Greg Norman has been trying to revolutionize the game of golf with the LIV Tour. The new league promised bigger payouts to players as well as shorter tournaments to create more excitement. The results have been mixed. Norman and the creators of the tour expected a large number of players to jump ship on the PGA Tour. That did not happen, and now the tour is trying to evolve. In a recent interview, Norman revealed that one major rule change might happen.
Greg Norman On LIV Tour 54 Hole Tournaments
Many do not realize that the tour is named LIV for a reason. One of the major differences between LIV and PGA is the length of the tournament. 54 holes is all the offshoot tour plays. LIV is the Roman numeral for 54. The 54 hole limit is the heart and soul of the league. Greg Norman talked about why the league wanted this rule.
“Sometimes you can have an average first round and then you come back and shoot a 64 and get yourself back into it, now you’re into the weekend. If you really don’t play well on Friday here, you have a hard time because the quality of play here is so high. It’s a question you should ask [the players]. It is intense pressure on it straight away because you have to perform immediately right off the bat.”
It does create urgency. One bad round puts you out of the running. However, Norman admitted that the league is considering adding another round. While nothing is official, talks have been had.
Potential Rule Change
Greg Norman recently talked about adding another round and going to 72 holes. He wasn’t sold that it was the right thing to do, but that leadership had a discussion.
“I think from LIV’s perspective, we’re very open-minded about [moving to 72 holes],” he said. “But you’ve got to understand there’s economic impact about putting television on for 72 holes.”
“It’s a great conversation to have. We will continue to have that conversation going forward. But we sit back and say, what value do we get on putting on television on Thursday? Now, how do we build out in the future? How do we get more people to the golf course? Maybe it is Thursday and you allow another 30,000 people coming in on a Thursday.”
He talks a lot about the economic impact. The LIV Tour is shelling out millions of dollars and has to make sure they are marketable. Also, they want to be unique. If it is another PGA Tour, there isn’t much motivation to watch. As the tour tries to compete with the PGA, it will be interesting to see what changes they decide to make in order to draw fans.
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Matt Brown has been following sports since he was a kid. It does not matter what sport he is talking about; he tends to be an expert in it. When he is not glued to following sports, he is a banker in Wisconsin and hosts two podcasts, Beers and Ears & Discontinued on Display.
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