Greg Norman says LIV is ‘open-minded’ to 1 major change

LIV Golf has a little bit of a factor with the quantity 54.

The identify LIV, you would possibly bear in mind, is derived from the Roman numeral for 54, which additionally occurs to be the variety of holes performed by the Saudi-backed tour in its competitions. This has been a central piece of LIV’s “revolutionary” id from the start — the concept tournaments had been too lengthy and stars had been too usually faraway from these fields with a cutline. And so, the league’s concept went, by eradicating the cutline and trimming tournaments to 54 holes with a shotgun begin, we might take away the entire worst components of golf tournaments and preserve the entire finest.

Now, it appears, that love affair has grown a bit stale. As the league ponders a future that might embrace a treaty and even reunification with the PGA Tour, LIV’s executives are additionally coming to grips with the suggestion that a number of the league’s core tenets may very well be modified as a part of that reunification. One of the largest of these urged modifications has been extending the league’s tournaments to 72 holes, which some gamers have advocated for as a way of serving to LIV obtain OWGR standing or, extra broadly, for protecting the tour in keeping with the rest of golf’s largest occasions, that are additionally contested over 72 holes.

On Wednesday at LIV’s newest occasion in Adelaide, commissioner Greg Norman was requested about these modifications particularly — and he delivered a stunning response.

“I think from LIV’s perspective, we’re very open-minded about [moving to 72 holes],” he stated. “But you’ve got to understand there’s economic impact about putting television on for 72 holes.”

Open-minded! Sure, it’s not “enthusiastic about” or “changing to” — however Norman’s feedback nonetheless mark a noticeable territorial shift for the league in its public-facing feedback. Even if shifting to 72 holes would lead to a comparatively palatable answer for all events concerned, Norman and co. have been reticent to remark publicly about modifications that might carry the league extra in keeping with its PGA Tour counterparts. Norman’s choice to remark publicly about it on Wednesday — in the identical presser LIV competitor Jon Rahm named PGA Tour occasions he would take pleasure in competing in — signifies the league is considering significantly a few future that appears totally different than its current.

“It’s a great conversation to have. We will continue to have that conversation going forward,” Norman stated. “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.”

It’s onerous to know precisely what the commissioner means by the “economic impact” of extending to 72 holes. On one hand, it might be costlier to pay the league’s tv crews and manufacturing prices for an additional day of match play. But the worth of placing an occasion on tv is sometimes significantly greater than the price of placing it on TV, and the identical may very well be stated about the price of an additional day of match employees in opposition to the price of tickets. (Sure, LIV has had its points touchdown paid TV companions over time, however certainly some outlet would promote sufficient promoting to justify paying LIV sufficient to cowl the price of manufacturing.)

But financial issues are just one piece of the puzzle, Norman stated. They selected 54 holes as a result of they just like the velocity and urgency it brings to the competitors.

“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,” Norman stated. “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.”

Of course, that’s an fascinating counterpoint — and one which appears to underline the problem going through LIV gamers in transitioning from regular match play to the major championships. But it speaks to the truth that LIV is having these conversations within the first place. And given the drawn-out nature of the negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF, it may be an indication that these talks are progressing.

“There are things that we sit back and look at to see, what is the most optimal solution to make this a better and better and better event?” Norman stated. “And 72 holes is discussed.”

As for a reputation change to LXXII? Well, we’ll depart that up to the person in cost.