PGA Tour vs LIV Golf Series: Which Tour is Better?
By: CJ Vincent
The PGA Tour has been the longest standing professional golf tour in the United States and in North America. It is widely known around the world as being the best tour on Earth due to the number of talented players playing on tour. Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Rory Mcilroy, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth just to name a few. The world’s best compete with each other each and every week to decide who gets to be the season-long Fedex Cup Champion. However, as of recent, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series was formed to rival the PGA Tour with a different style of how tournament events are played. Which is the better tour? The answer isn’t as clear cut as some might think.
The PGA Tour has been around since 1929. So much history has been written on tour from the stories of the likes of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, and many others. Each event played has a story. Whether it is from a complete dominant performance by one player to the complete disaster of a final round by another, there is always something to be told from an event each and every year. The PGA Tour is iconic for these stories and people around the world have watched this tour specifically for the fantastic golf being played. No one has really ever experienced anything quite different. The LIV Golf Series is trying to change the status quo.
Associated Press
Associated Press
The LIV Golf Series was formed in October of 2021 with the backing of many former PGA Tour executives and other sports affiliations. This Saudi-backed tour has the capability of hosting many different events around the world due to the amount of money at its disposal. This is one of the main reasons why a number of professionals are joining this golf series: the total purses of each event. The total purse, depending on the event, range anywhere between $5 million and $50 million. That’s a lot of money compared to the PGA Tour purses which average around $3 million to $20 million. The format of events is also different. Each event will be 3 rounds, 54 holes compared to the PGA Tour’s 4 round, 72 hole events. The idea behind this is to shorten the event times in order for the audience to be in tune more with each event. Along with this change, a team component was added where a professional is essentially put into a team based on the total amount of players in the field. There will be 12 squads total for each event. With these changes being implemented, the goal is to really get the audience engaged with each event because of how entertaining it can be.
The real question still is which is better? The PGA Tour or The LIV Golf Series? If you’re all about nostalgia and making history, the PGA Tour is the best. Due to the longevity of the PGA Tour being around and its current presence in today’s world, you’d be better off staying consistent with a tour that is already doing very well for itself rather than trying to jump into something brand new without any history to go along with it. Most professionals don’t have to worry about the money situation either if they have been playing long enough. On the topic of money, the LIV Golf Series might be the better option in the short term. If you have just recently become a professional and are looking for something new and possibly long lasting with massive payouts, this league might be the best for it. The only worry I have is with the interaction with the PGA Tour. Most players that are looking to switch to the LIV Golf Series are on the PGA Tour currently. The PGA Tour doesn’t want their players to leave and play somewhere else especially if they are a big name player. If the LIV were to collapse and professionals went all in on it, they wouldn't have a tour to go back to in the end. There are more risks than benefits when it comes to the LIV Golf Series but if you’re looking for a huge payout, I could understand why this tour is something of interest. Overall, the PGA Tour is the safer option in the end and it is more recognizable, but the LIV Golf Series has much larger payouts and could possibly be more entertaining.