Column: LIV Golf brings its controversial tour to Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove: ‘If you give it a chance, it might be something pretty cool’

SUGAR GROVE, IL — Bryson DeChambeau is one of the most recognizable faces in golf and one of the LIV players involved in the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour that bars defectors from competing in its events.

But DeChambeau said he envisions a future in which both tours can work together, even as the PGA seems to be girding for a long, drawn-out battle with the controversial new rival funded by an arm of the Saudi Arabian government.

“It’s like poker,” DeChambeau said Thursday during a news conference at the LIV Golf Invitational Series tour event at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, located 45 miles west of Chicago. “How long can you keep bluffing, right? That’s something that hopefully will be figured out over the course of time.

“We’re here. We’re open. We’re transparent as well. We know everything that’s going on from the social side of things, all the way through to how teams are formatted, how next year is going to play out and what we want to do to generate revenue. That’s our whole goal and plan.

“I’m not going to speak on all that because it’s not my position to do so as of yet. But with the landscape and the way that things are going, I hope that one day we come to a compromise. I’d love nothing more than that. It would be fun to have like what football is doing — the AFC and the NFC and come to the Super Bowl sort of thing.

“We could potentially do that.”

It’s hard at this juncture to see the PGA Tour ever joining hands with LIV, which has been stealing some of its stars by reportedly paying players such as DeChambeau $100 million guaranteed to defect. The tour has an image problem that can’t easily be erased despite a growing number of players including Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open Championship winner and the first player to join from the top-10.

DeChambeau, Smith, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia are among the 48 players competing for individual and team honors this weekend at Rich Harvest Farms, the fifth event of the inaugural LIV season. The purse is $25 million, with the individual winner taking $4 million and the winning four-man team splitting $3 million.

The 54-hole event, which begins Friday, drew the wrath of Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who tweeted: “This weekend a golf glove will try and cover a blood-stained hand as the LIV golf tournament comes to Chicago in the Saudi government’s continued, desperate attempt to clean up its image.”

The alleged 2018 killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is perhaps the most prominent human rights violation, while the Washington Post reported this week that a 49-year-old Saudi woman recently was sentenced to 45 years in prison for criticizing the king and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on her Twitter account.

But those are topics LIV players choose to ignore while they cash their checks and promote the sport.

“We are all just here to play golf,” Anirban Lahiri said Thursday when asked about Durbin’s tweet and allegations of “sportswashing” by Saudi Arabia. “What has happened over the last few weeks, what people have witnessed in terms of the golf, speaks for itself. Honestly I am not going to comment on anything political. Everybody is obviously entitled to their own opinion. I have mine, but I don’t think it’s relevant.”

Lahiri said people should focus on the golf.

“There is a lot of good happening,” he said. “But no one is talking about it.”

If you’re able to separate the level of golf being played from the Saudi backers, chances are you will enjoy watching LIV, which is geared toward a younger crowd and lets its players play in shorts. If most people don’t tune in because of the Saudi factor, LIV might be doomed to exist as an irritant to the PGA Tour instead of being a true competitor.

Since LIV has no network TV contract, the tour is available only by streaming on YouTube. How can it grow the sport without a TV partner and all the controversy involved over its backers?

“It’s coming,” DeChambeau said, referring to a rumored TV deal in 2023. “This is a beta test. That’s what I think people forget, that we’re only just starting and we’re trying to present this to anybody and everybody that wants to be part of it.

“I think that’s what’s beautiful about it. Being on YouTube, it’s free to access for anybody that wants to watch it. … Over 180,000 viewers of a playoff (in Boston) and two million unique viewers watched. That’s pretty solid. Somebody is going to take a (chance) on us.”

So is it the LIV’s goal to overtake the PGA?

“That’s not my goal,” DeChambeau said. “I would never want that to be my goal. I still appreciate what they’ve done for the game in general. … I’d never wanted to do that. They’ve had to play their cards they had to based on the way the PGA Tour has reacted.

“It is what it is. They’re not putting the iron fist down. I don’t think they will. There is no need to. But I personally believe over the course of time it will come to a resolution. There has to be. It’s only in the best interest of the game of golf down the road.

“What LIV Golf has provided is something new and unique and different, kind of. That being said, there’s going to be some disruption, and people aren’t going to like it. I respect every single person that doesn’t think it’s good for the game of golf. I understand it. But I hope they are open-minded enough to go ‘You know what? Let me just give it a chance.’ And if you give it a chance, it might be something pretty cool.”

Money can buy players, but LIV can’t buy viewers.

Ultimately its success will depend on how many eyeballs are on the product, just like any other venture.