Surprising support for LIV from Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland and push for global tour
The Greg Norman-led LIV Golf has attracted its fair share of criticism since its inception, but that sentiment is less so in Australia. SHANNON GILL reports on Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland’s comments at SportNXT.
James Sutherland believes last year’s LIV Golf success in Adelaide has changed public opinion on the Greg Norman-led tour in Australia.
Golf Australia has kept largely silent on the influence of the breakaway competition.
But, just weeks ahead of LIV’s return to Adelaide and amid talks of a long-awaited peace deal between the sporting’s warring parties, Sutherland has given the strongest indication yet of Australian golf’s openness towards the controversial Saudi-backed tour.
“There’s clearly an anti or conservative sentiment about the Saudis in the US, but the further east you go on a world map from America, the more moderate the views are on that,” Golf Australia CEO Sutherland said at the Sport NXT conference.
“We saw in Adelaide in April last year that for us in Australia it was a big golf event with fantastic players.
“The Australian public just wants to embrace great talent in that golf sphere that ordinarily wouldn’t come to Australia.
“I think there are some moderated views around it (LIV), but I think it also showed that we’ve been starved of great golf talent in Australia, and it was embraced.”
More than 77,000 fans attended the Adelaide event and it was described as LIV’s most successful global event.
LIV’s efforts to bring Cameron Smith and its biggest stars to Australia – and the crowds that enjoyed it – has clearly been a boost for the sport that for so long has been undernourished by the dominance of the US PGA Tour.
Sutherland said that one unified tour, inclusive of Australia, is the right way forward for the sport.
“Most people in the golf world are hoping that somehow we’ll see the two come together. It’s uncomfortable not to see the best players on one stage at one time and at the moment there’s only really the majors that they come together to play.
“From an Australian perspective we’d like to see one global tour where Australia plays a significant part.
“We have an alliance through the DP World Tour for both the PGA championships and the Australian Open, which we run. And most of us wish that the breakaway group run by the Saudis will come together somehow with the PGA Tour.”
More Coverage
When and how that happens remains the billion dollar question for golf.
“I don’t think any of us have got a great deal of confidence that they’ve made a lot of progress since the start of talks, but hopefully that changes.”
LIV Golf returns to Australia at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide from April 26-28.
Leishman edges closer to two-decade first
Next Cam Smith? Meet Qld’s top teen guns at elite tournament
‘Megabucks’: How golf became fashion’s obsession
A heckle, a putt — then pain: The moment Smith’s dream crumpled
Great Dane’s impossible putt tears Aus Open from shattered Smith
