The emergence of LIV Golf has dominated the sport to an extent fans haven’t seen since Tiger Woods joined the picture in the 1990s.
For that reason, indifference in regard to the breakaway entity that has split professional golf in half is rare to find. Some enjoy LIV’s format, which features individuals and teams competing for outrageous sums of money via shotgun starts in a festival-esque atmosphere that makes you almost forget you’re at a golf tournament. Others scoff at the idea of the major champions and mini-tour players alike playing in no-cut events that have been largely criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash it’s human rights record, seeing as LIV is financially backed and supported by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund.
Over the last year, LIV held eight events and secured some of the best players and characters pro golf has to offer. In 2023, LIV will transition to a 14-event league with even loftier goals for its future. To help contextualize all that happened this year and look ahead to 2023, I enlisted the help of some friends and colleagues from various media outlets who covered the upstart circuit in its inaugural year.
Thanks to Tom D’Angelo (Palm Beach Post), Bob Harig (Sports Illustrated), Garrett Morrison (The Fried Egg), Mark Schlabach (ESPN) and Sean Zak (Golf Magazine) for contributing.