Large letters reading “LIV Golf” sit near the entrance to the 1st hole at The Cardinal golf course for the LIV Golf Team Championship Sunday morning. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Crowds of fans walk past a fountain near the 4th hole at The Cardinal golf course for the LIV Golf Team Championship Saturday morning. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Tournament attendees walk around at The Cardinal golf course for the LIV Golf Team Championship Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
PLYMOUTH — LIV Golf’s objective is clear. With its concerts, fan activities and, most importantly, star power, golf’s youngest tour is on a mission to attract a crowd and build a fanbase.
Since its inception three years ago, LIV Golf has played at venues across the world in hopes of establishing itself through ticket sales and viewership. This year it held its grandest event — the Team Championship — at The Cardinal at St John’s, coming to Michigan for the first time in tour history.
Jon Rahm, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, celebrates sinking a putt, resulting in his advance to compete in the next round Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, LIV Golf Team Championship competitors, embrace following Rahm’s advancing putt Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. LIV Golf Team Championship competitors Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson embrace following Rahm’s advancing putt Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
“As we hit the home stretch, the countdown is on for our debut in the great state of Michigan, where we’re set to bring our biggest event of the season: the LIV Golf Team Championship,” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said. “Michigan is a state that’s rich with sports tradition, passion for team competition; (it) doesn’t just sit at the core of its sports history, it’s engrained in the community and serves as the heartbeat of its culture.”
Despite the Detroit Tigers playing at Comerica Park over the weekend, and the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship on the TV at home, the event still drew a sizable crowd estimated to be more than 40,000 people over three days. It did so just a week after LIV Indianapolis pulled in a record 60,000 people.
LIV Michigan’s efforts spanned from attracting golf fans to general sports fans to non-sports people alike. The shotgun start, which they use at all tournaments, significantly reduces the length of each day of the tournament, down to about four hours, which is more akin to other sporting events.
Phil Mickelson, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, watches the golf ball roll across the green after his putt Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Paul Casey, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, chips the golf ball Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. LIV Golf Team Championship competitor Bubba Watson sinks a putt Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Similar to other professional sporting events, and unlike typical golf tournaments, the tournament presented itself as a more upbeat, family-friendly environment with music playing on the tee boxes and dedicated zones for games and activities for children. In attempting to pull in even more people, the event also hosted bands Imagine Dragons and Swedish House Mafia for concerts following the conclusion of the weekend rounds.
At its core, LIV Golf’s primary fight is to gain recognition as a premier golf tour. Part of it is achieved through an attempt to revolutionize the sport with regular events, but the bulk of it is through star power. Backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf pulled in some of the biggest names in the sport through multi-year deals reported to be in the nine figures.
Bryson DeChambeau, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, observes the putting green before his stroke Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Tyrrell Hatton, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, puts a golf ball on the putting green Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Cam Smith, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, tees off of the first hole of The Cardinal golf course at the tournament Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
“There’s a lot of great players out here, and I think it’s fun getting these (fans) seeing a new product — especially the team championship — seeing the team atmosphere and what it really means to us to be competing and playing as a team because it’s fun individually to play,” LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau said. “But the reason that we’re out here as well is because of the team aspect. I think it’s cool for fans to see that and experience that.”
LIV Golf Team Championship Competitors walk across the golf course between holes with their caddies Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Jon Rahm eyes the putting green before putting the golf ball Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Jason Kokrak chips a golf ball out of the sand Saturday morning. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Dean Burmester chips a golf ball onto the putting green Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Throughout the weekend, DeChambeau — famous for his social media presence in addition to his two U.S. Open victories — experienced the roars of the crowd anytime he stuck a green or sunk a putt. The experience was similar for the event’s other top golfers, especially Americans like six-time major winner Phil Mickelson.
To capitalize on their mega-million dollar investments, LIV Michigan paired the stars together, creating marquee matchups ideal for the match-play format of the first two rounds. Headlining the semifinals on Saturday was Mickelson and the tour’s best player, Jon Rahm.
Crowds surround the putting green to view golfers as they advance to the 14th hole at the LIV Golf Team Championship Saturday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. 
LIV Golf Team Championship attendees lounge across a pong on the golf course to view the putting green of the 13th hole Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Fans circle around the practice putting green in the Fan Village of the LIV Golf Team Championship tournament to observe players practicing their strokes Sunday morning. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
“It was great,” Rahm said of the match. “I sort of felt like the underdog today because the entire crowd was wanting Phil to win, which was understandable. I’m not in familiar territory, but it was nice to, almost in a weird way, feel like the villain for the day. In a very weird way, I had a lot of support out there.”
Josele Ballester, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, chips a golf ball onto the putting green Sunday afternoon. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
After taking down Mickelson on Saturday, Rahm perhaps made himself an even greater villain on championship Sunday. As the tournament shifted to a stroke play format, which tallies the scores of each team’s four golfers, Rahm was with DeChambeau to form another high-profile group.
Staring down a five-stroke deficit at one point, Rahm’s group clawed back to force a playoff hole. Then after DeChambeau birdied the 19th hole, Rahm’s partner Tyrrell Hatton sunk another putt to force another playoff hole.
But in the end, Rahm — who had won the season-long individual title and an $18 million bonus — birdied after a masterful chip shot to win the Team Championship for Legion XIII.
Tyrrell Hatton, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, sprays a champagne bottle across the stage after receiving the LIV Golf Team Tournament trophy Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. LIV Golf Team Championship team, the Legions, accepts the LIV Golf Team Tournament trophy onstage Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Jon Rahm, LIV Golf Team Championship competitor, raises the LIV Golf Team Tournament trophy Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
“In a way, if there was ever a question mark or an asterisk for having won the whole season without winning, in my mind, with this it goes away,” Rahm said. “It’s a lot of validation for all of us, in my mind, for the team, just how well we did all year … but we got it done, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
LIV Golf Team Championship competitors, the Legions, spray each other with champagne onstage after receiving the championship trophy Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
LIV Golf fans cheer for the Legions as they receive the championship trophy onstage at the LIV Golf Team Championship Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
The stage at the LIV Golf Team Championship reads “Long LIV Golf” during the trophy ceremony Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Like Rahm, LIV Golf probably wouldn’t want it any other way either. In the tour’s first trip to Michigan, it put on a show — it held concerts, drew a crowd and in the biggest moment it had its premier golfers competing in a playoff.
A rainbow forms over the crowd viewing the trophy ceremony at the LIV Golf Team Tournament trophy Sunday evening. Holly Burkhart/DAILY. Buy this photo.
Managing Photo Editor Holly Burkhart and Managing Sports Editor Jonathan Wuchter can be reached at hollybur@umich.edu and jwuchter@umich.edu.
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