Welcome to LIVbreathegolf where we give you something to do in the 364 more days until next years hockey tryouts.

What we’re teeing up for you today:

• Could LIV Golf change everything?

• Starters guide to watch the first tournament

• Leaderboards

• LIV Golf vs. The PGA Tour

This New League Is Changing Golf As We Know It... What Is LIV Golf?

Chances are you can remember a time when your dad has fallen asleep on the couch in the middle of the afternoon… and what was on the TV during that snooze? Golf.

4 days. 100+ players. Tee times from dawn to dusk. It is hard to stay engaged. It becomes the background noise as you go about the rest of your weekend until Sunday afternoon when the real excitement starts.

Enter LIV Golf. It’s “Golf, But Louder”.

So What is LIV Golf

A new professional golf tour that started in 2022. LIV is run by CEO Greg Norman and financed by the Public Investment Fund (the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia).

LIV is changing the atmosphere of golf. It’s faster, louder, and trying to appeal to a new generation of golfers coming onto the scene.

How it is different

• 3 day tournaments

• 48 players playing for individual and team points

• Shotgun starts (everyone tees off at the same time from different holes)

• No cuts - Every player that starts finishes

• 14 events across the world

• More hospitality areas with music playing throughout

• 12 teams competing in addition to the individual race

• Guaranteed money to players

Why it matters

Golf has long been criticized for being too slow and boring to watch. Because of that golf professionals have also struggled with how to grow the sport as much as they would like.

Now golf is a 4 hour event where there are always great golf shots going on, there are teams to root for, and the environment feels more like a party than a quiet nature walk.

This is a major step in changing that, and bringing golf to a new audience (around the world) that may not have been interested before.

Pick your team

Not sure who to root for yet? Use LIV Golf’s team picker and find out which team you are scientifically guaranteed to fall in love with. Reply to this email with the team you get! (I got Crusher GC)

Starters Guide to Watching the first tournament LIV Golf Mayakoba

• Where the heck do I watch this thing?: THE CW - Friday tournaments will be aired on the CW app (honey, plug in the Roku) and Saturday’s and Sunday’s will be on the CW app as well as broadcast over the air. You can also watch on the newly released livgolfplus app.

• What time is it on?: 1-6 pm EST. All LIV Golf tournaments for 2023 will air at this same time. But, they play a lot of different places. Doesn't that change the times? - Nope. Clear your calendar. It is 1-6 pm EST.

• Who is playing this weekend?: There are 12 teams of 4 that will be teeing it up. Players will compete as part of a team where the top 3 scores count. They will also compete for an individual win at the same time.

  • The 12 Teams are: 4Aces, Cleeks, Crushers, Fireballs, Hyflyers, Iron Heads, Majesticks, Range Goats, Ripper, Smash, Stinger, and Torque

    • The Top 10 Ranked Players (if you're not good at math, there are 48 total. We will focus on the best for now):

      • Dustin Johnson - last years individual champion

      • Cameron Smith

      • Patrick Reed

      • Bryson DeChambeau

      • Brooks Koepka

      • Joaquin Niemann

      • Abraham Ancer

      • Talor Gooch

      • Matthew Wolff

      • Peter Uihlein

• Where are they playing at?: Mayakoba. The 2023 season kicks off in Mexico. And since Wednesday was national margarita day it just makes sense.

Chart

Team leaderboard after Saturday

Individual leaderboard after Saturday

After 2 days we have Crushers GC in the lead with 4Aces GC right behind them. This isn’t too much of a surprise as 4Aces GC won 5 of the 9 LIV Golf tournaments last year, basically dominating the inaugural season.

Of note on the individual leaderboard is the rise of Talor Gooch. Gooch is a current Range Goat, but last year helped carry the 4Aces to the championship. It is quite possible he will be grazing at the front of the pack for most of this year.

What you can’t see here is HyFlyers lowest scorer (as well as the tournaments…) Sihwan Kim coming in at +17. Still a lot of golf left in the year…

LIV Golf vs. The PGA Tour

Last year nobody thought LIV would get off the ground or ever get any top talent to make it worth watching. However, that hasn’t made the PGA Tour any less nervous about losing it’s top players.

Let’s look at how LIV Golf Mayakoba stacks up against the Honda Classic this weekend:

• This year OWGR top 100 ranked players in this weeks tournaments…

  • LIV Mayakoba - 19

  • PGA Honda Classic - 18

Sure, the Honda Classic doesn’t typically draw out the biggest names, so maybe that is a little misleading. But, still, for a league with only 48 players having 1/5 of the top 100 is not bad.

Meme of the Day

Don’t golf alone, Share LIVbreathegolf and get more people on the course

Or copy and past this referral link: https://livbreathegolf.beehiiv.com/subscribe

For sharing you get…something???

Is my undying gratitude enough? If people actually start reading this maybe you will get a sticker or a trip to the LIV Golf finals or something… who knows. For now, just know that I love you.

How’s my swing?

Have you ever tried to critique your own swing? Most likely you were sure you had the answer until you the next hole when you’re walking around in the woods looking for your ball you sliced again. Please help me out so I can perfect my practice and start hitting ‘em long and straight.

par, bogey, par, birdie, bogey, par, bogey, birdie, par...