When Kings Of Leon drummer Nathan Followill was told he had to cover up his tattoos if he wanted to play at a prestigious Sydney golf course in 2022 the sport’s pale, male and stale reputation was exposed to a new audience of potential players ready to say “pass”.
But at LIV golf events, tattoos are not only not banned, you can actually get one on sight.
The “Ink Station” at the LIV event in Orlando provided the opportunity to tatt-up to support your team of choice among the 12 like the All-Australian “Ripper GC” captained by the most famous mullet in the game, Cam Smith.
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The tattoos may be temporary ones but their availability speaks to the new notion of what Greg Norman’s rebel tour is trying to create in a game which still succeeds in its traditional format, but lacks innovation beyond bumping up already monster prizemoney purses to sums which make most people’s heads spin.
Totals upwards of $100 million in sign-on bonuses for LIV’s first influx of players made it appear cash, and bucket loads of it controversially supplied by the oil-rich, but politically questionable Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, was the new league’s point of difference too.
With more than $37 million on offer at each of the events, with Adelaide being one of 14 in 2023, plus guaranteed cash for anyone who tees it up with no-cuts, limited fields and just 54 holes to be played, the critics found their targets easily and en masse as Norman’s self-described golfing “revolution” seemed simply to be a fast-food version of the established game with a bit more colour and movement.
There’s no surprise that when you ask the players Norman lured to a venture which hit the sporting world, and the US PGA Tour, like the wrecking ball the Australian legend had always wanted it to be, they’re universally effusive in their praise
Throw millions of guaranteed dollars at anyone and most, apart from those who see LIV as a “sportswashing” enterprise by the Saudis, are going to tell you how good the product is.
But the smiles on the faces of players at a packed driving range in Orlando, where everyone was warming up as music blared in the background before they all teed off at the same time, spoke volumes of their actual happiness.
A LIV event is as different as Norman boasted it would be, and the players at least love it.
“It’s just pumping, it’s so good,” Aussie Marc Leishman said of the vibe around events, and it’s hard to deny.
Norman declared the way LIV operates is “what the fans want” and big crowds in Florida flowed as ticket sales in Adelaide were exhausted.
The Australian legend is adamant the critics, apart from the PGA Tour, have been silenced and LIV has strengthened its presence four tournaments in to its second season.
“We‘re doing the right thing for players. We’re doing the right thing for the game of golf,” Norman said.
“Do we have headwinds ?100 per cent we do. Will those headwinds dissipate and go away ? Yeah, they will.
“A friend of mine, Jack Welch used to run General Electric. Jack and I played a lot of golf together. Jack always said, Greg, find something that the masses want. So was golf something the masses want? Yeah, well, it was but it was only one product on the platform and we had to accept it.
“To go beyond that and take Jack‘s vision of something the masses want, this is it, it’s energising and giving them entertainment as well as the sporting product.
“They don’t have to get here at 6:30 in the morning and wait until 6:30 to leave. They’re here for half a day, there’s five hours of golf and a little bit of a concert after. It’s really it’s really cool experience to see it happening.”
Fans definitely want what’s been labelled the “Watering Hole”. Taking the lead from the Party Hole at the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open, stands from tee to green on the par three 12th hole will be packed with fans for all three days.
There will be constant music too, as there is on the fires and 10th tees, feeding out from speakers just metres from the players, and they love it.
“They are 100 per cent OK with that,” Norman said.
As per most golf events volunteers hold up signs around the green politely requesting silence, signs made redundant by the music coming from the hospitality suites behind the ninth and 18th greens in Orlando.
Every player is greeted by the tunes at a LIV event, just as every player plays in the same conditions, on the ame course at the same time, taking a variable out of the competition which has long been the scourge of regular golfing events.
The irregular goings on at a LIV event, on the course and off it, moved plenty to suggest it wasn’t “real golf”, that they would be shown up at the majors. Three LIV players in the top four at the Masters suggests otherwise.
But to create the noise Norman wanted, it took a billion dollar investment, an investment the Saudi Public Investment Fund won’t get back via ticket sales or it’s current TV deal with niche US broadcaster the CW Network, or Channel 7 in Australia.
Norman though remains undeterred, convinced he and LIV have made “history” with their concept, one he’s adamant will have its place in golf for a long time.
“It’s not even 12 months since we launched … so just to see what we’ve created within the family of LIV … has really hit me pretty hard, emotionally, quite honestly. It’s a testament to understanding what people wanted,” he said.
“And our product’s not gonna go anywhere. We‘re gonna keep going, we’re gonna keep innovating. We just keep growing.”