LIV Golf began with much fanfare on June 9. Will Martin/Insider LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed breakaway tour, is sending shockwaves through the world of golf. I went to its opening tournament in Hertfordshire, England to see what the LIV could offer fans.
The event was well-organized and enjoyable, but the new format was confusing as a spectator. LIV Golf has upended the world of golf, poaching some of the sport’s biggest names with the promise of huge amounts of money, more relaxed scheduling, and guaranteed prizes. The Saudi-backed tour started on June 9 at Centurion Club, a swanky private club near the town of Hemel Hempstead, around 20 miles from London.
Entering through the woods was a lovely experience. Will Martin/InsiderGetting to the venue was relatively straightforward, provided you have a car. Parking was provided at a large show-ground roughly 15 minutes away from the course.
Buses then ferried fans to Centurion every few minutes. The parking lot at LIV Golf’s London eventInsider/Will MartinThe whole process was extremely smooth, although the amount of signage telling fans that they were headed to a tournament being billed as a golfing revolution was minimal. This was basically it for signage in the parking lot.
Will Martin/InsiderAs myself and a bus full of other fans made our way to the course, we were treated to some tunes to get us in the mood, with Ja Rule and Adele featuring heavily. Buses seemed to have come from a variety of local providers. Will Martin/InsiderArriving at Centurion, it was a short walk from the bus to the entrance.
Arriving at the event had the feel of arriving at a festival. Will Martin/InsiderThe walk took us through an unkempt field, before reaching an entrance tent where bags were checked and tickets scanned. A full-price day pass for the event cost around $85, but cheaper rates were widely available.
Insider’s ticket cost just over $60 with a 25% discount code posted on a player’s social media accounts. The walk into the course took me across the first hole, before being spat out into The Village, the tournament’s hub of food, drink, and entertainment. LIV signage was plentiful.
Will Martin/InsiderThe area is evidently used as a practice ground most of the time, with deck chairs whimsically set up in bunkers for weary guests to rest their legs. Fans were taking a load off as they waited for Friday’s action to get going. Will Martin/InsiderFood and drink at LIV Golf’s inaugural event was provided by Kerb, a London-based street food market provider.
Queues for food were minimal compared to what I’ve experienced elsewhere. Will Martin/InsiderIt went well beyond the regular sporting food options of hot dogs and nachos, including dishes like paella, Mexican fried chicken, and gourmet truffle burgers. I had a truffle burger, but ate it too quickly to take a picture.
Safe to say it was delicious, and cost me roughly $15. Reporter Alan Shipnuck, who was hassled by security on the tournament’s opening day, captured footage of one food stall. —Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) June 10, 2022I was driving, and on the job, so didn’t drink, but prices were comparable to those at other sporting events I’ve been to, and there was a good selection of (reasonably) locally made alcohol on offer.
A can of craft beer from south London’s Gypsy Hill brewery was £5 ($6), while a double gin and tonic was £11 ($13. 30). Along with gourmet food and drink, there were lots of ways to stay entertained before play started.
Fans could play an array of video games, enjoy some mini golf, or attempt to win a vacation to Miami by sinking a 100-foot putt. Mini golf was just one of a number of activities available in the Village. Will Martin/InsiderUnlike most pro golf tournaments, LIV events kick off with a shotgun start — where all players tee off at the same time across all 18 holes.
Most tournaments, including those on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, see players start on either the first or 10th holes at intervals of around 10 minutes. LIV’s condensed format means that the action doesn’t begin until 2 p. m.
With doors opening at 11 a. m, spectators like me had a big chunk of time to kill. Timings were one of the major issues with the tournament for me.
With play only starting at 2, it was still going on at close to 7 p. m. By the time fans got back to their cars at the end of the day, it was almost 8 p.
m. , with an hour’s drive to London facing most. If, like me, you arrived before lunchtime, it was a long day.
One striking feature of LIV, as compared to all other elite sports events I’ve attended in the past, was the almost complete lack of advertising and sponsorship presence. LIV Golf’s slogans and branding were everywhere, but besides a couple of small banners, I saw no advertising at all. Not a sponsor in sight.
