The LIV tour — the most controversial traveling circus in the history of the sport — will soon be on Australian shores, but will it be good for Australian golf?
Key points:
- The LIV tour will come to Adelaide for an event in April
- Australian golf legend Karrie Webb is torn on whether the controversial tour will be good for the sport in this country
- While it will boost the sport’s profile, Webb is concerned about the origin of the tour’s funding and the lack of opportunities it will give to young Australian golfers
The Saudi-backed breakaway golf league will land in Adelaide in April for the third event of the inaugural LIV Golf League, with 48 of the best players in the world battling it out for a staggering prize of $20 million.
LIV, which has Aussie legend Greg Norman as CEO, has ignited a heated debate from the moment it was launched. Australian women’s golf legend Karrie Webb is split on whether it will be good for the sport in this country.
“I guess it’ll be good that golf will be in Australia in April when it isn’t normally, that puts golf in the headlines,” Webb told ABC Grandstand.
“Once the golf summer finishes here the only headlines are if an Australian does well overseas.
“It’s good for Adelaide to have a big event, I loved when we played there for the Australian Open for all those years – the South Australian crowds were great support, so it’s great for them and it’s great to have our top Aussie guys back.
“But in terms of giving opportunities to other young Australians to play, it doesn’t do that. It’s 48 players who travel around the world and play together and it doesn’t provide any opportunities other than [for] those 48.
“If you look at it as being good for golf, in what avenues is it good for golf? Some are good and some are not so good. You can pick it apart any way you want.”
Webb said her main point of contention with the LIV concept was how the staggering contracts offered to the world’s top players to defect from the PGA tour reinforced the worst aspect of golfing stereotypes.
And while there are aspects of the new tour that could help attract a new fanbase to the sport Webb loves, the 48-year-old is not comfortable with the way the Saudi Arabian-backed tour has been funded.
“The messaging from the LIV tour isn’t what I’d like to see about golf. Jumping from the most lucrative tour and going to another tour for more money, that’s the stigma of golf we’re trying to shake – that it’s a rich man’s sport. That messaging isn’t the greatest,” Webb said.
“But there are things about the LIV tour that I think are compelling. A team aspect is compelling and that can create new, younger fans.
“At the end of the day I’m not against new competition in golf or new tours, it’s just the way it’s handled and, for me, quite honestly the way it’s funded.
“The way it’s funded is the biggest hurdle for me.”
Developing the sport in Australia is something close to Webb’s heart and she believes the crop of female golfers coming through is among the strongest the nation has ever produced.
With superstar Minjee Lee capturing another major last year and the likes of Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou all shining, the future seems brighter than ever.
“She (Minjee Lee) had a great year last year and really came into her own. She’s got more than this year ahead of her, she’s building on an already great career so I’d look for her to play well,” Webb said .
“I’d look for Hannah Green to break into the winner’s circle, other than not winning on the LGPA, that was the only thing she didn’t do, it was her most consistent year.
“We have Steph Kyriacou, she played really well in her rookie year and it took her a good couple of months to settle in but once she did she played really well.
“Gracie Kim, she’s a talent and a star in the making, I think she’ll have a few early nerves on the LGPA early in the year, stepping into the big time.
“But she’s ready, she just has to believe she’s ready to take that next step and once she does believe that the sky is the limit for her.”
Webb will be taking to the course herself at next month’s Victorian Open as she returns to the event for the first time since 2020.
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