The statement of LIV Golf in response to the punishment imposed was just a premonition. “The era of free representation is beginning,” he said. And with the funding behind it, the turmoil of the registered stars and the duration of the new tour to attract fans at the St Albans Stadium, it certainly feels like the beginning of something, not a glow in the pan.
Challenge
A few feet from a huge bar and loud music in the background, a group of young men try their hand at a challenging trip to Miami at full cost, while two entertainers, both on stilts and dressed in traditional 19th century British century clothes, posing for photos with fans waiting to try their hand. Just a few meters away, the valuable winners Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are leaving. The LIV Golf series definitely makes noise. It took a few years to get to this point, but, with former world No. 1 Greg Norman ahead and a staggering amount of money behind it – including $ 250 million in total cash prize – the new golf championship is here. He has not come without his blows on the road. Warnings from established tours – the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) – have come and gone, with many players expressing reluctance to leave the golf course and frustration with their colleagues for withdrawal. But for the fans who spoke to CNN Sport about the controversy over the players who appeared on the new tour and received money from Saudi Arabia, a country with strong human rights criticism, it did not seem to bother them. Someone told CNN before Thursday’s show that he was not “redeeming the controversy.” “I came to watch the golfers,” said James Bowman. “I follow golf, so I came to watch some of the best golfers in the world. I appreciate the issues involved, but, personally, not for me. “I support more tours. I think more opportunities for more people to watch more golf. This is the closest event that has ever been to my house, so I think it’s a good opportunity for more people to watch golf.” Another told CNN that while the PGA Tour was “excellent” for the game, golfers are “independent contractors” and should be able to do business as they please.
“Golf, but louder”
A row of black taxis sit idle and wait to carry a selection of the biggest golf names on their respective shotgun launch kits – where all competitors start at the same time – another change implemented to make the product more attractive to fans. Despite the huge amount of money that is breathtaking behind it, not everything is bright for the 48-person stadium as they sit and wait stuck in the back of the cabins next to their bags. As the most ambitious golf course approaches, spectators are bombarded with a host of sights and sounds. Some old planes and trumpets are heard being overtaken by some members of the British Army. They are even being treated by a Greg Norman who saw Greg Norman, who came to watch the opening scene. As his self-proclaimed motto says: “Golf, but louder”. And around 2:15 p.m. UK time, they are finally ready to go. Hundreds of fans gather around the first T-shirt to watch Mickelson, Johnson and Scott Vincent leave. However, in the rest of the course, the story is very different. Mickelson and Johnson in the first jersey are clear to the fans. But for other players who started with different t-shirts, it was much quieter. “Right where you started, I was standing in the third box of a T-shirt for about 10 minutes and no one was with me,” said Charl Schartzel after the first round. “And I finally picked up my phone and called Graeme (McDowell). I said, ‘Graeme, man, where are you?’ Am I in the right t-shirt box? “ “This made it very different for me from what you would be used to being told on the first t-shirt.” Ticket sales for the event were slow, with players offering hundreds of fans the opportunity to win free tickets to attend. The tournament has a maximum of 8,000 tickets per day and the official ticket sales numbers have not been published. It’s hard to say if there are about 8,000 fans in attendance, but everyone is in a lot of fun, especially in being able to see a game legend like Mickelson doing his magic. He is met by the usual chants of “Phil!” as he makes his way around the course. Between the fan zone, the band formation, the fewer laps and the post-lap concerts, the organizers tried to make every effort to reach a broad demographic. But not everyone is impressed. For Paul Stubbens, who says he has attended US Opens, PGA tournaments and gone to the Masters, the “immersive” fan zone area may not be as special as he expected. “It’s nice, but it’s no different from PGA,” he said. “It’s not dissimilar. In fact, I might have expected a little more than that.”
Uncomfortable questions
Just when it looked like golf could be the main story, the PGA Tour dropped the hammer, handing out suspensions to 17 players to play in LIV Golf, just minutes after Thursday’s opening round. Many of the players affected were asked about it immediately after their round, with some, such as Mickelson, preferring not to comment, while others only learned from then on. A few feet away from the mixed grill zone is Mickelson, the golf writer and journalist Alan Shipnuck – whose reference to the six-time major winner about his possible participation in the LIV Golf series, making derogatory comments about the history of Saudi Arabia’s human rights and claim to the kingdom was responsible for the assassination of journalist Jamal Kasogi in 2018 for his upcoming book that led the golfer to take a break from the sport – he was asked to leave the facility. At a time when CNN Sport’s Alex Thomas was immortalized and has since gone viral on social media, Shipnuck was confronted by two security men while LIV Golf CEO Norman stood in the background. In a snapshot of a text chat between Shipnuck and Norman that he first posted on Twitter, Shipnuck said: “Did you know I just gained muscle mass from Phil’s press conference by some artists? Fortunately for you guys, I kept my cool and I de-escalated the situation. “ Norman said he had not heard it before Sipnuk responded with a snapshot of the video with Norman looking into the incident. “You can not do that! I texted Greg Norman before anyone sent me this video – I had no idea he was hiding behind me,” he wrote on Twitter. The incident was not the glamorous end of the day that the LIV Golf series would like – and there will be many more nasty questions – but the new golf competition seems to be living up to its motto.
