For all of LIV’s faults, it has got one thing right. (Well, almost…)

Are you sitting down? Because I’m going to say something nice about LIV Golf. 

No, the world is not ending. (That I know of.) 

And no, I am not a paid Saudi shill. (If I was I would live in a much bigger house.) 

I really – REALLY – like the idea of LIV’s season-ending Team Championship. 

Now I’ve worded that carefully, for reasons I’ll make clear about two inches south of here. 

The PGA Tour still hasn’t worked out how to do it. The FedEx Cup Playoffs, while great at helping the best in the game throw a few more million on the pile, are painfully contrived and offer nothing for the armchair viewer.  

LIV, though, has done the exact opposite and offered us a tournament that provides a bit of jeopardy, and a bit of drama, and includes a stroke play element with some match play thrown in. 

And you can’t get that wrong, can you? 

Well, I think it’s very clear where this is going.  

One gripe. 

When I popped onto LIV’s website to check out the format, I was presented with several hundred words too many about seeding and byes and higher-ranking teams choosing their next opponents. 

Sorry, what? I get our American friends like to eke the draft format into every possible eventuality, but sometimes it’s OK to just say no.  

It’s not rocket science. If it’s too complicated for a nerd like me to follow, how can you possibly expect the casual golf fan to enjoy it? 

We like our sports simple. Team A beats Team B and advances to play the winner of Team C versus Team D.  

It’s also the reason why 72-hole stroke play has, for more than a century now, been the accepted way of deciding a golf tournament. 

Alright, Alex, how would you do it?  

Thank you for asking. One of my favourite weeks, for a number of reasons, is The Amateur, which sees the biggest stars in the unpaid ranks battle over two days of stroke play before a gruelling match play battle. LIV is doing nothing wrong in adopting the mixed format – if anything, it should be encouraged – it just needs to simplify matters. 

Thursday could be 18 holes of stroke play, with scores to count from all 52 players in a cumulative 13-team leaderboard.  

Then the top eight teams would go into the match play quarterfinals – 1st versus 8th, 2nd vs 7th, and so on – with the semifinals and final taking place on Sunday. (I’ll work out what happens with the teams that finish 9th to 13th when LIV start paying me.) 

Easy to follow, nothing too contrived, genuine drama on each day. What’s not to like? 

The last ever line spoken in one of my favourite TV shows is: “There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”  

Golf’s powers that be would do well to take heed.

But then you go and spoil it all… 

…by saying something stupid like “we’re in 450 million households”.  

By which Greg Norman presumably – slash hopefully – means there are 450 million households in the world with access to YouTube. 

Presented without comment

Sergio Garcia – the man who waited 20 years to finally get over the line in a major championship and is generally considered the greatest Ryder Cup player of all time – told the Mirror last week that a Fireballs GC win at LIV’s Team Championship “would definitely be up there with the Masters win and Ryder Cups”.

Quote Unquote

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, Ian Poulter remains “hopeful” that he will one day have the chance to captain Team Europe.

Time to let it go mate. This is verging on “just me and Tiger” territory.

Billy idol

I’ve definitely written this before, but I love Billy Horschel.

I love that he’s an anglophile. I love that he loves football, and cricket, and darts.

I love that he comes over here and plays in our biggest tournaments. I love that he gets the importance of the DP World Tour in the wider context of golf.

But it’s time to accept that Horschel is about the level of PGA Tour star we can get over here playing in our events. Tiger Woods never came, unless there was a few dollars involved, while the biggest American names aren’t bothered either. (Of the top three ranked Americans right now, Collin Morikawa hasn’t played a “regular” DP World Tour event since 2022, Xander Schauffele since 2019, and Scottie Scheffler ever.)

And why would they? They have ludicrously busy schedules as it is.

It should make us appreciate the Horschels and – dare I say it? – the Patrick Reeds of the world a bit more.

bunkered‘s Tipping Point

This question on Tipping Point – the Ben Shephard-hosted ITV daytime quiz that’s loosely based on those 2p slot machines you play down the arcades – piqued our interest…

Tipping Point famous is the new Instagram famous.

(Also, well done, Rob. You win a free subscription.) pic.twitter.com/KnKG4MLbf4

— bunkered (@bunkeredgolf) September 20, 2024

And finally…

I’ll finish as always with a few bits and bobs that I think you should be reading.

This was a great pick-up from John Turnbull about former tennis ace Mardy Fish offering to get his own back on Andy Murray on the golf course. (It also allows me the opportunity to wheel out this joke: Mardy Fish, from the same people that brought you Angry Birds.)

I really enjoyed this cheeky poke at Patrick Cantlay from Ben Parsons.

And if you know who Justin Ray is (and even if you don’t, to be fair), you’ll love this piece with him from Michael McEwan.

Before I go, make sure you catch the latest episode of The bunkered Podcast. We discussed our favourite golf icks – and the ones that are actually icks are very good.

As always, play well.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor