The LIV Golf League certainly has had its detractors who oppose the music blaring during play, the reduced three rounds of action, shotgun starts, the team aspect and of course the controversial Saudi Arabian backers. But they can’t argue with its success, luring an impressive line-up of golf
LIV Golf Adelaide reviewed: I went to a LIV Golf event and this is what I learned
The Watering Hole during LIV Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club. Photo / Getty Images
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LIV Golf has 14 events in its slate but no country has been more welcoming than Australia, a golf-mad nation starved of star-quality tournaments. Last year, LIV Adelaide was a huge success, rated among the players as the best tournament of the year, highlighted by the hundreds of plastic cups that lay around the stadium par-three 12th hole following Chase Koepka’s hole-in-one, the first ace in LIV history. Capacity for the event was increased by 50 per cent this year, with more than 35,000 attending each day across the three rounds. Many hospitality areas like the stands surrounding the 12th, dubbed the Watering Hole, sold out quickly, while hosting music performances after all three rounds added a younger audience and festival atmosphere.
It would be wrong to judge the tour as a whole based on the fervour the Adelaide event creates. LIV Adelaide is the peak of the LIV Golf tour; what organisers would love all 14 events to be. I doubt the likes of Jeddah or Singapore get as rowdy as the huge galleries seen following Aussie star Cam Smith across all three days at The Grange Golf Club. Golf fans in Adelaide showed their opinion with their feet - and their wallets. They turned up and showed out. Many were decked out in LIV Golf merchandise, not bothered by any negatives about the tour, they simply just wanted to see golf stars doing amazing things on a golf course. And for the most part, the players delivered.
Relatively unknown American Brendan Steele won after total unknown Jinichiro Kozuma led on day one. None of the big names of LIV such as Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Smith or Phil Mickelson were in serious contention for the individual title, until Rahm made a brief run late on Sunday - but that didn’t seem to matter.
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Scenes 👀
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) April 26, 2024
Cam Smith walks down 18 to close Round 1 in Adelaide 😍#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/tHbhkkumpU
It must be noted my flights and accommodation were paid for by LIV Golf, and I admit I drank a few Solos from the media centre. When you’re in that position as a journalist, you must still be critical and fair in coverage but it’s hard to find a huge aspect of the event to critique. It’s been a roaring success for Adelaide and should only get bigger.
That’s partly because golf is riding a new high post-Covid, with casual players dusting off the old clubs and young people jumping on board with the disposable income that would have been used on an OE put on isolation hold.
Netflix series Full Swing also played a part in attracting a wider audience to the sport, but unlike Formula One’s appeal on the back of Drive to Survive, golf is not really a global sport in terms of attending events, when you factor in that three of the four majors are played in the USA - along with the Players Championship and the FedEx Cup, the biggest events outside of the majors. In this part of the world, if you want to see the likes of Scottie Scheffler or Collin Morikawa, you need to fly to Greensboro, North Carolina or Dublin, Ohio. Outside of the Presidents Cup, which returns to Melbourne in 2028 and 2040, top golfers rarely make the trip to Australia, with the local tournaments running during the small off-season.
And this is why Adelaide has jumped at the LIV event.
It appears it has paid off for the city. It was no doubt the talk of the town, taking a brief mark beside the AFL on Friday night, with the Port Adelaide Power hosting St Kilda. You couldn’t walk around the city without noticing the LIV event was on. Thousands came from out of state to attend, around 40 per cent of fans, some flying in and out on the same day.
After the event, LIV Golf stated “94,000 fans descended on the Grange”. In a world of analytics spinning, it would be amiss to point out that probably isn’t unique visitors. A number of attendees were possibly counted as multiple fans if they had a three-day pass, but reaching more than 35,000 fans each day is an impressive showing for a golf event on this side of the world.
And when you think golf, you probably picture Boomers swinging a club during retirement. But there were plenty of young fans in Adelaide, with countless prams and kids holding signed hats and families taking in the sport for the first time, not realising the guy deftly chipping from the rough on the far side of the green to within a metre of the hole is Brooks Koepka, a five-time major winner.
The big winner for the Adelaide event was the team competition with Smith’s Ripper GC team, made up of fellow Australians, taking out the title in the first team playoff. It was a fitting result for a country that has thrown full support behind the tournament and league.
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Observations from LIV Golf Adelaide
- Aussies are just great fans and you can understand the impressive turnout was a reason Smith made the decision to move to the LIV Tour. The support for him was huge and so many fans were decked out in Rippers GC colours, a team name and brand Smith and co came up with just over a year ago.
