AN OPEN WOUND - HOW LIV'S AMBUSH AT AUGUSTA MAKES GOLF BETTER

Mario Russo

Three days removed from this year’s ‘Masters Marathon’ at Augusta National and the world of golf feels like it is recovering from an unprecedented wound. A laceration, severing the trash mouths of anti-LIV patrons, and one that will fester with every passing Major event on the PGA Tour’s schedule this season.

What was viewed as the inevitable quickly became an actuality in the sport of golf this past Sunday. The LIV Tour is a viable threat to the PGA and for the latter, that hurts.

The Saudi-backed swingers infiltrated the Easter long-weekend at Augusta, and aside from the tournament's top spot, hegemonized one of golf’s most pinnacle events.

Sunday at The Masters.

Despite six of the eighteen LIV golfers either withdrawing from the tournament or failing to make the cut, the rest of the league’s representatives found themselves residing in one of the top 50 spots on the leaderboards as play wrapped up.

A vintage final-round performance from Phil Mickelson saw “lefty” leap atop the rest of the field with an unexpected 8-under par scoreline that equipped him with the clubhouse lead as John Rahm and fellow LIV member Brooks Koepka tidely finished up their work on the back nine.

Former Masters champion Patrick Reed found his name labeled on the front page of the leaderboards with every passing round, shooting 7-under par to latch onto a three-way tie for fourth place.

A trio of LIV players finishing in the top five saw more members from the rivaled league casting a draft behind leader - and eventual tournament winner - John Rahm’s back than any golfer bearing a license on the PGA Tour. The skill that was thought of as hesitant was rather constant. Those who were viewed as push-overs did the pushing.

In other words, LIV commissioner Greg Norman had his winning moment at Augusta. For once.

The league avoided a scare with the 28 year-old Spaniard not just holding onto a lead, but riding one through the majority of the round. Despite many not wanting to repudiate the strong performances stemming from Saudi, LIV golf was on the cusp of stealing both the show and the spotlight from the Tour on arguably the game’s biggest stage.

But is that really a bad thing?

Whether they came for the league-to-league drama, tuned in for a rare Tiger spotting, or stayed the course for the coronation, round four of The Masters saw 12.05 million golf fans invest their time into the sights and sounds of Augusta - the most since Patrick Reed’s win in 2018.

The numbers speak not to complicate the already head-spinning drama between the rival institutions, but rather to quantify the relationship between golf fans and golf’s best.

And the desire to watch the two collide.

A heavyweight battle for the prized Green Jacket between Rahm and Koepka is what the sport has been craving for since players made the transition to the emerging league last summer.

Despite the storyline fizzling out with every square on Koepka’s scorecard, the tension around Augusta’s hollow grounds continued to encapsulate spectators with every passing hole.

Call it a one-off performance from a minority of the LIV participants or chalk it up to being a joking scare rather than a definitive threat to the PGA. Whatever label gets slapped onto the 2023 Masters tournament, a part of it must mix in the return of unrivaled competition within the sport.

The start of golf’s new era.

The Masters has shown that endurance is still prominent amongst the sport’s athletes whether they have a silly team name pressed on their shirt or not. Fourth round scores are no longer reserved for members of the PGA Tour, with some of the best of the bunch even rising from players that are only guaranteed 72 holes five times a year.

Major championships will never be the same so long as golf stands as a medium between contrasting cutthroat leagues. The PGA Tour took a hit to their ego this past weekend due to the prominent performances of their rebelled swingers. The end result couldn't be sweeter.

The fact that LIV golfers presented the furthest storyline from rolling over and dying has, and will continue to wound the superiority complex that is the PGA Tour, making the final three events in which the leagues overlap must-watch competition.

Rahm may have reserved the first point for the PGA, but the questions surrounding the cohesiveness of the rival leagues remain as daunting as ever. Is LIV built to go the distance? Will the PGA lose its Monopolized Major legacy this season?

Will this wound ever recover, or will we see the Tour bleed out? Next stop, Oak Hill Country Club.