Fact or Fiction: LIV Golf Nashville Showed the Saudi-Backed League Is Gaining Fans

SI Golf’s writers and editors debate what LIV Golf's record U.S. crowds mean and if courses surrendering multiple sub-60 rounds should stop hosting pro tournaments.

Bryson DeChambeau and LIV Golf saw its biggest crowds for a U.S. event last week in Nashville. / Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we're in full summer-golf mode, which means dodging a storm or two.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

TPC River Highlands has surrendered two sub-60 scores, with Cameron Young’s Saturday 59 joining Jim Furyk’s 58 in 2016. The Old White course at the Greenbrier also had two sub-60 PGA Tour rounds plus Bryson DeChambeau’s 58 last year in a LIV Golf tournament. Any course that has seen more than one of “golf’s magic number” shouldn’t host top-level pro events. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. The events are about way more than just the difficulty of the golf course. Sure, these courses have taken a beating, but so what? These guys know it’s a week where they have to make a lot of birdies. In the case of the Travelers, it’s one of the best-attended events on Tour. To switch venues and risk all of the other issues you’d face hardly seems worth it to “protect’’ a score.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. I’ve written it many times, but the best events are staged at courses where players can make swift, unexpected and dramatic moves both up the leaderboard and right back down. Augusta, the recent Pinehurst U.S. Open, Bay Hill, Muirfield Village and Sawgrass are a few examples. But how many venues exist that can both challenge the world’s best players and handle the infrastructure of a Tour event? It’s smaller than we think, and that’s why it’s O.K. to continue to have a few traditional shootouts on the schedule, like last week’s Travelers. 

John Schwarb: FICTION. Pretty crazy that a dozen under par last week didn’t crack the top 20, but as mentioned you know what you’re getting at TPC River Highlands, and the combination of sponsor, crowd support and the letters “TPC” mean this venue isn’t going anywhere. Just keep extra space ready in the record book.

LIV Golf reported its largest crowd for a U.S. tournament with more than 40,000 last week in Nashville, Tenn. This shows that the Saudi-backed league is finding its footing.   

Bob Harig: FICTION. It’s one event in an area of the country underserved by professional golf. So it’s a smart place to go and the timing was great with Bryson DeChambeau coming off his U.S. Open victory. Does it mean they’ve found their footing? It seems they’ve got a much longer way to go. Going up against PGA Tour events in the exact same window—especially some of the Tour’s better tournaments—doesn’t help. But they are likely to do well in their next event in Spain and it appears their international push will continue.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. It’s the Bryson effect and it’s real. DeChambeau’s win was astronomically more popular than Brooks Koepka’s PGA victory last year. Fans want to see him, and it was a boon that LIV staged an event right after its freshly minted Most Popular Player bagged that major. They’re riding the wave. 

John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. Definitely some Bryson Effect here, he may have fist-bumped and signed autographs for 10,000 of the 40,000 people. And Nashville is an underserved golf area, as Bob said, with people who like to party and be seen partying. There's nothing wrong with throwing a party that happens to have a golf tournament. But how many of those fans could name the man who won if you asked them today? Therein lies your answer about the actual golf league. 

Mike “Fluff” Cowan has reunited with Jim Furyk and said he’ll spend the rest of his career on the PGA Tour Champions player’s bag. He’s the most iconic caddie of the last 30 years in golf. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. Fluff is great but he actually went way more under the radar in his time with Furyk than even when he was with Peter Jacobsen before Tiger. He’s simply seen it all and been around for decades but it’s hard to not put Steve Williams—who was the enforcer in Tiger’s heyday – and even Jim “Bones” Mackay—who never wanted any limelight but couldn’t help it caddying for Phil Mickelson at a higher level.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Fluff is fantastic, but for better or worse I’d say Steve Williams is the biggest star caddie of this century, strictly because of his proximity golf’s biggest star player of this century.

John Schwarb: FACT. Fluff is iconic! The mustache, less-than-Atlas body type, cigarette smoke judging the wind, Deadhead—that’s an old-school caddie to me. And his body of work includes Jake, young Tiger, Furyk and so many more, starting in an era when loopers were loopers and not part of a guy’s buttoned-down “team.” I love that he’s going out with a self-made player on a Tour with plenty of characters.