Rory McIlroy has offered a solution to Bryson DeChambeau and the LIV Golf chiefs to try and make the breakaway league more appealing to fans from a team perspective
Rory McIlroy has said his piece(Image: Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy has already offered his suggestion to Bryson DeChambeau and LIV Golf on how they can make the team-aspect of the league more appealing.
Among the star-studded lineup of the Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf league, two-time U.S. Open victor DeChambeau captains the Crushers GC and seeks to shift fan focus towards embracing teams, not just individual players within LIV. Sharing his vision last month, the 31-year-old who has three LIV victories under his belt said: “The game of golf is ready for change.
“We continue to hope to see golf move in this team direction. Obviously the game will always be an individual sport. We’ll always play for individual titles.
“But why not have a team aspect as well to it? Why can’t we have more fun together? Why can’t we build something special? Why can’t we influence and inspire the next generation of golfers as a team?
“We want people to have that fandom like you have with the Lakers, like you have with the Yankees and stuff. It’s going to take time. We all know that.
“And the people that are looking at us going, ‘What is this, why is it even a thing?’ Well, the Yankees had to start somewhere, the Lakers had to start somewhere, and we’re just at the inception. This is only three years in now.”
Currently, LIV Golf operates with both individual and team leaderboards for its tournaments. The team scores are simply a tally of the individual performances, with the top player and team taking the wins.
Bryson DeChambeau has excelled with LIV(Image: Getty Images)
Except, of course, for the LIV Golf Team Championship, which is a unique four-round match play knockout where teams compete directly against each other. And McIlroy suggests that a shift in the format to feature more direct team competition, rather than just a single annual event, could significantly shift how people engage with LIV Golf.
He explained (via the Mirror US): “Look, I always felt like LIV’s best chance was to try to replicate their team championship for the teams to go head-to-head together instead of they all just go out and play and they add their scores up at the end of the day.
“I don’t think that gets people going. But I think when the teams go head-to-head like they do in their team championship in wherever, Dallas or whenever it was last year, I think that has a possibility of working. Instead of that maybe being once a year and then these stroke play events, could you reduce the stroke play events and do more of that a few times a year.
Rory McIlroy has already given his take on how LIV Golf can improve(Image: Getty Images)
“I think that is a way – because especially if these guys are going to come back and play, I don’t want to say real, they play real golf but more like championship individual golf, then is there more of an opportunity for these teams to go more head-to-head because I think that makes for a more compelling product, at least in my eyes. I’m just one person.”
The scene is set for another showdown between McIlroy and DeChambeau at the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush later this month. These two seasoned competitors, familiar with the pressures of a major, will face off once again following their final round pairing at the Masters in April.
At Augusta National, McIlroy maintained his focus, not engaging in conversation with DeChambeau until the last putt was sunk on the iconic 18th green. It was during this intense Masters tournament that McIlroy seized his first Masters victory, completing the Career Grand Slam after a nail-biting playoff against Justin Rose.
