PGA Tour pro delivers brutal LIV Golf assessment: "It's going to be a shell of itself"
PGA Tour pro Max Greyserman has offered his thoughts on LIV Golf's future.
PGA Tour pro Max Greyserman says even if LIV Golf obtain funding to survive in 2027 the breakaway tour is "dead".
LIV Golf were dealt a massive blow in March when its primary backer, Saudi Arabia's PIF, confirmed it would no longer bankroll the venture after the end of the season.
The league have been on the hunt for fresh investment ever since and a bombshell report from The New York Post claimed last week that LIV were on the brink of announcing a $250m deal with a group of blue-chip investors to remain operational next year.
But no official announcement has been made.
LIV's star attraction, Bryson DeChambeau, led a players' only meeting in Bedminster yesterday to provide an update on their future plans and their CEO, Scott O'Neil, is expected to face the media on Wednesday afternoon.
But Greyserman told the NUCLR golf podcast that even if LIV secures a lifeline, the tour as we know it is "dead".
"It's going to be a shell of itself," said the 31-year-old American, who is understood to have rejected a deal to join LIV in the off-season.
"It'll be 10 events and it just won't be LIV, as LIV as we know it is dead.
"So even if they do get funding, I think the long term feasibility has proven that it's not going to happen.
"Sure, maybe you have a 10 event series that people play in, and it makes a little bit of money."
He added: "At the current time, they have no funding, but they might get funding.
"And part of the reason they might get funding is just because there's so much money floating around in private equity that's been geared toward sports.
"A lot of these funds have a lot of capital that they need to deploy. And so, they need to deploy that capital, and they might throw it at LIV Golf.
"It has nothing to do with the potential opportunity that LIV Golf has, I think, from a commercial perspective, I just think these funds just need to deploy capital from investors, and they're just like, 'oh, LIV's right here. Maybe we'll try this one'."
The aforementioned O'Neil previously explained that with a cash injection of $350m their new business plan, dubbed LIV 2.0, would start to deliver a profit within three years.
Greyserman said: "I think you're kidding yourself if you think LIV has commercial success in its future, because it's been proven at this point."
"There's respect to that"
Greyserman also addressed how the PGA Tour should handle LIV players seeking to return if the league doesn't survive
As far as he is concerned, immediate returns should be permitted to lifetime members or major winners over the last five years.
The others would have to earn their way back, Greyserman said.
"For example, Cameron Smith, he won the British Open in '22," he said. "So after '27, his PGA Tour membership expires.
Related:
"So if he plays to the end of this year on LIV, and he takes his one year suspension, he has no status. He can't even come back.
"So, all these guys are going to have to go to Q-School. That's the only feasibility.
"Now a decent amount of these LIV guys might have DP World status, so then you're talking maybe try and get those 10 cards that are available through the DP World Tour - which I think that might go down.
"I think you need to see that go down from 10 to maybe like one to five in the future - but that'd be good for the DP World Tour because they've been struggling to get all those players to kind of play on that tour would be commercially really good for them.
"I think guys would welcome them if they earn their way up through Q-School or through the DP World Tour, like [Eugenio] Chacarra is, like Patrick Reed is.
"I don't think guys are too upset. I think some guys on tour would be upset if they were just welcomed right back on the tour.
"But if you have to earn your way back, there's respect in that. I think that's what you'll start to see."
Greyserman's comments come as the PGA Tour have been busy making announcements for their restructured 2028 schedule.
Five events have now been confirmed for the Championship Series.
Greyserman added : "To be honest, on the PGA Tour, no one cares about LIV. It's business as usual.
"With the changes to the tour, everyone's been hyper-focused on the future of the PGA Tour.
"In the locker room, in the PT room, literally, no one's talking about LIV."
Ben Smith joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
