Phil Mickelson gave a hint about the future of LIV; how much can we read into it?
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Phil Mickelson said something interesting on Thursday. Or maybe he didn’t. But we can wonder.
This weekend marks the final competition of LIV Golf 2024 the season. While the individual competition concluded last week in Chicago, this week marks the team championship, held for the first time at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas. The conclusion of the third season of the league has LIV players looking ahead to next year and beyond. But it is impossible to see next year and beyond without wondering how the future of LIV intersects with the future of the PGA Tour; any agreement between the two remains confusing, protracted oblivion.
Mickelson’s comments came near the end of a press conference on Thursday that began with LIV team captains picking their opponents for the weekend’s play and ended with questions about the league more broadly. It was actually Martin Kaymer who broached the subject first, answering a question about what he hopes to see in 2025.
“First and foremost, I think we all need to understand that LIV is still a startup,” Kaymer said. “They only started two and a half, three years ago, and where we’ve gotten to today has been absolutely amazing.” He cited the need for further adjustments “until we get it all right.” But he also suggested a notable change in schedule.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do next year, if maybe the team aspect will stay more in – let’s say more – I think where the team is more important than individual results, so there’s a lot of talk it’s happening now. That would be fantastic because that’s what LIV is all about, the team aspect.”
Louis Oosthuizen chimed in, echoing the team’s first approach.
“I think going forward we all think the team side of it will probably take over and LIV Golf will probably be more of a team than anything else,” he said.
That’s where Mickelson came in, first teasing the idea that there’s still interest from outside players to sign with LIV — “Yes,” he said, though he declined to expand beyond that — before expanding on the idea of LIV doubling down on the game. team. .
“The match play, the head-to-head aspect of it is bringing a different dynamic, a different feel, a different energy,” he said. “And I think the great thing about LIV Golf is the ability to rotate and change and do things a little more fluidly than other tournaments, and maybe that’s something we look at in the future by having more team events throughout the year and not just the end of the season. This is a lot of fun. We are all enjoying it. There is more interest. You notice that there are a lot more laughs, a lot more interesting matches.
“I think this week is really a special week. It’s an exciting week and I think it resonates more with a lot of fans and maybe we should do that a little more often.”
So how should we read these reviews and how do they relate to the larger world of golf? One interpretation would be that this is a bunch of nothings, just guys talking off the cuff at a press conference. Maybe they’re trumpeting the merits of team play because this week they’re playing team play, the way you can go bowling for the first time in a while and say to your friends, “You know, we really HAVE to go bowling more often.”
But I doubt it. When Mickelson speaks publicly, he usually means something by it. And the captains’ alignment on the subject suggests they’ve at least talked internally about this first team emphasis, which, by the way, is no small change: It would represent a significant departure for the league. While LIV has marketed itself as a team-first product—the uniforms, the captains, the franchises—the league’s mechanics have still rewarded and prioritized individual kicking play. Individual purses have small team purses, and team profits are said to go back to the franchise, not the individuals, anyway. Most weeks, the team aspect has felt like an add-on to the individual competition rather than the focal point. What they’re talking about, then, is “the ability to turn” into something different: a league that would be the first team in the modern history of professional golf.
This seems like a good idea for several reasons. For one, it would further differentiate LIV from other golf leagues; despite its shotgun start, the 54-hole LIV format is still weekend stroke golf, just like the PGA Tour and every other big-time tournament. For another, team match play is a reliably exciting version of golf — at least in the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup. The Cleeks, to this point, don’t have the same built-in fan base as the United States, but the format at least has promise. Plus, LIV doesn’t have much to lose; it has already abandoned its quest for world ranking points and their low TV ratings suggest so SOMETHING needs to change, so they have the flexibility to do so. And if long-term value is the goal, tilting further in terms of team could theoretically affect the value of the league’s franchises.
Let’s not stop there. Come with me one step further on this journey with dots. Let’s get back to this idea that professional golf is trying to find a way forward where the PGA Tour and LIV can exist in the same universe and overlap more often than just the majors. While there were some sensational reports earlier this week that the sticking point in negotiations is Jon Rahm and other LIV pros paying signing bonuses, the sources I’ve spoken to don’t lend as much credence. Instead, the bigger questions involve the Department of Justice, the size of the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s investment and — that’s our focus here — how to incorporate a version of LIV into the PGA Tour schedule.
A lot of people with a lot of money and pride have gone too far down the path of LIV to fold up shop; that seems unlikely at this point. But perhaps if LIV focuses more on what makes it different — the team aspect — it’s easier to move it from a direct competitor to a complementary piece of the golf puzzle. Perhaps there is a world where team golf remains as LIV’s legacy, that team schedule is folded into the PGA Tour schedule, franchises continue to exist, and individual LIV players have a path to play in PGA Tour events.
None of this will happen quickly. That much is clear by now. Not everyone wants the same thing, either. But there are signs of schemes and signs of compromise. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler host a made-for-TV matchup with Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. The PGA of America clarifies that LIV players will qualify for the PGA Championship and the ongoing US Ryder Cup team. DP World Tour working with Jon Rahm and others to allow them to appeal their sanctions and compete in the meantime. And now, for the first time, we can see LIV make a change that makes it more compatible with the rest of the golf world.
The unified future of pro golf requires piecing together a puzzle. In time, we’ll see if stakeholders want to find a way to fit it together — or if they’d rather drop the box on the ground, sending important parts crashing under the sofa.
