LIV Golf Adelaide a point of difference for Saudi Arabia league
When the LIV Golf roster tee off for the first event in the league since the Masters at Augusta earlier this month it is likely to feel like another marquee match event on the 2024 calendar.
Because Adelaide, South Australia, is the closest the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway league has to its own major.
The inaugural event at Grange Golf Club last year became famous for a Chase Koepka ace on the 12th hole, nicknamed the Watering Hole.
This year the specialist par-three is back and, much like the equally raucous 16th at the PGA’s Phoenix Open, bigger than previous years.
The hospitality is bigger, and covers much more of the hole’s flanks, while overall capacity is up 50 per cent.
Scenes of countless gallons of beer and their plastic vessels are bound to clog up social media feeds this weekend when LIV returns Down Under, should there be an ace of course.
And the major winners on the breakaway league seem to think moving away from the United States, where three of the four majors are played, is a good thing for fans from across the globe.
LIV in Aus
“I think the Australian fans are pretty hard to recreate around the world, but you just pick a city or a country that I guess hadn’t seen good golf for a long time,” said former Open champion and Australian Cameron Smith.
“It worked last year. It’s going to work again this year here. I can see it definitely working internationally a lot better than the US because there’s just so many tournaments in the US.
“I’m definitely putting my hand up for more of an international schedule and getting fans out that haven’t seen quality golf for a while and showing them what LIV is all about.”
Last year’s event was won by American Talor Gooch in what would be the first of three titles and three bumper pay cheques of his season.
The 32-year-old went on to win the individual title, claiming $17m in prize money; a further $18m bonus for winning the league and an extra $4m from team earnings.
Back in the US of A
Added Smith’s Ripper GC teammate and fellow Australian Marc Leishman: “Obviously the [PGA] Tour plays a lot in America, and they’ve got that fan base there. I think we can really create a huge worldwide fan base because there’s a lot of big financial markets around the whole world.
“You’ve got Torque – there’s an opportunity for a tournament in Chile; the South African lads I’m sure would love to have one in South Africa; you’ve got all of Asia and India.
“There’s just so many opportunities, and I think places – like Cam said – that haven’t seen world-class golf for a long time, I think that’s where there’s huge opportunities.”
This weekend, across 54 holes, the LIV Golf League field will be surrounded by fans otherwise starved of major-like golf events.
LIV has found a niche in Australia – undoubtedly part peddled by the league’s Australian-born commissioner Greg Norman – but it has identified a strong point of difference from the traditional American market.
All eyes on the Watering Hole, then, and the chance of an ace.