Australia has fallen. That should be the message reverberating through the corridors of PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach after this week’s hugely successful debut of LIV Golf Adelaide.
Years of neglect by the PGA Tour has allowed LIV Golf to capture the hearts and minds of the Australian sporting public during an unforgettable week at The Grange Golf Club attended by more than 77,000 spectators.
Fans turned out in droves at The Grange Golf Club to watch reigning Open champion Cam Smith and fellow Major winners Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau.
Early reports of Channel 7 TV audiences indicate a ratings bonanza. Never before has the Australian public witnessed such an array of top-end talent in a strokeplay tournament.
Apart from three Presidents Cup events at Royal Melbourne, Australians have been starved of seeing the world’s best players in the flesh. Pleas to the PGA Tour from leading Australian players and administrators have fallen on deaf ears.
The punitive treatment of Cam Smith after his defection to LIV Golf hasn’t endeared the PGA Tour to Australian fans. Nor has the disdain for Greg Norman, an iconic figure Down Under.
After months of negative speculation about his leadership, Norman has found a welcome sanctuary among Australian sports fans, government leaders and tourism authorities. So it stands to reason LIV will strengthen its ties with Australia in the form of one or two more events.
Apart from staging the odd Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour has weakened its association with Australia. The Australian presence on the PGA Tour has diminished over the past two decades despite Australian golfers winning four men’s Majors: Geoff Ogilvy (2006 US Open), Adam Scott (2013 Masters), Jason Day (2015 PGA) and Cam Smith (2022 Open).
So with the defection of Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Matt Jones to LIV Golf, Australia has been left with a threadbare presence on the PGA Tour. This year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open had just two Australians in the field (Jason Day and Lucas Herbert).
By comparison, the 2008 tournament in Scottsdale had 17 Australians: Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, Nick O’Hern, Jason Day, Robert Allenby, Stephen Leaney, John Senden, Nathan Green, Nick Flanagan, Aaron Baddeley, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, Mathew Goggin, Peter Lonard, Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Allan and Brett Rumford.
The reason is obvious. The pathway to the PGA Tour has become much tougher. Australians have long toiled with the tyranny of distance. Australians and international players can no longer get direct entry onto the PGA Tour through qualifying school. Instead, they must graduate through the secondary Korn Ferry Tour – undoubtedly the most difficult circuit upon which to make money.
With fewer golfers for which to cheer, is it any wonder PGA Tour viewership has dropped in Australia?
And, increasingly, promising Australian golfers will choose to advance their careers through Asia. And who is growing the Asian Tour with the creation of tournaments and an injection of $US300 million worth of funding?
LIV Golf.
