sunk a 16-foot birdie putt to close out a third-round 71.

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The post Small equipment tweaks paying off big for Dustin Johnson at Open Championship appeared first on Golf.

Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson backed up his first-round 68 with a second-round five-under 67 to stand at nine under par at the halfway point of the 2022 Open Championship.

Like many golfers that headed over to the firm and windy links, Dustin made a number of tweaks to his gear, and this is a look inside his golf bag at St Andrews.

Gear

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (10.5°), with Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 2.0

4-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth (16.5°), with Fujikura Ventus Black

7-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth (21°), with ProjectX Smoke Black

Irons: Taylormade DJ Proto 3-PW, with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue

The biggest change to Dustin’s setup is towards the top end of his iron set. Instead of opting for a driving iron like many players this week, he decided to put his traditional blade 3-iron back in the bag and removed the 24° Stealth 9-wood that he has been using during the season. At DJ’s speed, the extra long iron allows him to flight the ball in the wind and keep it out of the elements as much as possible.

Gear

Wedges: TaylorMade MG1 52° and 60°

Another underrated element is Dustin’s wedge setup which only relies on two wedges beyond his set pitching wedge. The 52°/60° loft combo is an extreme outlier in a world where most golfers are using three wedges with smaller loft gaps past their pitching wedge ⁠— but not DJ. In a way, it’s a smart move and helps prevent overanalyzing that some players might experience when faced with a number of choices around the tricky greens.

Putter: TaylorMade Spider GT Black

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — There are two-dozen LIV Golf players in the field at the 150th Open Championship. Dustin Johnson is here; in fact, for a brief while Friday afternoon, he was your outright leader, at nine under par. Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia are here, too. Same goes for Poults, Westy and Blandy. To say they’ve been treated like outcasts at the Old Course, in the shadows of the imposing Royal & Ancient clubhouse, would be an overstatement. But they haven’t exactly been embraced with open arms, either.

Greg Norman, LIV’s vocal leader and proud owner of two Claret Jugs, was told by the R&A to stay home this week. Mickelson, an Open winner in 2013, was not officially blacklisted from the past-champion festivities on Monday and Tuesday, but he was strongly encouraged not to attend. On the 1st tee on Thursday, Poulter heard something you virtually never hear from the reserved and respectful Open galleries: boos.      

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Nary a single LIV player — not Phil, nor DJ, nor King Louis, a past Open winner at the Old Course — was invited into the media center to sit for a pre-tournament press conference. None were assigned what might be described as a marquee tee time, either. Mickelson was in the fifth group out on Thursday with Lucas Herbert and Kurt Kitayama. Patrick Reed, who this week has LIV branding on his shirt sleeve, collar and hat, went off with Tom Hoge and JooHyung Kim. Westwood, historically a crowd favorite at the Open, played with J.T. Poston and Stephen Dodd. Garcia, Bland and Oosthuizen were all grouped with amateurs.

But wait, there’s more! When R&A chief Martin Slumbers met with the media Wednesday, he required no prompting from reporters to reveal his feelings about the LIV movement. Near the top of his opening remarks, Slumbers said, “Before we get the press conference underway, I would like to briefly address a topic which is no doubt on most of your minds.” He wasn’t talking about Princess Anne’s plans to attend the Open.

Without mentioning LIV by name, Slumbers went on to say of LIV’s first two events, “I believe the model we’ve seen at Centurion and Pumpkin Ridge is not in the best long-term interests of the sport as a whole and is entirely driven by money. We believe it undermines the merit-based culture and the spirit of open competition that makes golf so special. I would also like to say that in my opinion the continued commentary that this is about growing the game is just not credible and if anything, is harming the perception of our sport which we are working so hard to improve.”

Whether the R&A’s cold shoulder — and the steady drumbeat of LIV-related questions in player press conferences — has affected LIV pros is hard to say. But if the leaderboard through two rounds is any indication, at least some of them appear undaunted. Among the LIV’ers in the red, and in the hunt, are DJ (nine under), Talor Gooch (seven under), Abraham Ancer (five under), Poulter and Westwood (both four under).

