LIV Golf: Four Burning Questions That Need Answering

What to watch for next in the battle between the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour.

1. Does the LIV Tour get a TV deal?

Nothing screams legitimacy in golf quite like a major American network on hand to telecast the doings…and the longer the telecast the better.

The LIV Tour takes to the course in London next Thursday morning. To date, Tour officials have been circumspect about television arrangements. There has been no announcement that the event will be viewable in the United States.

Obviously, any American network interested in telecasting the Saudi event would have to reckon with the consequences of doing so. That pertains both to its relationship, either current or future, with the PGA Tour itself. It also pertains to sponsorships.

Major U.S. corporations are believed to be leery of affiliating with the Saudis both for their human rights record and also for fear of alienating the PGA Tour…assuming those sponsors value such a connection.

NBC, CBS, and The Golf Channel already have extensive ties to the PGA Tour, making them highly unlikely to be interested in cozying up to the LIV Tour.

That leaves ABC, Fox, ESPN, or some network with a lesser exposure to golf programming as options. While neither ABC, Fox, or ESPN have current contracts with the PGA Tour, all three have or recently have had arrangements with conductors of at least one of the sport’s four Majors, and all of those conductors have at least indirect linkages with the PGA Tour.

Those too would have to reckon with sponsor hesitation at the thought of appearing to sanction any event done by the Saudis.

If the LIV Tour cannot land a major American TV outlet, that will hurt its credibility as a legitimate force on the golf scene. The adage, “out of sight, out of mind,” very strongly applies in the field of high-level professional golf in the USA. If you don’t think so, answer this question: Who won the European Tour event last week?

The LIV Tour is throwing around a lot of money. But the world’s top players are backed by sponsors who more than anything crave the kind of exposure for their products brought by seeing their guys on TV on weekend afternoons.

If the LIV cannot deliver on that, it will soon lose a lot of attractiveness.

2. Will the PGA Tour crackdown on members who jump to the LIV?

The PGA Tour has threatened to take disciplinary actions against players who participate in LIV events. Based on the announced field for the first such event next weekend in London, players susceptible to sanctions would include, but not be limited to, Dustin Johnson, Kevin Na, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, and Graeme McDowell.

Swafford and Matt Jones, an Englishman also identified as among the 42 announced players in the LIV inaugural, are scheduled to tee it up at the Memorial Tournament this weekend outside Columbus, Ohio.

If PGA Tour officials really want to make a statement, they could summarily suspend both Swafford and Jones from the Memorial field. Given that neither has actually struck a ball in an LIV event yet, that would be bold, but it would be definitive.

The more likely scenario is for the PGA Tour to wait to see who actually plays in the London LIV event. Suspensions flowing from next weekend’s activities would be especially interesting because the U.S. Open begins one weekend later in Brookline, Mass.

Johnson, Na, and Gooch are all among players scheduled to compete for the U.S. national championship.

PGA Tour suspensions next week would have the byproduct of putting the United States Golf Association in a very awkward position. The USGA, which operates the US Open, Is not required to recognize any PGA Tour disciplinary actions, so even if they are suspended Johnson, Na and Gooch could play in the Open.

Allowing that, however, could create a distraction during Tournament week that the USGA would just as soon avoid. It could also damage relationships between two of the game’s major governing bodies.

A USGA official Wednesday addressed that contingency without really addressing it, saying the organization reserves the right to review the eligibility of any player.

The only problem with that is there is no record of the USGA ever disqualifying a player for a reason not directly related to their performance on the course.