In the week before Rory McIlroy’s victory at the recent Masters, I was looking through some old material about the tournament. (I know: I really do need to get out more.) This research reminded me that until 2000 the Masters had the players paired as twoballs in every round, and after the first round the pairings were remade so that the leaders went out last as early as Friday. I thought that was the kind of idea LIV might have adopted if it wanted to make its competitions seem different to the norm. Of course, no LIV event would ever gain the sort of traction enjoyed by the goings-on at Augusta National. However, it now seems that LIV events might soon not so much take inspiration from the past as be in the past.
The situation is not wholly clear and remains fluid but it appears the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has backed LIV Golf to the reported tune of $6 billion, will not be prepared to do so beyond the end of this year. If that happens, it is nigh on impossible to envisage any other party being able or capable of plugging the gap. Even people with unfathomably deep pockets, such as the Saudis, baulk at throwing good money after bad and it may be that the political and cultural upheaval caused in the Gulf region by the ramifications of the war in Iran have provided them with an ‘out’ – possibly being able to cancel contracts on the basis of force majeure and also being able to extricate themselves from the situation without a dramatic loss of face. After all, no one can disagree that the world, particularly in the Middle East, has changed enormously in the past few weeks.
Maybe it was bound to end this way. As has been frequently pointed out, the Saudis could have got into golf in other expansive (as well as expensive) ways without taking such pride in “disrupting the status quo”, as the LIV CEO, Scott O’Neil, put it last week. His predecessor, Greg Norman, was an even more combative personality. Norman was a terrific golfer, twice winner of the Open Championship, and has been a resourceful and successful businessman. But in golf he is chiefly remembered for his failures, some of them spectacular. Along with Craig Wood, he is the only man to have lost a playoff for all four major championships, including losing the 1987 Masters when Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet on the second playoff hole and losing the 1989 Open in a playoff after hitting his ball out-of-bounds. Plus, he lost the 1986 USPGA Championship when Bob Tway holed a bunker shot at the last. For good (bad?) measure, Robert Gamez pipped him to the title at Bay Hill in 1990 by holing out his 7-iron approach shot to the 72nd green. If the Saudis were hoping Greg would be a good-luck charm, well…
LIV Golf might not represent the end of Saudi involvement in professional golf. For example, there may be a way for the PIF to work out an ongoing relationship with the DP World Tour. Time will tell. But for LIV, time may be running out.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
