LIV Golf Tour Fell Short When It Counted at the U.S. Open

PGA Tour pros like Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas have painted those golfers that are jumping to the LIV Golf Invitational Series as those who are taking a cash grab because they can no longer hang on the PGA Tour.

Brooks Koepka became the second golfer after Dustin Johnson to pledge their allegiance to the PGA Tour only to then join the LIV series. It’s been hinted that added zeroes on a check were the distinguishing factor for the flip-flop.

“I don’t know if that’s for legal reasons or if they can’t – I have no idea – but it’s pretty duplicitous on their part to say one thing and then do another thing, in public and in private,” McIlroy said ahead of this week’s Travelers Championship.

🗣️ “They say one thing and then do another.”

Rory McIlroy says he was ‘surprised’ by Brooks Koepka’s decision to join the LIV Invitational Series. pic.twitter.com/N0xXDcvolq

— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 22, 2022

But while money will draw big names to LIV, their reputation in the sports world and in the eyes of the fans will be a second-tier league if its players perform as they did at the U.S. Open last week.

There were 15 LIV golfers at Brookline last week, and just four of them survived into the weekend. Phil Mickelson, in particular, was overmatched by shooting a +11 and coming in 140^th in the 156-golfer field. Charl Schwartzel, the first LIV tournament winner, didn’t even qualify for the event.

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Of those who made the cut, none were in contention for the victory. Dustin Johnson has the group’s best finish at +4, which was 10 shots behind winner Matt Fitzpatrick and put him in 24^th place. Richard Bland (T43), Patrick Reed (T49), and Bryson DeChambeau (T56) were the other players to play all 72 holes.

The group will have another chance at head-to-head competition at The Open Championship at St. Andrew’s next month.