The Saudi backed LIV tournaments have started today.
Check out the latest videos & highlights from LIV Golf
www.livgolf.com
I've watched half an hour and have some observations.
1 - The teams seem to have zero meaning or consequence at the moment.
2 - 54 holes is too long. What they're trying to do is essentially what cricket did in the 1970's - go from Test matches only to 1 day cricket. But instead of going from 5 days to 50 overs, they've just gone from 4 days to 3 which doesn't change much. I would have loved to see 18 or 36 holes, and make it into a sort of T20 version of golf where you HAVE to go hard to stand a chance of winning - hitting every par 5 in 2, trying to drive short par 4s, attacking the pin on par 3s to get birdies.
3 - The shotgun start is interesting but removes all sense of how good a score is. I have no idea if someone is at -3 because they started on an easy stretch of course and have played all the par 5s or if they're genuinely outplaying the field.
4 - Commentary is pretty bland although comparable to the online streams of the European Tour. People seem to really like no adverts, but it's a bit like a short highlights package, just shot after shot without great explanation of how important the are.
They've not brought in anything new. New camera angles, new graphics or visualisations etc. What about Split screens? Overlays? That might be something they bring in later.
