Players ‘cannot give away’ tickets for Saudi opener
Crowd turnout for the English launch of the Saudi-backed rebel golf circuit is in doubt after star names struggled to give away tickets for free following apparently slow sales.
Despite the recent £119million signing of former world No1 Dustin Johnson, plenty of tickets remain for this week, from £67 daily ground passes to £9,792 access-all-areas hospitality.
In a sign that organisers are anxious about turnout for the first event, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have been among players promoting ticket giveaways on social media.
Yet despite sharing minimum 25 per cent discount codes to their multi-million-fan audiences, free tickets – which were limited to the first 100 – were still possible to obtain by yesterday lunchtime. Laurie Canter and Sam Horsfield have also been giving away freebies for the series in recent days.
LIV Golf, which is marketing its first event in England as a “firstclass experience” for players and fans, has so far declined to go into details about ticket sales, but it was expected to attract 10,000 spectators from Thursday. However, in an interview with Telegraph Sport on Friday, Scott Evans, who hosts the event at his Centurion Club on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, accepted prices starting at £67.55 were “the one element they got wrong”.
Targeting a wealthy audience, the 54-hole shotgun-start tournament has lined up big-budget evening entertainment, with after-action music acts including James Morrison and Craig David. Cuisine at the course, meanwhile, is overseen by Michelin-starred restaurateur Jason Atherton.
On the eve of the “draft party” launch, LIV Golf announced bold plans for its broadcast coverage. Arlo White, the voice of Premier League coverage in the United States for nearly a decade, is the surprise lead commentator. The 49-year-old recently announced his departure from NBC, but has become better known for his role on the Apple TV show Ted Lasso.
White is joined by former players Jerry Foltz and Dom Boulet as analysts in the commentary box. Suann Heng will lead on-course commentating. LIV Golf is hoping to harness changing broadcast habits by streaming on Youtube and Facebook. As a result, there is not expected to be an anchor and team of pundits analysing footage from a studio during breaks.
Johnson, the former world No 1, was paid £119million by Greg Norman to secure his shock sign-up at the 11th hour. Three months after declaring he was “fully committed” to the PGA, the 37-year-old was named among a 42-man field.
Norman, the rebel series chief executive, yesterday admitted he was “surprised” by Kevin Na’s decision to resign from the PGA Tour to compete in his league. Na was among those initially named, with five more added after the Asian Tour event at Slaley Hall on Sunday. Then a 48th was added last night when Phil Mickelson’s name was announced.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have refused to grant players the required releases to compete in the initial £20million event. The scale of any sanctions has not been revealed, but Na said he anticipated facing “disciplinary proceedings and legal action” if he had remained a PGA Tour member.