LIV Golf’s Australian debut couldn’t have gone much better with sell-out crowds, a hole-in-one on the stadium-style party hole and rave reviews by the golfers.
The success of the event surely means that a second Aussie stop will be included on the LIV Golf League schedule for 2024. Australia has been starved of consistent high level professional golf but it seems like LIV will be bringing its Major winners back again next year, especially after players compared the event at The Grange to a Major.
Marc Leishman, one of the home favorites for Ripper GC, said his playing partner Carlos Ortiz compared the atmosphere and feel of the event to a Major, and he agreed. He also described the week as a “highlight” of his career and said that the Aussie event “certainly verified” his decision to join the Saudi-backed tour.
“This was on a different level. This was everything like Carlos was saying today, that this had a real Major feel to it, even more than some Majors, and I feel the same way,” Leishman said.
“A special week I think for Australian golf, a special week for LIV. Me and Cam will have a bit of a hug later on tonight. If we weren’t, which we were, we were already very happy with our decisions, but this has certainly verified it, if it needed verifying, which I don’t think it did.
“I think I expected it to be huge, somewhat like this, but I was saying this morning, I’ve had chances to win Majors, albeit not in Australia, to have the home crowds like that, that was a highlight of my golfing career, along with all my wins.
“You can’t separate wins, which one was better than another, because they’re all special in different ways. But on the whole, this week was really, really special and something I’ll remember forever, and hopefully we can keep coming back here for years to come.”
WILL THERE BE TWO LIVE EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA NEXT YEAR?
Leishman said that the talk of the tour is that two Australian events will be on the LIV schedule next year.
“Well, everyone is talking about two, not just the Aussie guys. There’s a lot of big markets around the world, and you go to places that are going to really support, not saying everyone isn’t going to support because there’s been a lot of sold-out crowds everywhere we’ve gone.”
His fellow Australian Cam Smith also called for a second stop Down Under.
“Yeah, it’s been, I guess, talked about for a few months now,” the 150th Open champion said. “I’m not sure how far along we are. I really stay out of those conversations, to be honest. Part of my reason to play was to have an event here, and if we got two, I think that would make so much difference.
“I think if we come down here, just given the travel, it would have to be back-to-back weeks. But yeah, I guess we just wait and see.
“I think this is a perfect time of year to play golf in Australia. The weather is perfect. The greens are starting to get those like kind of winter browns and get really firm and fast. I think it’s a perfect time to play.”
LIV Golf heads to Singapore and Sentosa GC this week for event number five of the 2023 season.