Why LIV Golf Needs A History Lesson

When the first Open Championship took place at Prestwick in 1860, the competitors played for a prize fund of exactly zero. They were able to make some money by caddying for Prestwick members during the week, maybe a few side bets were placed to boot.

This year, Dustin Johnson picked up over $35 million in prize money alone through LIV Golf. It’s fair to say Old Tom Morris would choke on his porridge if he heard that, and then dismiss it as nonsensical claptrap.

It would have seemed impossible at that time that golfers could become rich, let alone live among the “super-rich.” But a lot happened to make that possible.

At the turn of the 20th century, Harry Vardon became golf’s first international superstar, touring the USA, promoting golf balls carrying his name, making quite a bit of money.

In the 1920s, Walter Hagen hung with the stars and rejected the concept of golf professionals as second-class citizens. He, then Gene Sarazen and then players like Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead grew the game’s popularity in the USA and abroad.

In the early 1960s, Mark McCormack’s big three of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were attracting a new audience, thanks in no small part to rapidly increasing numbers of TV viewers.

The PGA Tour attracted sponsors and money and the prize funds climbed. By 1970 the average PGA Tour event had a purse north of $100,000, by 1980 it was past $250,000 and by 1990 it was up to $1,000,000.

Then, mid-way through that decade, a rare sporting talent emerged on the golfing scene. Tiger Woods sent men’s professional golf into the stratosphere. By 2000, players were competing for $1,000,000 first prizes, sponsorship deals were worth millions more and those eyewatering numbers continued to rise almost exponentially through the first two decades of this century.

Men’s professional golf evolved over a century and a half from a selection of likely lads in tweeds knocking it round for a few quid in side-bets to an established network of tournaments and circuits supporting thousands of players, employing thousands of others in administration, event support, the media and all the other associated businesses.

All those involved in top level golf today owe a great debt to those pioneers who went before to transform and develop the sport into the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today.

There’s always been a great deal of respect and reverence within the pro game for its history – Tournaments and awards carrying the names of great players of the past for instance. But players themselves have also always been conscious of those who went before, those who have made their position of wealth and status possible.

LIV Golf could do with being a little more deferential than defensive, a little more cognisant of what has facilitated their newfound wealth – It’s not just Saudi gold, it’s also 150 years of work and the evolution of a professional industry. As it is, LIV doesn’t seem like a continued evolution of professional golf, more of a smash and grab.

Rocco Mediate recently said that LIV Golfers could offer the PGA Tour a thank you. And it’s not just those most recent players (Tiger Woods probably deserves a particular thanks mind you.) From Hagen and Hogan to Palmer and Nicklaus, Seve and Faldo, together with those who established TV deals, forged tours around the world, developed management firms and struck deals with sponsors, all have contributed to create a situation where pro golfers enjoy such obscenely high pay days.

LIV Golf couldn’t exist without its financial backing, but it wouldn’t exist without a century and a half of professional golf tournaments to stand upon. They might consider that a little more humbly.