Dean Burmester (center) and Josele Ballester are pictured on the podium after the three-man playoff at LIV Golf Chicago Sunday.
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BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — When LIV Golf first visited Chicago, roughly three years ago, the topic of the week was clear: World Ranking points, and how LIV events weren’t receiving them — a crucial badge of acceptance in the pro golf ecosystem.
LIV executives accused the OWGR of “slow playing” them and soon players penned a letter demanding inclusion. They compared the situation to college football, asking, How could you exclude the Big 10 or the SEC? Their plight was much more complex. (The Big 10 wasn’t playing a different format of football, for example.) But here we are, three years later, having watched a fourth event roll through Chicagoland, and that issue persists, unresolved. Because like a lot of things with LIV Golf, the reality was never as simple as it was initially presented.
On one hand, that can make for a distressed perception among golf fans. On the other, it makes the current iteration of LIV Golf perhaps its most fascinating, with an existential question creeping to the fore: Just how willing is everyone to keep pursuing what LIV Golf was originally after?
IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG TO SEE the almost-constant duality to the league that keeps it from breaking through, but also keeps it from going away. There tends to be an all-caps BUT that can be added to almost any argument — positive or negative — made about the league.
There are the disappointing LIV TV ratings that continue to sag while the PGA Tour’s numbers have rebounded considerably. But then there’s the on-site attendance, which is trending very positive for LIV as it charges through the Midwest. No doubt aided by the concert(s) that follow the golf — Good Charlotte was Chicago’s headliner — Saturday’s second round saw the greatest single-day attendance in league history. LIV expects to break that record (possibly twice) in just a few days at the regular-season finale in Indianapolis. Bringing top talent to pro-golf-deprived major metros has always been a wise strategy, but after four years of visiting Chicago, it appears unlikely LIV will be back in 2026. The league is looking for support from the state of Illinois. (Somewhat related: the PGA Tour is hosting the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club next September.)
Creativity and nimbleness abounds at LIV — far more than what you see on the PGA Tour — and the various franchises are no-doubt seeing greater sponsor interest than ever before. But there’s always been a sprint-before-walking mentality to the rival golf league and its members. Multiple general managers will tell you they want these newborn franchises to one day be the golf equivalent of the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees — two of the most successful, most valuable, most engrained-in-the-culture sports brands the world has ever known. A more worthwhile dream would be getting as popular as (or growing alongside the trajectory of) Birmingham City Football Club, which plays in the second level of English soccer but trades well on the popularity of its minority owner, Tom Brady.
New LIV CEO Scott O’Neil — who has been far more public and admirably transparent than his predecessor, Greg Norman — understands the travails of selling an underdog product. He and numerous LIV executives — including LIV president Chris Heck, who helped oversee the Champions League rise of Aston Villa FC — were in charge of marketing the Philadelphia 76ers in the mid-2010s, a franchise that willfully stripped itself of elite basketball talent and forced a rebuild. O’Neil admitted to me Sunday morning that there are similarities between that gig and this one, in garnering progress from the ground up. (Not-so coincidentally, Elton Brand, the current 76ers GM, was on-site at LIV Chicago Sunday.)
During his first year in the gig, O’Neil has conducted a number of press conferences, including an impromptu one in England where he stated — with a pause for emphasis — the overall contract value of league sponsorships has increased by a factor of 10. LIV has landed serious deals with Salesforce and global bank HSBC. They make up two of the six sponsors featured prominently on LIV’s website. Then there are the other four — Maaden, Riyadh Air, ROSHN Group and Aramco — all owned by LIV’s parent company, the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
You see these brands on the grounds in much the same way you see RBC sponsorship at the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open. Local brands get involved, too, with activations in the fan village that LIV creates at every event. In England, a members-only English Pub — The Majesticks Arms — was erected directly beyond the 9th green, outfitted with Estrella Damm taps and dart boards just steps off the putting surface. Some of it is hokey — see: the old British phone booths that make an annual appearance at LIV Golf UK — but some of it is also catching on. All of it, no doubt, fits a distinct LIV Golf vibe. If you’re into it, you’re into it. The Chicago village was centered around a large pop-up bar run by Lottie’s, a beloved Second City pub. There’s something repeatable there, right? Fans hung around the bar area long after the golf ended Sunday.