Will Martin/InsiderAfter exploring the village for a little while, I strolled over to the player practice areas to watch the pros warm up. Ian Poulter seemed relaxed, listening to music and chatting to fellow pros. Will Martin/InsiderAccess to both the putting green and driving range were pretty straightforward, meaning I was able to get up close and personal with some of the biggest names on the tour, like Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter.
Outside Club 54, the VIP area named for LIV’s 54-hole format, I spied a couple of famous faces — YouTubers Josh Pieters and Calfreezy, a member of the Sidemen. Tickets for Club 54 were several hundred dollars, but provided fans with unprecedented views of the practice ground and the 18th green. Will Martin/InsiderWith the start of play fast approaching, I took a pre-round trip to the bathroom, which was one of the weak spots of the whole day.
There was clearly a plumbing issue of some sort as the ground near the men’s restrooms was like a bog, which was gross — to say the least. It’s hard to see but the whole area was soaked. Will Martin/InsiderGross bathroom trip done, it was time for some golf.
20 minutes before play the tee was already heaving with fans. Will Martin/InsiderLike seemingly everyone else at the tournament, I made straight for the third tee, where the star group of the day was starting off. It featured LIV’s two biggest names — Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson — as well as rising English player Sam Horsfield.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of fans lined the ropes to watch the two Americans, who have won a combined eight majors between them, making getting anywhere near the tee nigh on impossible. Horsfield and Mickelson, along with many other players, were ferried to the tee in LIV branded London Black Cabs, though Johnson chose to walk leaving one of the three cabs on the third hole empty. This all felt a little cheesy.
Will Martin/InsiderAfter teeing off, Mickelson and Johnson were joined by Greg Norman, the Australian two-time major winner and the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, the Saudi-backed company behind the tour. Norman walked up the fairway with the pair, laughing and joking. Norman caused controversy ahead of the launch of LIV Golf by saying “everybody makes mistakes,” when asked about the Saudi state-sponsored killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Will Martin/InsiderAfter following Mickelson and Johnson for a few holes, I decided to explore a bit more of the rolling hills of Centurion, eventually stumbling on a group including two of LIV’s other major tournament winners — Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell. Graeme McDowell became the first European in 40 years to win the US Open in 2011. Will Martin/InsiderUnlike the Mickelson-Johnson group, there was barely anyone following the pair, who were grouped with amateur David Puig.
This was something I noticed frequently during my time at the tournament: While there were lots of people at the event, most of the them were watching the two American stars. Barely a soul in sight. Will Martin/InsiderThis meant I could get within feet of players like 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia.
Even a group including two of Britain’s biggest golfing names, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, had a relatively sparse following. Poulter’s trousers, as ever, stole the show. Will Martin/InsiderAccording to British newspaper the Daily Telegraph, ticket sales for the opening LIV event were slow, and organizers wanted around 10,000 fans per day in attendance.
By contrast, around 40,000 fans per day attended the Masters at Augusta in April. Centurion Club looked glorious in the early June sunshine. Will Martin/InsiderThe lack of fans was a double-edged sword.
On one hand, it was great to watch some of the world’s best golfers in relative quiet, but on the other, there was virtually no atmosphere on the course, giving it the feeling of an exhibition event, rather than a high-level, hard-fought tournament. The closest I got to Phil Mickelson all day. Will Martin/InsiderThat was very different to other big golf tournaments I’ve attended, like the Open Championship, where it felt like fans were vociferously rooting for everyone on the course.
Someone was paid a lot of money to come up with this slogan. Will Martin/InsiderI did enjoy the moment when one fan obnoxiously whooped following a successful birdie putt from Ian Poulter, drawing quizzical looks from fellow spectators. His response: “Their slogan is literally ‘Golf but louder,’ guys.
Come on!”Part of this may be to due to the fact that outside the likes of Mickelson, Johnson, Westwood and Garcia, there are few household names in the field, giving fans fewer familiar faces to cheer. Even a major champion like Sergio Garcia was only followed by a handful of spectators. Will Martin/InsiderThe 48 LIV players include world No.
