The best golfers have always competed on the PGA Tour in the past. From Ben Hogan, Jack, Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson to Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris the PGA is going to have their share of star power as long as Professional Golf exists.
With the LIV Golf Tour, there are many pros and cons compared to the PGA.
LIV Advantages. With the International events that the LIV Tour has, it gives the upcoming professional opportunities to explore golf courses that they normally wouldn’t experience on the PGA.
For example, courses in Thailand and England are on the 8-week series compared to North America specific events with the PGA Tour. 54 Holes instead of 72.
For the older guys, especially walking 72 holes Thursday through Sunday can cause a ton of wear and tear on the body of the golfer and the caddy, the 54-hole experience would pique interest to some especially the older guys, so they don’t have to walk as many holes competitively.
Different formats to make it fun.
The LIV Tour has an individual competition as well as a team competition inside of the individual tournament which I find interesting. The individual tournament is your standardized competition; however, the Team competition can spice things up a little bit to give you the opportunity to play for somebody else which could elevate your game to a different level.
No Cuts: The Tournaments that you compete in every week give the golfer something to walk away with. No matter how good or how bad they perform they are walking away with a paycheck. With the PGA Tour, if you miss the cut no money for you. That part right there makes it more compelling to join the LIV Tour vs the PGA.
PGA Tour Advantages. Tradition. The PGA Tour has been around a lot longer than the LIV Tour which gives the upcoming golfer a sense of security know that the PGA tour has some stability behind it.
Golfers are looking at the length of their careers as well as how long the platform has been available to professionals of the past. Competition and Recognition.
Currently, the PGA Tour has a stronger competitive field than the LIV Tour does. When you do well on the PGA Tour you would be more of a household name. Your household name leads to your followers, which eventually gives you those higher opportunities to get endorsement deals from the companies that are affiliated with the PGA Tour. More playing opportunities.
Right now, the PGA Tour has more competitive events you can play in compared to the LIV Tour. The PGA Tour has North of 30 events across America on well-known venues from Harbor Town to various TPC Courses from Scottsdale to Sawgrass.
The LIV Tour is still a relatively new concept that is still in the early stages.
Conclusion: If you had to ask me today, I’d pursue the PGA Tour first because of some of the courses they play on are courses that I’ve always wanted to play. However, from an international standpoint, I believe that there are opportunities to grow with a new type of format which is very compelling as well. At the end of the day, we have more ways to watch golf and it gives golf the international platform that could potentially bring more people to the game.