One could make and likely win the argument that television ratings matter less to LIV Golf than any other professional sports endeavor. So the mere fact that its fourth season will be broadcast on Fox Sports is already a win as one of the stranger live-rights stories shows actual progress in the right direction. Friday, around the same time LIV announced its players would not be allowed to wear shorts on the course this season, David Feherty christened the opening weekend event in Saudi Arabia with a “tie me up and call me Brenda” quip to denote his excitement. And with that we were off to a new era for the league, one sure to get them in front of more eyeballs for critical dissection. That dichotomy of serious versus snark was on display amid a flurry of bells and whistles portending a somewhat chaotic yet entirely enjoyable and thoroughly competent broadcast.
Full disclosure here. This was the first LIV event I’ve given more than a passing glance. Expectations weren’t high or low, they were unformed outside of appreciating Fox’s serious golf chops from their run broadcasting the U.S. Open from 2015 to ’19. It didn't take long for them to impress, with expensive-looking cinematic openings and an approach that harkened to their recent broadcast of the World Cup. They put together packages of players arriving. They rode in with rookie Tom McKibbin on Saturday. They attempted to bring some of the Full Swing flavor to the show, which may ultimately be unnecessary but is a smart way to introduce a new audience to new stars. There was true editorial consideration at work, evidence that the presentation was deeply considered and creativity was on the table.
An international feel—or at least an intentioned appeal to international audiences—shown through, perhaps predictably considering the Riyadh locale. With Arlo White on play-by-play and a leaderboard reminiscent of an F1 telecast, it felt like sports instead of DP World Tour audio blaring from the other room. It was striking how much LIV Golf is unapologetically its own thing, from the 54-hole structure to the shotgun start to the background music churning out bangers. And the broadcast is certainly no different.
Under the cover of night, neon text chyrons and graphics flew around the screen at all times. It’s impossible to stress how frenetic the pace of information being presented to the viewer operates. On one hand it’s a welcome change to have all of this as a never-ending buffet. On the other, the feeling of standing in Times Square or the Vegas strip began to wash over my brain as I struggled to retain anything related to greens in regulation or birdie percentage or any other stat that was presented.
Of course, this matches the tremendous and unrelenting pace of play. Years of my life have spent lamenting the fact that live-rights partners —cough, NBC—bravely avoid showing golf shots from the tournament they are airing so it feels wrong to complain about things moving quickly. Yet it was a lot moving around at max speed to keep up with everything on the course. Mechanically this makes sense as LIV rounds are condensed and compact with all players competing at the same time. Practically, Fox’s approach flirts with turning a leisurely ride to consume at one's own pace into a four-hour cup of bottomless coffee. Some of that slow-burn storytelling gets lost in translation, which is either addition by subtraction or a loss of color depending on perspective.
When the viewer gets their head above water and has time to think they can appreciate the way both LIV and Fox have figured out to make something completely different. Besides the basic blocking and tackling of announcing and analyzing, everything has a dynamic twist. It was a pleasant surprise to finally fully realize the depth and diversity of talent grinding it out on the greens. Adrian Meronk’s two-stroke victory over Jon Rahm came amid a team win for Legion XIII with Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Bubba Watson and Cameron Smith all finding their way onto the team medal stand for their respective squads.
All of this leads to a bit of an epiphany. If a LIV Golf tournament was the first golf broadcast someone watched, it makes all the sense in the world that they would prefer it to a PGA Tour event. That is meant as a strong compliment and a testament to how professional and entertaining Fox’s debut played. It’s a matter of taste, like between two colas, and going from pedal-to-the-medal to casual Sunday drive might feel a bit flat.
What was missing, though, and may be impossible to ever replicate let alone quantify, is iconic imagery from some of golf’s greatest walks. Riyadh was cool in the same way those newer Olympic venues that shine briefly before being forgotten are cool. Creating atmosphere in a lab can be done yet it’s easy to see the cracks in the artifice. That is what’s missing and what Fox must figure out how to solve going forward. It’s a very hard thing to ask lifelong golf fans to forget, even if their connection to the Tour may at this point be muscle memory.
Walking away from the first weekend, I now have expectations. They won’t have to think about this. They have thought about it and have a plan if early returns are any indication. There’s a balance between excess and being an upstart, and finding the right verbal and non-verbal messaging is difficult. But for an opening effort, this was a pretty solid introduction to a new language of golf.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LIV Golf Begins Fox Broadcast Era With Bright Lights, Dizzying Speed.