1,763 James Piot and world No. 599 Itthipat Buranatanyarat, who are undoubtedly talented golfers, but simply aren’t well known to many beyond the most ardent golf fans. After spending a couple of hours on the course watching some of LIV’s bigger names, I decided to head back toward the central area of the event, taking in the excellent view from an elevated terrace behind the 18th green.
Probably the best view on the course. Will Martin/InsiderAt most golf tournaments, the 18th is one of the most-coveted spots from which to watch the action as most players end their rounds there. Club 54 ticket holders had the best seats in the house on 18.
Will Martin/InsiderThanks to the shotgun start format of LIV, only players who start on the first tee finish on 18, robbing it of the usual fanfare of the last hole. Rather than taking in the adulation of the crowd after sinking their putts, players simply walked off the green to the next tee. One of the biggest issues I saw at the LIV event was that tracking the action as a fan was pretty difficult.
One of only a handful of scoreboards I noticed on the course. Will Martin/InsiderOn-course scoreboards were minimal meaning knowing who was placed where was tricky. Unlike events like the Open, players did not have volunteers walking with scoreboards behind them as they progressed around the course.
This meant relying heavily on my phone to check the scores. As LIV doesn’t have its own app yet, lots of visits to the website were required. By the end of the day, my phone was practically out of juice.
The shotgun start also meant that working out where players were on the course was more difficult than usual, causing me to have to use lots of mental math to figure out where the big names were. It was pretty clear that, for now at least, LIV wants to focus largely on its broadcasting operation rather than prioritizing the in-person experience, something evidenced by the very limited on-course seating options for fans. While a few holes had small viewing decks, like the 18th, most holes were devoid of any viewing infrastructure.
The staff were fantastic. Volunteers I spoke to were generally golf enthusiasts from the local area, and were extremely friendly and helpful. Swathes of the course were completely empty.
Will Martin/InsiderLIV has positioned itself as a series to act as an evolution of golf, with the aim of, in its own words, “reaching new fans across the world. ” There was little evidence at Centurion of that being a success just yet. Golf has long looked to move away from its traditional fanbase.
Will Martin/InsiderFans I saw overwhelmingly fit into the stereotype of a golf fan: white, middle-class, and male. Large numbers were wearing golf attire. Obviously with the Centurion tournament being LIV’s first event, it couldn’t be expected that a whole new demographic of fans would immediately flock to watch the sport, but the lack of diversity was still striking.
Source: LIV GolfAs the day’s play wound down and South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel extended his lead in the tournament, I headed home, knowing I had at least a two-hour journey to get home. Early 2000s British icon Craig David performed on Friday evening. John Phillips/LIV Golf/Getty ImagesHad I stayed longer, however, I’d have been treated to music by popular British artists Craig David and John Newman, both of whom were performing at the venue’s festival-like stage.
Overall, the LIV Golf event at Centurion was a pretty great day out, though the format of the tournament was somewhat confusing for a spectator. A day out at the golf is a tiring affair. Will Martin/InsiderAt just over $60 for a full-day ticket it was pretty great value, particularly with a free concert at the end of the day.
Everything ran exceptionally smoothly. Parking was free and shuttle buses were both efficient and plentiful. Getting into the course was a breeze, while the food and drink options were plentiful, reasonably priced, and queues were minimal.
Opening events are often beset by teething problems when it comes to logistics, so it was quite the feat for everything at the LIV event to work as well as it did. This is perhaps a testament to what ESPN described as the “seemingly unlimited supply of money” the series has, thanks to its Saudi backers. My only reservation about the event was the format of the golf for the on-course spectator.
While it may be great to watch online or on TV, where cameras mean you can see virtually every shot in quick succession, as a fan at the course the amount of action you could watch was limited, and following the actual tournament was somewhat difficult thanks to a dearth of scoreboards. LIV is, it seems, here to staySince attending the event last Friday, LIV Golf has announced a few more big names set to join the league in the coming months, including former US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau. While questions will undoubtedly persist about the involvement of Saudi money in golf amid accusations of sportswashing, if LIV provides a solid product for consumers, it will undoubtedly continue to grow.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back to a LIV event, but if it came back to London, I’d certainly entertain buying a ticket again. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/liv-golf-what-it-is-like-to-watch-first-person-review2022-6
