Two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau says he expects LIV Golf to ‘explode’ shortly as the breakaway league gets set to celebrate its 100th round of competition on Friday.
The emergence of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which has lured top PGA Tour players with huge signing on fees and lucrative limited field tournaments, plunged golf into a bitter civil war when launching in 2022.
Despite signing the likes of Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, the league’s future was up in the air after the PGA and DP World Tour shocked the sporting world last June by announcing that the PGA Tour had agreed a tie-up with LIV’s backers, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), in a stunning U-turn that followed secret negotiations.
The precise detail of how the new venture between the PGA Tour and PIF will work remains shrouded in mystery. An initial December 2023 deadline to agree a deal came and went as negotiations continue.
It had been rumoured that PGA Tour chiefs would try and shut down the circuit following an initial framework agreement, but the hierarchy at LIV Golf have shut talk of that down by continuing to strengthen their product further.
The addition of two-time Major champion Jon Rahm was a huge singing in December for a rumoured $450m, while the likes of Dubai resident Adrian Meronk and two-time Ryder Cup winner Tyrrell Hatton joining earlier this year.
After everything that has been said and done, the league continues its aim to reach a younger audience with its 54-hole shotgun start format, which will play it’s 100th round when LIV Golf Greenbrier tees off on Friday.
“I didn't know where we would exactly be after 100 rounds, but I can tell you that the ideas behind it, especially when I was having conversations back in 2022 and whatnot with where this was going to go,” said DeChambeau.
“I expected there to be a lot of progress, but the progress has been amazingly awesome, from everything that we've done, everything that each team has individually done, the players, what they've done to make this league what it is now today is quite impressive.
“As I look at a five-year vision, 10-year vision, I just see this thing exploding here shortly.
“When people start to see the true value that we're bringing, that intrinsic value is only going to exponentiate over the course of time, which is what I'm excited for.”
One of LIV Golf’s biggest unique selling points is the fact that team golf takes precedent. While opinion on whether the team competition is that excitable is divided, many LIV Golf players have praised the league for brining players closer together while offering a totally different product to any other on the market.
“I'm waiting for that kind of domino effect, for it to start falling in that cool direction that we see here on our side at LIV, especially with the team aspect,” DeChambeau added.
“It feels a lot like -- it's some of the highest level golf but you feel like you have a family out here and some really good friends that can help, I guess you could say, make everybody better.
“That's what I'm excited to see is how that progresses, how it transforms, the sponsors that come in, the people that are a part of it, that want to be a part of it.
“For me to see that potential out there, we've just got to get after it and get it because it's all right there for the taking, and I'm super excited for these 100 rounds and how they've gone.
“Obviously I've won a couple, and the Crushers have done well, and we've won a team championship, and I'm super proud of the guys. That's what we've set out to do.”
With this week’s event marking the penultimate tournament of the regular season tournament, the individual winner could be crowned this in Greenbrier.
Joaquin Niemann could wrap up the title if he wins this week and Rahm finishes no better than third. Niemann won the season opener at Mayakoba and has remained No. 1 all year. Rahm comes off his first LIV Golf win in the UK but picked up just 16 points on Niemann, who tied for second.
In the team competition, DeChambeau’s Crusher GC could wrap up the No.1 overall seed, which would see them secure a bye in the quarter finals at LIV Golf’s Team Championship in Dallas.
