LIV keeps getting more golfers. But ... how good are they?
The answer: Not good enough to matter. Sorry, Shark.
LIV continues to be the dominant talking point of the professional golf world, and we just learned officially that the following golfers are leaving for LIV: Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri, and possibly Mito Pereira.
There’s no question that Cam Smith and Niemann are VERY big gets for LIV. Smith is the world #2, reigning PLAYERS and Open champion. Niemann is a very promising young player and hugely popular in South America.
It FEELS like LIV just keeps getting some of the best players on tour - but the math doesn’t reflect this. The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) has it’s issues, but Smith and Niemann are instantly the highest ranking guys on the new renegade tour. So, let’s think about what a Ryder/Presidents Cup style tournament between the two tours would look like, using the best players from each tour.
The PGA Tour has the following golfers
Scottie Scheffler, World #1, reigning Masters Champion
Rory McIlroy, World #3, reigning FedEx Cup Champion
Patrick Cantlay, World #4
Xander Schauffele, World #5
Jon Rahm, World #6
Justin Thomas, World #7, reigning PGA Champion
Collin Morikawa, World #8
Will Zalatoris, World #9
Matt Fitzpatrick, World #10, reigning U.S. Open Champion
Viktor Hovland, World #11
Sam Burns, World #12
Jordan Spieth, World #13
That’s 12 of the top 13 golfers in the world, Cam Smith being the lone exclusion. Backups would include guys like Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Young, Sungjae Im, Max Homa, Billy Horschel and many others.
It’s loaded. There’s no objective way to note this either, but McIlroy and Spieth are easily the two most popular guys on tour and for sure drive as many eyeballs and ticket sales as anyone else in golf not named Tiger.
How about LIV? Here’s their top roster, again going by OWGR at first:
Cameron Smith, World #2, reigning PLAYERS and Open Champion
Joaquin Niemann, World #19
Dustin Johnson, World #22
Abraham Ancer, World #24
Brooks Koepka, World #26
Louis Oosthuizen, World #31
Paul Casey, World #33
Kevin Na, World #34
Bryson DeChambeau, World #37
Jason Kokrak, World #38
Talor Gooch, World #45
Harold Varner III, World #46
Now, Greg Norman and other LIV folks would want to point out that DJ is the former World #1 and a two-time major winner. Brooks has won four majors, and this group of 12 has nine majors between them. There are many more majors on the bench (below) but they’re not close to their peak form anymore. Delightful. (The PGA crew has 14.)
In fairness to LIV, they could also offer up names like Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Marc Leishman and, in theory, Mito Pereira. (I swear to god, I almost finished this without even THINKING about Phil Mickelson, which I think says it all.) If we’re counting majors that’s 10 more plus others with guys like Martin Kaymer (assuming he’s still even on LIV), Graeme McDowell, etc.
(Side note: When collecting pictures of each golfer, I grabbed what’s on OWGR, and there’s some random differences that probably only tickle the true golf nerds among us - like me. But I just glanced at Bubba’s (OWGR: 99) and … my goodness. WTF.)
Getting back to the two leagues - the average OWGR ranking on Team PGA is 7.4 vs 29.8 for Team LIV. That’s a noticeable difference in skill.
Now, OWGR is for sure biased against these LIV players who haven’t played on tour since selling their soul leaving the PGA tour for LIV. But if Rory and Jordan are the huge draws on the PGA Tour (and they are, not just for me but for golf fans everywhere), who is that compelling on LIV? Folks like Cam’s mullet, but he doesn’t really talk much to the press. DJ is the best golfer here, but is legendarily mellow and checked out, and a bit of a dial tone personality wise. (His partying with former POTUS Trump post January 6 may get him some extra fans, but probably loses him just as many.) Koepka, Reed, Garcia and others like Ian Poulter revel in being the villains on tour. Perhaps Bryson is the biggest draw, and he has at LEAST as many haters as he does fans.
LIV is doing a good job of making it seem like they are poaching some of the true stars of the PGA Tour - and Smith and Niemann, to go along with some bigger names who aren’t at the rising parts of their careers, is a BIG move. To pretend otherwise is foolish.
But when it comes down to it, there’s no contest that the PGA Tour still has the juice and with the proposed changes (that won’t really take effect until 2024), they may have successfully fought back. I’ll miss watching Cam Smith’s sick iron play, but … not that much. I’ll salve my wounds by watching Rory, Jordan, JT and others play real tournaments that matter.