LIV Golf takes PGA Tour war to a new level with latest announcement and fans will be impacted
LIV Golf has decided to go toe to toe with the PGA Tour in the early months of next year, running its tournaments on the same dates as some marquee PGA Tour events
LIV Golf has raised the stakes in its battle with the PGA Tour, going head to head with its first four events of next season.
The Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway tour has unveiled the first part of its 2025 schedule, which will take in stops in Riyadh, Adelaide, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Across its first three seasons since launching in 2022, LIV has appeared to make a conscious effort to avoid clashes with the PGA Tour's biggest events to protect viewing figures and attendances. But the Greg Norman-fronted league has taken the bold step of scheduling its opening four events on the same weekend as significant PGA Tour tournaments.
LIV's season will begin in Saudi Arabia on February 6, with the event moving from Jeddah to Riyadh. The same weekend, the PGA Tour will stage the Waste Management Phoenix Open – renowned for its raucous crowds.
LIV will travel to Australia for the following weekend for its flagship Adelaide event, which has attracted huge crowds to support the tour's quartet of Aussie stars – Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones. It will clash with Tiger Woods-hosted event The Genesis Invitational at Riviera – one of the PGA Tour's Signature Events.
The third event of the LIV season will also clash with a Signature Event. LIV Golf Hong Kong begins on March 7, one day after the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Seven days later, LIV Golf Singapore will tee off, running concurrently with The Players – often dubbed the "fifth major" with the PGA Tour's entire membership competing for one of its most prestigious prizes at TPC Sawgrass.
With LIV's first four events being hosted in Asia and Australia, die-hard fans need not worry too much about the schedule clashes given the time zone differences. The majority of LIV's four opening events played in the middle of the night or early in the morning for viewers on either side of the Atlantic, while the PGA Tour's action will take place in the afternoon and evening.
But it is a bold step nonetheless, with LIV backing itself in the battle to be relevant on some of the most significant weekends in the first half of the PGA Tour season. It is a gamble, with the PGA Tour's events being played closer to primetime for viewers in the United States – by far its most important market.
Professional golf has been diluted as a product outside of the majors since LIV launched, with declining viewership figures for the PGA Tour, although they continue to significantly outnumber LIV's uninspiring live-streaming figures. Fans' weariness of the division between the tours and limited opportunities to see the world's best compete against each other are contributing factors.
And the fact the tours' events will run concurrently is unlikely to help matters, with viewers sure to find it more difficult to navigate a clustered schedule.
It will be telling of LIV's intentions when the league releases the next batch of dates from its schedule. It held events in Miami, Houston and Nashville during the spring and summer earlier this year, and if it chooses to hold its American-based tournaments on the same dates as key PGA tour events, it will be a declaration that LIV believes it can stand toe to toe with the PGA Tour and compete as a TV product.
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