PGA Tour’s plan to combat LIV playing out in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Riv not LIV is the mantra this week at the Genesis Invitational.
LIV Golf is the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Its first tournament of 2023 will be at the El Camaleón Golf Course in Mayakoba, Mexico, next week and its golfers include last year’s Genesis winner, Joaquin Niemann.
Riv is a favored diminutive for Riviera Country Club, the venerable Pacific Palisades par-71 layout playing host to this week’s PGA Tour event that will include every golfer in the top 25 except Niemann and Cameron Smith, another LIV defector.
It also will include Tiger Woods, a surprise entry. Woods is a staunch PGA Tour supporter who has worked with Rory McIlroy and others for a year to combat LIV.
“It’s been very turbulent . ... It’s been difficult, there’s no lie,” Woods said. “We never would have expected the game of golf to be in this situation, but it is, that’s the reality.
“Obviously, (LIV} is a competitive organization trying to create their best product they possibly can, and we’re trying to create the best product that we think is the future of golf, how it should be played. How do we do that? We’re still working on that.”
The threat of LIV seems to thread nearly every conversation. Here is a deeper dive into that battle as well as other front-burner topics this week at Riviera.
PGA strategy vs. LIV
The new PGA Tour schedule has elevated tournaments with bigger purses, creating incentive for the best golfers to resist defecting to cash-flush LIV. The purse at the Genesis Invitational — one of 13 elevated events in 2023 — has increased from $12 million to $20 million and the combined purse for the elevated events is $315 million, up nearly 50 percent from last year’s $214.7 million.
Some of the designated events could change next year. The WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship are not guaranteed to be designated in 2024, although the Genesis seems on solid footing.
LIV Golf was a hot topic at last year’s Genesis Invitational because comments Phil Mickelson made criticizing the PGA Tour and professing his devotion to the upstart organization became public.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Rankings and winner of last week’s WM Phoenix Open, hopes this week’s conversations center around Riv, not LIV.
“I felt like last year there was so much talk surrounding LIV at this event,” he said. “This year I feel like we’re kind of more settled into the ecosystem of golf. I think our tour’s doing a good job of improving and continuing to benefit the top players and all across the board.”
Riviera vs. Tiger
Woods grew up in Cypress, roughly an hour’s drive from Riviera. His dad took him to tournaments at the course when he was a child. He made his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old at the 1992 L.A. Open at Riviera and missed the cut by six strokes.
He’s made 13 tour starts at the course since. He was runner-up in 1999, one of three top-10 finishes, but he’s never won.
The last time he played the course, he tied for 68th in 2020, finishing last among those who made the cut.
The favorites
The hot hands so far in 2023 are present and oozing confidence, including Scheffler, McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Tony Finau and Sam Burns. Adam Scott is the Genesis Invitational all-time earnings leader.
Sleepers? How about Keegan Bradley for his ability with short irons and improving putting. Or streaky Taylor Moore, who has finished in the top 15 in his last three tournaments.
Woods — who naturally is a sentimental pick to at least make the cut — likes Viktor Hovland, a Norwegian who has finished tied for fourth and fifth in two starts on the U.S. mainland.