And the BUT?
About 100 yards away from the Lottie’s pop-up was the concert stage where, on Sunday afternoon, champagne was once again streaming through the air. On one end of the camera lens, it was a hell of a time for the victorious Stinger GC. Behind that camera, though, only a couple hundred spectators had moseyed over to witness it. You can spend a lot of money to make something happen, but you can’t necessarily guarantee it catches on. You can also spend a lot of money booking Jon Rahm and his Name, Image and golfing Likeness, but you can’t guarantee he’ll stick around for the podium ceremony when he loses a playoff. While Dean Burmester hoisted the trophy atop the podium, Josele Ballester stood to his right, arms crossed. Rahm was nowhere to be found.
The team celebration for Stinger GC after LIV Golf Chicago.Sean Zak
Were the event won by, say, Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers — who are a domestic leader in merchandise sales — certainly many more Chicagoans would have stuck around. Stinger GC will find a far greater reception in seven months, when the league travels to South Africa for the first time. It will mark the first time many of golf’s best players compete in that part of the world. You have to strain pretty hard to look at the global schedule and think LIV South Africa is anything but progress for the sport. Ticket sales for that event, according to Stinger GC general manager Richard Glover, have been “off the charts.” The green and gold Stinger GC merchandise will surely be a local favorite that week. Although one issue lingers: LIV is currently being sued for trademark infringement by Stinger Golf, a company based in Ohio.
Lastly, as ever, the most fascinating element of LIV’s duality rests in its roster.
Consider the existence of Anthony Kim, whose journey back to pro golf was both incredibly inspiring but also at times sad. Kim landed on LIV in early 2024 and has spoken about changing his life, becoming a father and getting sober. At the outset, he held the golf world’s fascination. But the last 12 months have, for him, been defined by poor play and social media spats.
Whether or not Kim plays beyond August 2025 seems less consequential to players more engrained in the DNA of the league. Pat Perez, for example, was signed in the second week of LIV’s existence but is broadcasting instead of playing in 2025. Matthew Wolff, once one of the game’s best prospects, is just inside the top 400 in the world, according to DataGolf. The only thing keeping him from relegation is the one week this year where his putter got hot, in Korea.
Suffering a worse fate is Ian Poulter, whose 2025 performance has him needing at least a top 20 (though more likely, a top 17) finish this week in Indiana to avoid being relegated from the league. Poulter and his Majesticks co-captain Henrik Stenson are both 49 years old and may not be allowed to play LIV Golf next season. (Stenson is one spot inside the relegation line.) They would retain the franchise equity they signed on for, sure, but what is it worth if they have to play their golf elsewhere?
These questions don’t necessarily have answers yet, but they will soon enough. On one hand, relegation is a tough look for one of the bigger names the league signed three years ago. When faced with this same dilemma for Bubba Watson last year, the two-time Masters champ was allowed to stay on via a “business case” loophole that no longer exists. And importantly so. Strict relegation (as well as increased pathways into the league) are one of the main reasons LIV believes it will soon obtain those pesky World Ranking points.
Looming above it all is an eery element of LIV’s own creation. For years Greg Norman claimed he brought free agency to the world of golf, and in many ways, he was correct. But as time goes by, so too goes the months and years and guaranteed appearances baked into mega-million-dollar contracts. In a few months, DeChambeau will begin contract extension negotiations with LIV.
The 31-year-old is as committed to team golf as anyone, which is great for Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Saudi PIF governor and LIV financier, who adores team golf and will ultimately green-light DeChambeau’s next signing bonus. It has become abundantly clear that DeChambeau is Al-Rumayyaan greatest asset — both on YouTube but possibly in the White House as well — and was unquestionably LIV’s best investment. All of which will make him a very pricey one moving forward, too.
Sean Zak is a senior writer and author of Searching in St. Andrews, which followed his travels in Scotland during the most pivotal summer in the game’s history.
