On the same day details surfaced about the “2.0” vision leaders are pitching about a re-imagined LIV Golf without the support of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, two of the league’s biggest stars shared a stark difference in opinion about the league’s future.
Bryson DeChambeau has been involved in the investor pitches for “LIV 2.0,” which would see players taking on more of an ownership stake. The league’s schedule would be reduced and players would have increased equity in the league along with regaining their commercial rights to market themselves.
“I think this has a lot of opportunity,” DeChambeau said after his opening round at LIV Golf Andalucia on Thursday. “And if somebody sees the plan that (LIV CEO) Scott (O’Neil) and them are putting forward … Yeah, I’ve been helping a little bit behind the scenes, and I think that there’s a lot of benefit to capital coming into this league.”
PIF, which has reportedly invested upward of $5 billion since the league’s inception, will end its funding after this season. LIV continues to reach out to potential investors, with O’Neil reportedly seeking in the range of $250-300 million to keep the league running.
According to a report by bunkered.co.uk, LIV is pitching the concept of 10 events on five different continents in 2027, with five of them considered “team majors.” Meanwhile, Yahoo! Sports reported that “National Opens” will be created as individual events that allow LIV to remain in key markets.
One of those would almost certainly be in Spain, with LIV featuring the all-Spanish Fireballs GC team captained by Sergio Garcia. Garcia won the individual title two years ago at Valderrama, one of his favorite courses in the world.
“I hope we play here every single year. I love this place,” Garcia said Thursday. “I think that Valderrama obviously has something special. It has so much class. You can kind of consider it the Augusta of Europe.”
However, Garcia acknowledged that LIV must “have a good business plan” in order to survive past this season. He’s hopeful that the Valderrama event can attract enough attention and revenue to be seen as a benefit to potential investors.
“We’ve got to look at where we can have the best business plan for moving forward, and I would love it to be here,” Garcia said. “But to be totally honest, I don’t know.”
LIV is leaning heavily into the aspect of team golf as it makes it’s 2.0 pitch. The “National Opens” could end up helping players accrue Official World Golf Ranking points, and players would have additional opportunities to have equity in the individual teams that are largely owned by the PIF currently.
“I think one of the things people don’t realize is the team franchise valuations,” DeChambeau said. “(If) we get what we’re doing on the top side right, I think the momentum could be endless for us.”
–Field Level Media
