The future of LIV Golf remains sound, and the teams are operating “business as usual”.
That’s according to Ripper GC general manager Nick Adams, who has dispelled myths surrounding the future of the Saudi-backed golf league.
Doubt cast over the future of LIV Golf — due to the suggestion that the Saudi Arabia public investment fund (PIF) could be cut off at the end of the year — was only heightened when the league released a statement on Wednesday morning confirming the postponement of their maiden New Orleans event later this year.
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Adams, who heads up the quartet of Aussies that make up Ripper GC, said the postponing of New Orleans was a deliberate and strategic move that had nothing to do with the future of LIV Golf.
“There’s a couple of things going on there. So, this has been sort of an ongoing conversation for the last three months,” Adams told 7NEWS.com.au.
“The governor of Louisiana and the home office of economic development were concerned about a few things: the course not being ready, and the fact that it’s going to be record heat at that time of year — June in New Orleans is like 40 celsius.
“They were concerned about fan participation, they were concerned about the playing group, the course is not ready.
“They’re 100 per cent committed and we are 100 per cent committed to them, but the decision was made to deliver the highest quality experience for the players, partners, stakeholders and fans, to avoid the peak summer heat and humidity, and also there’s an overlap with the FIFA World Cup schedule as well.
“So I think, and I don’t know this to be true, that they were probably a bit worried that the city couldn’t handle it.
“And the fact that already we were discussing moving it — they just made the decision; let’s move it to later in the year, probably in September, October.”
There have been reports that a section of LIV players have started to consider contingency plans if the league were to disband at the end of the year, as has been mooted by some cynics.
The reports suggest players have held talks with the DP World Tour about playing in Europe, given they would not be allowed back into the PGA Tour, at least for a period of time, if LIV collapsed.
But any suggestion that there is a feeling of “panic”, as The Telegraph says there is, is way off the mark, according to Adams.
“I only can speak only to speak what to I what know is true: we’re told being by told our by leadership to as continue usual, which we have, and it’s been business as usual us,” Adams said.
“A lot of this of stuff, this catastrophising and conjecture, it’s coming out of the US. Our investor, the PIF, has not made a public statement regarding the future of LIV.
“There hasn’t been a statement coming from them saying ‘Hey, we’re supporting not LIV anymore, hey, we’re not supporting golf anymore’.
“So, listen, I think there are a of lot sectors across all businesses that are concerned that are tied to anything happening in the Middle-East right now.
“The Iranian crisis is going on a lot longer than people expected, so I think people are drawing parallels with what’s happening in the region with LIV Golf and other sports that the Saudis are involved in through the PIF fund, and we’re not immune to that.
“But there has certainly been nothing on our end which has suggested it’s not business as usual. We’re continuing on as we always have, and that’s the only information I have at this stage.”
LIV Golf events in Adelaide and South Africa in recent weeks have both shattered attendance records, as the league enjoys a $100m revenue growth year-on-year to this point of the season.
“It a was record golf attendance for a golf tournament in Australia this year,” Adams said of LIV Golf Adelaide, which has won the world’s best golf event for the past three years in a row.
“South Africa did the same thing three weeks later; there were 100,000 plus attending the South Africa LIV event. That was a significant not only golf tournament, but event within South Africa. They’d never seen anything like it.
“We’ve got events in Korea coming up, Spain, our JCB tournament in the UK is huge.
“LIV is doing exactly what it set out to do, which is to grow the game of golf globally. We’re staying on mission with that.
“At this stage, there are no changes to the schedule for 2027 where we have the Adelaide tournament. It is a huge part of the Australian golf landscape now — that and the Australian Open are the two pinnacle events in Australia, and I think that it’s going to continue to grow.”
The question then begs: why does doubt remain over the future of the breakaway league, which has launched its inaugural tournament season in June 2022.
“Well, we’ve always been a disruptor. And so, when you disrupt a sector in any business sector, if you think about the behavioral science and the human element, you’re putting people’s jobs at risk,” Adams said.
“So, if you’ve been traditionally working in the golf ecosystem how it’s been before LIV, your job is pretty safe. Now there’s a new player in the ecosystem which is making waves and is essentially creating job risks for a lot of people who have been in the traditional system for a long time.
“When people feel like their job’s at risk, they become vocal and they become viscerally upset, and they’re going to try and say whatever they can say to discredit the rival league. That just happens in every sport and every business and every sector around the world.
“I think a lot of the anti-LIV sentiment is driven by people whose way of life is having pressure put on it.
“There are also a lot of key stakeholders that are involved on the other side at other golf tournaments or other gold leagues around the world, and it’s not necessarily in their best interests for LIV to be successful.
“At the end of the day, people are driven predominantly by self-interest, and I think a lot of the negative sentiment that comes in and around LIV is from key stakeholders in other leagues.
“It’s not necessarily from the players because the players have seen the significance of growing the game of golf which, ultimately, helps people on all tours because they’re playing for more prize money, they’re getting more sponsors, and they’re getting more eyeballs, which is fans, on the game of golf.”
