Hayrides, scripted answers, wild parties and clowns (real ones) — here’s what a week at a LIV Golf event is truly like

The battle royale for supremacy between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour has been one of the year’s biggest stories in all of sports, and perhaps the most paramount in professional golf over the past few decades.

Despite covering the upstart entity led by Greg Norman — and financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — since it borrowed the idea from the Premier Golf League, I truly had no idea what to expect when I pulled into Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club for the first day of media access at the LIV Golf Invitational Series event in Portland.

What I learned over the next five days was eye-opening — good and bad. It doesn’t take long to realize there’s a clear market for LIV Golf, it just depends on what you’re looking for in a golf tournament. If you’re an avid fan who loves the game for the history and competition, these events likely won’t be for you. But if you’re a general sports fan who loves festivals and fanfare, it’s possible this will pique your interest.

Here’s what it’s like to spend a week in the life of LIV.

Learning on the fly: startup issues

A general view of signage during a practice round prior to the LIV Golf Invitational – Portland at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on June 27, 2022, in North Plains, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/LIV Golf/via Getty Images)

Let’s start with my own perspective — not because the plight of the media is of any importance to you, but to paint a picture of how the week evolved. So, hear me out.

The shuttle from the parking lot to the media center each day was a hayride (OK, not really, but the van was littered with hay and clearly repurposed from a nearby farm). Workers were scrambling to build key structures around the course as well as inside the fan zone in the two days leading up to when play was scheduled to shotgun start. The Wi-Fi wasn’t working when the media center opened. These are all signs of a startup still finding its day-to-day footing, which was to be expected in LIV’s second event.

Outside of the three-at-a-time press conferences and post-round interviews – a format that takes considerable attention off each player and shortens the time we have to ask questions –  the media center experience was comparable to a PGA Tour event for the most part. Except for the robot that delivers drinks. You don’t see that at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

The media access and interactions with the players, however, were night and day in comparison to the PGA Tour.

Calculated and cold-hearted: scripted responses

The stage for press conferences in the media center at the LIV Golf Portland event. (Photo: Golfweek)

The series has become known for fostering contentious exchanges with the media when asked about Saudi Arabia’s objectively horrendous track record on human rights. That trend continued during the press conference with Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez.

“I don’t have any concerns,” Perez said bluntly when asked about being supported by the Kingdom. “I’m playing golf. This group has provided me an opportunity to play golf and have a different schedule, and that’s my only concern. So, yeah, I mean, I understand the topics you’re trying to bring up, and they’re horrible events, but I’m here to play golf. That’s my deal. I’ve got an opportunity to play golf, and that’s it.”

The “horrible events” could be anything from the 2018 death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi consulate, to Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

One coach had the nerve to say to Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier that LIV is more welcoming than any other tour and that, “You have actual human rights out here.”

Like Perez, Bryson DeChambeau also wanted to get past the controversial conversations surrounding the series by rolling out scripted talking points before ending his press conference with Matthew Wolff and Abraham Ancer by saying, “Looking forward is the most important thing we can do in regards to this game of golf.”

He said what? Player compares LIV Golf to the Ryder Cup

And people wonder where the term “sportswash” comes from. Professional golfers are rarely relatable, but one clear takeaway is that now more than ever these players are living in a bubble and are starting to view themselves as martyrs who are putting their reputations on the line to, as they so often say, “grow the game.” They’ve joined together and found camaraderie as professional golf’s damned, and their cold-hearted responses to real-life issues and questions appear to be here for the long haul.

Inside the bubble: the party rages

Host Jason Zone Fisher and Pat Perez of 4 Aces GC smile during the LIV Golf Invitational – Portland Welcome Party at Redd on June 28, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf via Getty Images)

The noise outside the LIV Golf bubble is deafening with talks of lawsuits, bans and Official World Golf Ranking points. But inside the bubble, it’s a party that’s only growing with each event. Players seemed genuinely happy in Portland.

Big numbers on scorecards produce big numbers in bank accounts – just ask Perez, who shot an 80 in the final round and still made $900,000. The eight-event circuit that’s set to expand to 14 tournaments next year pays the way not just for the players, but their caddies.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness hasn’t seen a LIV event, where everything seems too good to be true.

The fewer fans (LIV caps ticket handouts and sales) and fewer players make for an interesting vibe around the course, and the players are intoxicated by it.

On the range after the pro-am, Phil Mickelson quipped to Matthew Wolff about how nice it is to not have to act like a bobblehead every hole. Instead of four amateurs per group and one player, the LIV format is two players and two amateurs — all closed to fans. Another subtle change to the normal tour life that players enjoy.

Playing to the fans

Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, signs autographs for fans during the final round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. (Photo: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports)

For all the chaos at the start of the week, by the time gates opened at 10 a.m. for fans ahead of the first round, they were able to see just what the Public Investment Fund – the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia that backs LIV Golf – is capable of.

More: LIV Golf fans waited for hours in traffic outside the course

One major success story for LIV Golf is its strategy to play to the fans in multiple ways. The circuit is hosting events in markets starved for professional golf like Portland, New Jersey and Chicago, and scheduling them opposite weaker stops on Tour. Food and drink options are reasonably priced. Active-duty military and veterans get in for free at LIV events, same with kids 15 and younger with a ticketed adult. The series also offers 25 percent discounts for college students, teachers, medical professionals and first responders. Team gear was seen everywhere, mostly for Mickelson’s Hy-Flyers. The fan zone is loaded with games and activities, so much so that you can forget you’re supposed to be at a golf tournament.

‘We are all complicit:’ LIV Golf fans in Portland don’t seem to care about Saudi Arabia funding

The shotgun start format works for fans, especially families, because they know exactly when it starts and ends. The team aspect has promise but with the rosters and team names changing between events, it’s impossible to buy in just yet. Most in attendance couldn’t name more than four of the 12 teams, let alone a full roster. That said, the series has scheduled expansiob to 14 events and will re-brand as the LIV Golf League in 2023, and more players are expected to be announced throughout the year.

So what’s the takeaway, after a full week on-site at a LIV Golf stop?

Issues still abound and players are allowed to hide from hard questions.

But just because Norman looks and acts the part of a fool sometimes, that doesn’t make LIV Golf events a total clown show — well, aside from the actual clowns they had juggling while riding around on bicycles and unicycles.

Clowns at the LIV Golf Invitational Series event in Portland in June. (Photo: Golfweek)

Golfweek reporter Adam Woodard spent the entire week in Portland covering the LIV Golf event. He has also written numerous stories about the emergence of the circuit.

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