“This week has far exceeded my vision for what was ahead,” he said after his Rippers GC claimed a thrilling team title.
“I think I always knew internally that Australia would really embrace LIV with the culture, with the music, with the entertainment, everything that goes on around it. I always felt like this was the place where it was going to make it big, and how it’s been the last couple of years has been just insane.
“Last year I said, I’m biased, this is the best tournament I’ve ever played. I think this year it’s done it again.”
- Golf but louder! The music doesn’t seem to bother the players but volunteers still hold the “Shhh” and “Zip it” signs before each swing. As a fan, you get used to it and it does help build an atmosphere, especially in the corporate areas near the greens. But some crowd behaviour went out the window in the team playoff when the Rippers certainly got home advantage over the Stingers, who had to deal with shouting on their back swings.
- A shotgun start is great. It makes it a shorter day and more action-packed. The galleries were well spread out and meant each group was well supported, instead of being ignored for the final few groupings or the ones that feature the big names. The crowd size wasn’t overkill and certainly room for more. You could follow the likes of Dustin Johnson, who was off the pace on day three, for a number of stretches and get up close to a two-time major winner.
- Hosting music gigs after play is a big winner. Long after the final putt was sunk and the players had finished working on the kinks of their games at the range and practice greens, a huge chunk of fans hung around for the music performances by Tones and I, Fisher and Flight Facilities. This helped with the festival atmosphere with some younger fans, who’ve probably never set foot on a golf course, arriving just to see the gigs.
- Snakes on the course. Always un-nerving.
- The Watering Hole is a superb set-up. Stands all the way down the par-three with three levels. Fans with GA tickets were also able to line up for access. There was also set-ups across a number of other holes with hospitality and stands surrounding greens. Still, it only takes one bad egg to ruin it and scenes of a caddie getting hit with a water bottle weren’t a great look.
- Access to players for fans was impressive. From easy viewing areas by the practice greens and driving range, including the Flight Deck where players were teeing off next to a hospitality area. The players were all in good spirits and happy to hang around and sign autographs.
- People love merchandise - even at $60 a hat and $150 for a golf shirt. LIV teams were mocked over names like RangeGoats GC and HyFlyers but the massive merchandise tent was packed all three days and I saw all 13 teams repped around the course. Danny Lee’s IronHeads team really leaned into the uniforms with green-and-white chequered tops on day one, which fans were wearing the following two days. Rippers GC hats and shirts all sold out. A golf clap to LIV for creating team fandom so quickly. And no, I did not buy some Rippers GC budgey smugglers.
- A critique. The course needs more toilet areas. For both the fans and the players. No professional athlete should have to urinate on the field during play. Luckily for the un-named PGA Tour winner, the Grange at least has some trees away from the fans.
- The players were all in good spirits. I watched DeChambeau, Mickelson and Smith all hit into the trees with the drives on the par-five 10th and all three joked with fans despite being in tricky spots. Fans were then amazed to see golfers do amazing things. Hitting shots 200 plus metres from tricky lies and landing on the green.
- The TV coverage must be admired as it’s a near-impossible task to follow all 54 players on the course at once. It was eye-opening to see how many people behind the scenes are needed to make a live production of 18 holes. Unlike the PGA Tour, there was too much action to fit in a 10-minute interview with the CEO of the tournament’s main sponsor.
- Greg Norman might be unwelcomed at Augusta and Royal Troon but the Aussie fans treat him like the golf great he is to their nation. And he appeared to make the most of it, walking with the lead group on day two, soaking in the cheers and support.
- There was a strong showing of Kiwi fans who made the trip and also showed support for Lee. My flight back to Auckland on Monday was packed with people in LIV merchandise. Lee had his best performance since his win at Tucson last year and he mentioned in the press conference after sitting near the lead on day one how good it was to have New Zealanders shouting his name. The likes of the Brown Boy Bogeys, decked out in Warriors jerseys, added some Kiwi flavour.
- The team format is great. Both Smith and individual winner Steele admitted they were more interested in the team leaderboard than their own spot in the individual standings during the final round. Adelaide saw the first team playoff, won by the Rippers - who were then draped in the Australian flag. The team they beat in the playoff were the all-South African Stingers, who had similar camaraderie, which stood out compared to other teams who are forced together and apparently don’t get along. Maybe there should be more of a defined nation/US State or city split to the teams.
- A fair comparison with LIV Adelaide is the Wellington Sevens during its peak with an added music festival vibe. Maybe I’m drinking the LIV KoolAid - out of a Rippers GC cup - but somewhere between 35,000 and 90,000 fans can’t be wrong.
