Near the end of Sunday’s Masters broadcast, CBS announcer Jim Nantz fired a subtle shot at LIV.
“And the top five are all PGA Tour players,” Nantz said as Scottie Scheffler approached the 16th tee.
It would stay that way as Scheffler dominated everyone en route to a four-stroke victory over rookie sensation Ludvig Aberg. The rest of the top five was rounded out by Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood.
Those five players, who are some of the more adamant PGA Tour supporters, were among the pack battling for the green jacket over the weekend.
Meanwhile, LIV had a Masters to forget. The league’s 13 players combined to go 82-over as five LIV members (Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Adrian Meronk, Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia) missed the cut.
It was particularly jarring how Johnson shot 78-79 (13-over) while only making one birdie across two rounds of uninspiring golf. He looks like a player bored with pro golf—by his own admission, he doesn’t practice at the same rate he once did. DJ might be the first casualty of a player who took the money and has no more motivation to be a relevant golfer.
Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 7-under 65 to take an early lead but slowly bled from there and never had a serious shot to win (although it was great to have him back in the mix). He co-led the LIV contingent at 2-under, earning a T6 finish alongside Cam Smith.
Tyrrell Hatton (T9) and Patrick Reed (T12) were the only others in the top 20 among the 89 contestants.
Joaquin Niemann (T22) continued his mediocre major record that has yet to include a top-10 finish. Much worse than Niemann was how Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka (T45) were total non-factors. Both players had won majors a year ago.
LIV didn’t fare any better outside the competition. Front man Greg Norman made himself look even more like a fool (difficult to do) when he bought a Masters badge and tried to get Rory McIlroy’s attention multiple times during tournament rounds, according to No Laying Up. He then posted this message to Instagram:
“It was humbling, moving and I was taken back by your words of encouragement – ‘thank you for what you have done for golf’ … ‘don’t stop’ … ‘love LIV’ and the one that got to me personally and emotionally – ‘welcome back.’
“My right hand is sore from shaking hands with each and every one of you as well as the hugs given to so many. Golf is golf and on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National healthy competition (which is the bedrock of us) resonated. Thank you all for the 3 days of incredible and touching memories!”
Draw your own conclusions. Do you think Masters patrons were thanking Norman for creating unprecedented division in pro golf? If that is true, I might be able to enter the Masters next year and beat Scheffler.
It smacks of someone desperate for attention, which is perfectly in line with Norman’s personality.
LIV did get a win when PGA Tour star Wyndham Clark threw a weird punch at LIV’s 54-hole format. Clark promptly missed the cut the day after his comments, only getting to play 36 holes for the tournament.
However, that was about all that could be celebrated this past weekend. It was a far cry from the 2023 Masters when Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Reed were all in contention.
Rahm, who was with the PGA Tour at the time, won that Masters. A month later, Koepka claimed the PGA Championship. The major championship season was a success as LIV players were contending in all four of the game’s biggest events.
The major momentum doesn’t have the same feel this time around. Rahm and Koepka, who represent the best chance for a LIV player to grab another major this year, are not playing particularly well.
LIV does have four of the top 13 players in the world according to Data Golf, and there are other key players in their stable, such as Koepka and Smith, beyond that point.
It will be interesting to track whether the Masters was a one-off for LIV stars struggling or if there is a long-term trend of players losing focus now that LIV is approaching its two-year anniversary. Will there be any loss of motivation?
We’ll have to wait and see.
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