⛳ LIV Golf is the New Harlem Globetrotters 🏀

In a repudiation of the state of college and professional basketball, Wilt Chamberlain suited up for the Harlem Globetrotters in Moscow in 1959. The event, held at Moscow’s Lenin Central Stadium was sold out and hailed as a turning point in the United States and Russian relations in the thick of the cold war, as an effort to “grow the game.”

One year later, once eligible for the NBA, Wilt, the 7–1 NBA Hall-of-Famer to be, and prolific partier, would head to the league and begin his incredible career.

Wilt arguably went to the Globetrotters for three reasons:

1. He’d grown tired of college basketball at the University of Kansas where he was being double and triple-teamed.
2. He wasn’t eligible for the NBA until he’d graduated from college, so functionally there was nowhere for him to play basketball.
3. He wanted to make money. In 1958, Wilt’s contract with the Globetrotters was $65,000/year vs $12,000/year average for NBA players.

Sound familiar?

LIV Golf, much like the Globetrotters has sold and offered the same appeal:

1. Growing the Game. Greg Norman and the Saudi Investment Fund have wrapped the offering up as an overture to grow the game internationally, claiming the PGA doesn't offer enough venues, in enough places with different formats.  More shotgun starts, no-cut events, music and parties on site.  
2. Tired of the PGA Tour and its Season. Sergio Garcia famously told a rules official "I can't wait to leave this tour" while searching for a lost ball. Patrick Reed, filed two Defamation lawsuits aimed at the Golf Channel, a PGA Tour Partner.  The cases were dismissed. But the fact remains, not all players think the PGA Tour has had their interests front and center.  Unlike team sports with established Players Assocations (NBA, NFL, MLB etc.), golfers are individual businesses and therefore have their own priorities at the forefront.  
3. Eligibility. While LIV Golf has targeted top players (or celebrities) like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Cam Smith, Andy Ogletree is a prime example of some of the guys LIV hopes to appeal to on the fringe. Because Oglefree has not qualified for tour exemption, he sought a place to play.  LIV Golf gives him that forum.  

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4. Money. "The answer to all of your questions is money." With LIV Golf's enormous signing bonuses and payouts, they accomplished the goal of providing an alternative to the PGA Tour and even pushed the PGA Tour to "elevate" certain events and increase purses for events.  

But wait, the Globetrotters aren't a real basketball team...

Bingo.  They are exhibitionists.

And this is what LIV is.  It is a "league" of highly-paid exhibitionists.  In the best scenario, it could be the ABA (which ultimately merged with the NBA and gave us Dr. J) and at its worst, the USFL (we'll come back to that in a second) and a bunch of circus animals who roll into towns, demonstrate their skills, collect their checks and pack up.  A categorization that may prove helpful for the performing acts.  

1) Over-the-hill headliners - Players who are WAY past their primes or injured - Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Pat Perez, Bubba Watson, Richard Bland

2) Amazing golfers, but not good enough - Those who never really had the chops to win or even compete week-in, week-out on the PGA Tour - Matthew Wolff, Harold Varner III, Branden Grace, Charles Howell III, Chase Koepka - that's a funny one

3) International players - These guys have the best reason to play LIV.  Fewer events, close to home. There are some solid players in this group - Abraham Ancer, Anirban Lahiri, Joaquin Neimann, Louis Oostuzien,  Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter.  

4) We'll never know how good they coulda' been - Cam Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed.  Three young major winners, with Cam the only likable one of the three.  That said, all can play, all are in their primes (although Bryson's injuries likely played a factor in his abdciation).  

So what, it's their careers...

Now I don't fault any of these guys individually for making a livelihood.  I do, along with many find the sponsors of the league to be quite worrying and would question the personal costs of making that living.  

• Schupak: Brandel Chamblee isn’t pulling punches when it comes to LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson or sportswashing
• Paige Spiranac says she’d turn down any approach to work with LIV Golf

Why would we rely on the Saudi Arabia-funded venture to bring us genuine competition, thrilling finishes and a path to a lasting legacy when its own government’s Economic Freedom Index is ranked #118 in the world, nestled between Uzbekistan and Mauritania.

When Cam Smith is asked to hit a hole-in-one at a Saudi Royal’s birthday party... you don’t think he’ll do it? I got $100 million reasons he will.

I wonder what would happen to LIV Golfer Dustin Johnson's wife, Paulina Gretzky if she walked around Riyadh like this?

Interestingly, or not so interestingly, one family who has no problem with LIV are, of course, the Trumps (and Kushners), who in typical self-interested, petulant behavior helped LIV with course venues, and are attempting to help with media deal after the PGA tour pulled events from Trump courses after Jan 6 actions (or lack of actions).

"'Nobody has gotten to the bottom of 9/11," said Donald Trump

Ironically, Trump also had a hand in another failed professional sports league through his ownership of the New Jersey Generals an upstart NFL competitor in the 1980s, United States Football League (USFL).  

The Growing Schism

Now despite all of the above, this battle is not over.  In fact, each year it goes on, it hurts the game.

Season 2 of the LIV golf experiment should further underscore that the league does not match the competitiveness of the PGA Tour and its feeder tours globally.  Lawsuits will continue, but ultimately, the battle for golf has just begun.

What could undermine my thesis?  Each of these presents its own issues, and I'll likely revisit this topic.

• LIV Golfers winning major championships.
• Further PGA Tour defections.
• The Netflix Series?

But as the PGA Tour kicks off its season down in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, know that this topic remains on everyone's mind, with an agreement being out of range.

** For reference, was it not evident, I’m not a golf writer, though I’ve dabbled in sports writing over the years including one of my favorites Chargers Will Fail in Los Angeles Too without Changes to Mom-and-Pop Operation