After his second-round 69, Gooch was asked whether LIV players have been galvanized by the R&A’s chilly reception.  

“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “Everybody, it feels like, is against us, and that’s OK. Like you said, it’s kind of banded us together, I think.”

Band of LIV brothers.

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You could see those cliques in action in practice rounds earlier this week. Garcia played with Ancer. Poulter and Bland joined Sam Horsfield. Mickelson set out with fellow LIV’ers Garcia, Bernd Wiesberger and LIV newbie Paul Casey. There’s no designated LIV section in player dining (that we know of) but you can’t help but wonder if that’s coming next.

PGA Tour loyalists like Justin Thomas and Billy Horschel have spoken of feeling betrayed by players who have not been forthright about the reasons why they’ve jumped ship for LIV (i.e., money). But it’s unclear whether the turmoil has actually uprooted personal relationships.

At the Scottish Open last week, Thomas said about being grouped with LIV players: “If I know all four of them, then it will be fine. It will be easy. But even if I don’t, I don’t necessarily think we’re going to be having any gamesmanship or needling each other.”  

Padraig Harrington has said he won’t let the LIV tension spoil his friendships, likening the friction to something you might encounter with extended family at Thanksgiving. “You could be a Republican, they could be a Democrat,” he said a couple of weeks ago. “But you’re friends at that particular time, and maybe politics isn’t mentioned at the dinner table.”

Read: Don’t talk LIV in the locker room.

Westwood wasn’t quite so diplomatic when speaking with reporters after his first round Thursday. When asked about Tiger Woods’ rebuke of LIV from earlier this week, Westwood said, “He’s got a vested interest, hasn’t he? The LIV players will talk up LIV. The PGA Tour players that aren’t on the LIV Tour will talk the PGA Tour up and put down the LIV tour. I don’t pay too much to people’s opinions.”

To which a reporter said, “But he’s saying players that have gone to LIV have turned their back on those who made them.”

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Westwood: “Tiger’s entitled to his opinion.”

One key question looming over the LIV drama is whether LIV players will be barred from the majors. There’s no indication that they will be but there also has been no indication that they won’t. The matter hinges in large part on whether LIV is accredited by the Official World Golf Ranking; if that happens, Norman has said, “everything takes care of itself.”

Meantime, players are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Gooch, 30, who is playing in his just his second Open — he finished T33 a year ago at Royal St. George’s — was asked if he feels any “extra motivation” this week given this could potentially be his last Open start.

“I mean, it would be a cool one to go out on,” he said. “Hopefully not, though.

“I’d like to think that the majors would like to have the best players in the world playing in their events in spite of everything that’s going on, but obviously that’s not up to me. It’s up to other people. Hopefully this won’t be my last one.”

Presumably, Dustin Johnson feels the same way. Johnson this week is playing in his 13th Open; four times he has finished in the top 10, including a runner-up finish in 2011. He said he fell in love with links golf when he first visited the U.K. during his senior year at Coastal Carolina. “I like the way it makes you think on every shot, where you want to hit it, where you want the ball to end up,” he said.

After posting a five-under 67 Friday, Johnson was asked the same question that Gooch had been: Were he and the other LIV players near the top of the leaderboard galvanized by the anti-LIV rhetoric?

“I don’t really know what you’re talking about,” he said. “For me, obviously, they’re all good players and playing well this week.”

Garcia was also posed the same question. He was even more dismissive.

“I don’t care what they say,” he said. 

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The post While you were sleeping Friday at The Open: LIV golfers making a move appeared first on Golf.

The post While you were sleeping Friday at The Open: LIV golfers making a move appeared first on Golf.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Day 2 at the Open Championship is underway on a soggier, softer Old Course. What did you miss while you were sleeping? Some of the same, some things different. Read on below …  

Tiger’s Open likely to come to a close

Tiger Woods held everyone’s attention just 24 hours ago as he prepped to make a run at the 150th Open Championship. In a matter of moments Thursday, he hit into a divot, played into the burn, then made double bogey. His opening 78 properly calmed expectations. On Friday, Woods needed a 66 or so to make the cut, and that’s just not going to happen. 

