It’s the breakaway league that has made headlines around the world, offered eye-watering prize money and sparked messy legal disputes. Fresh off its debut tournament in Adelaide, the numbers for LIV Golf paint a clearer picture as to how the new format has been received Down Under.
Lining the 12th hole at Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club, thousands of golf-starved diehards cram in against the rope to catch a glimpse of some of the world’s best – but this isn’t your usual game of golf.
There are no calls for quiet, in fact just the opposite. A rock and roll playlist echoes over the loudspeaker as fans, some shirtless, scream and launch their beer cups onto the fairway. US player Chase Koepka and his caddy (seen below) were showered in beer after Koepka hit the only hole in one of the tournament. Making matters even more extreme, he did it on the 12th hole- affectionately known as the ‘party hole’.
The publicity of the event can’t be understated – South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas made sure of it. The city of Adelaide, which is often overlooked for global entertainment and sporting events, transformed into one giant LIV Golf promotion, with advertisements even projected onto the city’s skyscrapers. It was easy to see why the 77,000 plus tickets were snapped up so quickly.
“[The tournament] exceeded my expectations the moment those tickets went on sale and they sold out within minutes,” Malinauskas told reporters. “From my perspective, it didn’t take much of a genius to work out that there is an appetite for high-quality golf in Australia. We’ve been yearning for this. LIV provides us the opportunity to enjoy that and experience that.”
The success seen in Adelaide marks the biggest interest of the 12 LIV events played across two seasons to date. There’s no denying Australia loves its sport, but with traditional golf formats often overlooking the country for major tournaments, LIV is looking to fill a gap left open by the PGA and DP World Tour.
By the numbers
23,390 – Units of LIV Golf and team merchandise sold
77,076 – Official crowd attendance
116,978 – 12-ounce beers sold on-site
$4.54 million – The amount the winning team pocketed
$5.93 million – The amount Talor Gooch won for finishing first
55 million – Number of video views on social media across league channels
Undisclosed – How much South Australia invested in the tournament
The financials
LIV has paid not only hefty signing bonuses to all players, but also baseline US$25 million at each of its tournaments, with US$4 million going to individual winners, and a US$5 million payout for the winning team to split.
Even the last placed player will earn a guaranteed US$120,000. The league will also be paying performance bonuses throughout the season. As a comparison, the PGA offers US$54 million in total spread across its 8 tournaments, with not all competitors receiving payment.
Saudi Arabia’s involvement
But while the fans and players made their way to the course, Australian golfing legend and LIV Golf chairman Greg Norman was pressed on the league’s funding and Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
Asked if he had ever had a conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Norman bluntly answered “no, I have not.”
“I’m the chairman and CEO of LIV Golf investments, and that’s where I focus,” he explained. “I’ve build some golf courses in third-world countries, I’ve built golf courses in communist countries. Golf is a force for good.”
“It goes everywhere with the right platform, because it delivers the right message, from education, to hospitality, to employment, to tourism, everywhere you go, golf is a force for good.”
Questions of “sportswashing” were also shut down by Premier Malinauskas, who said “LIV is not a representative of Saudi Arabia, LIV is a golf tournament.”
“I also accept the fact, with that high degree of competition — particularly when you see a degree of disruption — there will be people that, I think, are motivated, if not incentivised monetarily, to advocate against the competition, using whatever means they have at their disposal.”
LIV Golf Adelaide individual prize money
| Position | Player | Score | Earnings |
| 1 | Talor Gooch | -19 | $4,000,000 ($A5.93 million) |
| 2 | Anirban Lahiri | -16 | $2,250,000 |
| T3 | Cameron Tringale | -15 | $1,000,000 |
| T3 | Patrick Reed | -15 | $1,000,000 |
| T3 | Cameron Smith | -15 | $1,000,000 |
| T3 | Pat Perez | -15 | $1,000,000 |
| T7 | Peter Uihlein | -14 | $533,333 |
| T7 | Dean Burmester | -14 | $533,333 |
| T7 | Charl Schwartzel | -14 | $533,333 |
| 10 | Dustin Johnson | -13 | $415,000 |
| T11 | Sergio Garcia | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Phil Mickelson | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Kevin Na | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Henrik Stenson | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Bubba Watson | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Louis Oosthuizen | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Jason Kokrak | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Brooks Koepka | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Harold Varner III | -12 | $310,000 |
| T11 | Abraham Ancer | -12 | $310,000 |
| T21 | Charles Howell III | -11 | $230,000 |
| T21 | Marc Leishman | -11 | $230,000 |
| T21 | Sebastián Muñoz | -11 | $230,000 |
| T24 | Danny Lee | -10 | $207,500 |
| T24 | Chase Koepka | -10 | $207,500 |
| T26 | Ian Poulter | -9 | $192,500 |
| T26 | Brendan Steele | -9 | $192,500 |
| T26 | Mito Pereira | -9 | $192,500 |
| T26 | Bryson DeChambeau | -9 | $192,500 |
| T30 | Bernd Wiesberger | -8 | $177,500 |
| T30 | Joaquin Niemann | -8 | $177,500 |
| T32 | Richard Bland | -7 | $162,500 |
| T32 | Thomas Pieters | -7 | $162,500 |
| T32 | David Puig | -7 | $162,500 |
| T32 | James Piot | -7 | $162,500 |
| T36 | Graeme McDowell | -6 | $147,500 |
| T36 | Lee Westwood | -6 | $147,500 |
| T36 | Carlos Ortiz | -6 | $147,500 |
| 39 | Paul Casey | -4 | $142,500 |
| T40 | Branden Grace | -3 | $138,750 |
| T40 | Scott Vincent | -3 | $138,750 |
| 42 | Matt Jones | -2 | $135,000 |
| 43 | Jediah Morgan | -1 | $132,500 |
| T44 | Matthew Wolff | E | $128,750 |
| T44 | Eugenio Chacarra | E | $128,750 |
| 46 | Martin Kaymer | 7 | $125,000 |
| 47 | Sihwan Kim | 14 | $122,500 |
| WD | Sam Horsfield | N/A | $80,000 |
| Alternate | Laurie Canter | N/A | $40,000 |
How to watch LIV Golf
American broadcaster CW signed the rights to air LIV Golf tournaments in the US, while the Seven Network announced their own deal as the first Australian broadcast partner, to obtain rights for the 2023 LIV Golf season – a momentous move considering the tournament was previously only available on Youtube and the LIV website in 2022 in Australia.
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