Tuesday, March 21, 2023
The outlaw LIV golfers invaded Tucson over the weekend for their 54-hole event at the par-71 Gallery Golf Club and while the play was engaging, on-course attendance and TV ratings were reported as dismal. We don't know yet if it's because hard-core fans are ignoring the Saudi-based league, or if the Arizonians just didn't know the event was being played, and the rest of the country didn't know it was on TV.
Of course, Ocala's Louis Oosthuizen is among the big-name defectors from the PGA Tour, and Oostie came close to winning his first event in the second year of play. The Tucson tournament wound up late Sunday in a four-way deadlock for the lead among Louis, Danny Lee, Carlos Ortiz and Brendan Steele, all at 9 under par 204. At one time near the end Louis had it to 10 under but a late bogey killed his chance to avoid the playoff and get his first victory and the $4 million bonanza at the end of the rainbow.
In the playoff, Lee, who posted a Sunday 69, made a 25-foot birdie putt on their second hole to take down the prize; he hadn't won on the PGA Tour in eight years. Louis and the other two had to settle for a mere $1,558,333 each, hardly worth the trip to Arizona. Second-round leader Marc Leishman tanked in Sunday's finale, shooting a 6-over-par 77 and finishing in a tie for 13th.
Seminole Brooks Koepka wound up tied for 24th at 2 under par, cashing in for $163,000.
In the four-man team competition, Ortiz and his three partners, Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer and Eugenio (who?) Chacarra were the runaway winners at 25 under par. The team known as Fireballs GC split the $3 million prize, so they each picked up another $750,000. The second-place team - 4 Aces GC - split $1.5 million.
Prior to the event, through Feb. 26, Dustin Johnson was the leader with $36,156,767 of the Saudi cash. That included individual and team money for nine events and the $18 million he received for being the tour's 2022 No. 1. Koepka finished seventh, good for $8,434,100, and Oostie was 16th, bringing home $5,528,167 to spend at Juniper General.
The last place on the money list - 70th - was worth $148,000. One other note - a bunch of the 2022 players are no longer around.
Will the LIV league succeed in the U. S? Not if on-course attendance and TV ratings continue to be dismal.
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