Woods opened with a couple pars before going birdie-bogey on 3 and 4. He then drove into a boorish spot, up against the wall of a bunker right of 6. He splashed out of the sand — essentially a penalty stroke — into the rough, then played up to the green for another bogey, moving to seven over for the event. Tune in for his walk over the bridge Friday afternoon and try to avoid the looming questions that follow, like when will we see him next? 

Softer St. Andrews

Players and fans woke to a much different setting Friday morning. Thursday, the course was caked in sun. Friday, it took on some rain. Mother Nature sprayed a soft drizzle all morning in St. Andrews, adding some much needed moisture to a course that had become absolutely baked in the recent heat wave and wind. The fairways are more firm than the greens this week, but with just a little rain, the course was playing a bit softer in the second round. Players could spin shots back a bit more on the greens, if ever so slightly. What does it mean for the afternoon? Go time. The wind is expected to die down as the day goes on, making conditions absolutely ripe for scoring. 

LIV Golfers make a move 

Amid all the magic of visiting the Home of Golf, it can be easy to forget that a civil war wages on in pro golf’s background. LIV Golf vs. the PGA Tour has taken a bit of a backseat to the Open Championship, but that can only last for so long. Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch, two of the best golfers who have signed on with LIV, each made a charge Friday morning. 

Gooch birdied the 1st, 3rd and 14th to race up to seven under, finishing one back of 18-hole leader Cameron Young, while Johnson has reached seven under himself through 14 holes. Sergio Garcia, after shooting 75 in his first round, erased all of that with five birdies and an eagle in his first 14 holes Friday. Could a LIV golfer actually win this week? There’s nothing stopping them. It would be treated as a massive victory for the rival golf league. 

Scottie Scheffler, too!

Early in the week, Scottie Scheffler discussed how he doesn’t feel much of the perception that he’s the No. 1 player in the world. Despite winning four times this year, including the Masters, Scheffler’s popularity could certainly grow. Through 30 holes in the Open, he’s well on his way to testing that theory on another global stage.

Features

The World No. 1 made birdie on Nos. 10, 11 and 12 Friday morning to reach seven under, one shot back. A win this week, or even just a top five finish, would almost certainly crown Scheffler as the PGA Tour Player of the Year. He doesn’t have a ton of links golf experience, but are we allowed to doubt anything about his game these days? The answer is no, not anymore.

Calc’s Farewell 

Marc Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open Champion, walked his final round in an Open Championship Friday. Calc was first off Friday morning after shooting 83 on Thursday, finishing with a par on the last for a two-day total of 20 over. His week was nothing more than ceremonial, but that’s okay. That’s how it should be. He two-putted to finish and kissed his wife, who was caddying for him. A 30-year Open career finally complete at the Old Course.

“I felt it. I felt the emotions,” he said. “Got a little mildly choked up, but all the way around, the last two days, the fans were great. They were cheering for me and pulling for me, and they’ll aware that this was my last Open. So that was pretty cool. It means a lot. It really does.”

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The post LIV Golf: Here are the players who have joined the rival series appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV Golf: Here are the players who have joined the rival series appeared first on Golf.

If it feels like the pro golf world has fractured a bit, that’s because it has. The launch of the LIV Golf series has driven a wedge into the men’s game in recent weeks, with, as of this writing, 20 PGA Tour players (and counting) joining the series. 

But all of that has come out in a trickle. Some players swore off the series, while others stayed quiet. Others yet — like Bryson DeChambeau — even flipped their opinions in a matter of days. Who is all involved with the LIV series? It can get confusing, but we’ve spelled it out for you below.

Phil Mickelson is the obvious one. Mickelson has become the face of the Tour by signing on to play all eight events in 2022 and all 10 events planned for 2023. He’s also among the 17 players who were suspended by the PGA Tour just moments after they teed off in the first LIV event. Mickelson, unlike most of the others, has not resigned his Tour membership, and believes he deserves to maintain his lifetime membership status. 

Dustin Johnson is the other big name who recently committed to the series. Unlike Mickelson, Johnson has resigned his Tour membership. It was Johnson’s involvement, according to various Tour sources, that changed the scope of the series for many professionals. Pat Perez is one of those pros, who admitted that Johnson is “100% the reason” why he’s playing. 

