It is high time we stopped patronising LIV Golfers.
Do you remember when Lee Westwood was one of your favourite golfers? He was the everyman figure – relatable, human, plucky, a serial winner and perennial underachiever, one of those BPLITWNTWAM who we were all desperate to see get over the line.
He was also a Ryder Cup stalwart, raising his game time after time in the pressure cooker of the team environment for Europe.
Then he went to LIV and everyone got grumpy with him – you could write a similar intro for several, like the fiery and passionate Jon Rahm, and an even more fiery Tyrrell Hatton. Bryson the scientist, and big-time Brooks. These were players with stellar records and a huge number of fans.
Then they went to LIV and all of a sudden, they were cast as non-serious sell-outs, busted flushes, checking out of proper competition for an easy life on an exhibition tour.
This Open will prove once again how unequivocally incorrect this narrative is.
Just look at their major records in the last few years – Brooks and Bryson have both won a major since their abdications and, time after time, we are seeing LIV players competing at the top of leaderboards in the biggest championships.
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LIV players in majors can’t be ignored, and it is time we all accepted it
This year alone, Rahm, Hatton and Carlos Ortiz all top-tenned at the US Open. At the forgettable PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, it was Rahm, DeChambeau and Niemann and, at the Masters, it was Patrick Reed and DeChambeau in the top 10, with Hatton in 14th.
Rahm had serious looks at winning both the US Open and PGA. At Augusta, Bryson was in the final pairing, and Reed very nearly back-doored a 2nd Green Jacket.
They are not making up the numbers.
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These stats are made all the more impressive when you consider how few LIV players are in the major fields – 19 at The US Open, 15 at the PGA, 12 at The Masters. The field sizes are respectively 156, 156 and 95, which gives you a percentage of LIV players at each of 12%, 10% and 13%.
Yet they are making up around a 3rd of the top 10 at each event. In football terms, they are outperforming their XG at a rate of around 3.
With play underway at The Open, Westwood is in the house at 2-under, Phil Mickelson at -1, and Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Rahm have made stellar starts.
Peaking for majors is the promised land for all of the world’s best. It was ever thus.
They are set up for life financially and the legacy and prestige of the oldest championships are all that matters. This is the curates egg of the LIV defectors – they left chasing money to jeers and boos and cries of sell out – but that money has left them unencumbered by the threat of dwindling form costing them starts and dollars,
Combine that with the lighter, more predictable schedule and they are able to totally focus on preparing for the weeks that matter most.
It is great to see Westwood back in red numbers at an Open, and it is more evidence that the time has come to put down the tired tropes around LIV Golfers. They are proving time after time at majors that they are here to play.
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Can LIV players play in majors? Yes, and they can compete! Tell us what you think on X!
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