Perez committed during the final round of the LIV Golf London event, just hours after 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed committed, and two days after DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, committed. Speaking with reporters at the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline, DeChambeau called the move “strictly a business decision.” 

In total, the series currently boasts six different Masters champions, inclusive of Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel, who both played in the first LIV event. The most recent commits came just days after the U.S. Open, with 4-time major champion Brooks Koepka and Abe Ancer.

At the moment, LIV Golf has a wide array of players taking part. Some of them have signed multiple-year contracts. Others are going to take part in some events here, other events there. The fields are capped at 48 players, so the more names involved, the fewer spots available. Below is a list of notable players who have played in the series or committed to future events.

We will update this post as more names join the series.

LIV Golf committed players, future players

Phil Mickelson
Dustin Johnson
Sergio Garcia
Brooks Koepka
Bryson DeChambeau
Patrick Reed
Pat Perez
Abe Ancer
Matthew Wolff
Carlos Ortiz
Eugenio Chacarra
Lee Westwood
Ian Poulter
Martin Kaymer
Branden Grace
Louis Oosthuizen
Talor Gooch
Matt Jones
Graeme McDowell
Kevin Na
Andy Ogletree
Turk Pettit
Charl Schwartzel
Hudson Swafford
Peter Uihlein
James Piot
Chase Koepka
Shaun Norris
Justin Harding
Sam Horsfield

We will update this post as more names join the series.

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The post Some LIV Golf players have committed to multiple-year contracts appeared first on Golf.

The post Some LIV Golf players have committed to multiple-year contracts appeared first on Golf.

ST. ALBANS, England — Very little has been said in Phil Mickelson’s deliberately tentative press conferences this week at the LIV Golf Invitational, but one factoid did squeak in Thursday evening. Despite being suspended indefinitely by the PGA Tour, and unwilling to comment on that matter at all, Mickelson has instead committed to play every single one of the eight LIV events this year, and all 10 events the series is planning for 2023.

In other words, even though Mickelson believes private contractual info should stay exactly that — private — he did admit that he has signed on for at least two years. 

While much has been reported about the hefty sums of money players have accepted to commit to the rival series, not much had been clarified about the length of their commitments. They are not the same for every player, but they are often more than one year.

Bryson DeChambeau has not played a single LIV event yet, but his commitment was officially announced Friday during the second round. His contract, according to sources close to the situation, is multi-year as well, and also worth more than the previously reported $120 million figure. 

Speaking after his second-round 70 Friday, Dustin Johnson was in a good mood, happy to share. Mickelson has committed to two years, I said to DJ, then asked: Have you committed to multiple years of LIV Golf?

Tournaments

“Yes, I have,” Johnson said, always answering only the question he’s been asked. 

“How many?” 

“A few,” he said, smiling. 

The press conference was then abruptly ended, limited to less than four minutes in all. But the truth was, the highest-ranked player in the field, who ultimately validated LIV in a way no other pro had before last week, was happy to share the exact info. Johnson sauntered off the podium, crossed paths with me and spoke quietly: “Officially, it’s four years.” 

Johnson had spent the previous few minutes telling the press that he’s very content with the proposed schedule of just eight events in 2022, and four more if you include the major championships. His exemption in those, as it turns out, runs out after the same four years, in 2025.

“That was the whole reason I started playing on LIV is to play less golf, not more,” he said. 

The schedule, it seems — and that it includes fewer events — is an underrated point of progress for LIV with the players who have committed. They argue that fewer events creates greater freedom for the rest of their lives. They have often scorned the 15-event minimum the PGA Tour has held up as a requisite to maintain membership on a year-to-year basis. Well, there’s no complex philosophy needed to understand it’s easier to commit to multiple years when the money is large and suddenly the work is less. Even the players who haven’t necessarily signed multi-year deals are able to think about a future where instead of 15 events being their minimum for membership, maybe it’s their maximum. 

“I’m doing this to play less so I can be more with my family,” Sergio Garcia said. “Not to play more.”

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