Did Dustin Johnson’s 3-Way Playoff Win in Tulsa Help Earn Some Momentum for LIV Golf?

Part of LIV Golf’s 2023 schedule strategy appears to staging an event prior to the majors in order to get their contingent tuned up for the year’s four big tournaments.

It helped Brooks Koepka in April—after he won LIV Golf Orlando, he nearly won the Masters too. He ended up tied for runner-up with Phil Mickelson, and fellow LIV member Patrick Reed was fourth.

Now, LIV Golf just had an exciting finish to their event in Tulsa on Sunday, and it seems to be getting more mainstream attention than their tournaments had as of late.

For instance, on the Golf Channel homepage, a recap of Dustin Johnson’s win in a three-way playoff over Cameron Smith and Branden Grace was featured on the list of headlines. The trio each won an event in 2022 but were winless in 2023.

Dustin Johnson claims victory in Tulsa! Birdies 18 to get into the playoff, birdies it again for the win!

A strong finish as he heads into the PGA Championship! #LIVGolf #LIVGolfTulsa

DJ on his plans tonight “No celebration, right back to work”. pic.twitter.com/vq55ndG7Ey

— LIV Golf Updates (@LIVGolfUpdates) May 14, 2023

Golf Channel is fully owned by Comcast, which is the parent company of NBC. The PGA Tour has no ownership stake in the network.

But Golf Channel has been reluctant to include LIV in its coverage. A look at the list of leaderboards on their site shows tours from all over the world, including the Epson Tour, Australasian Tour, and the Sunshine Tour out of South Africa. But LIV leaderboards are nowhere to be found.

Rainy conditions in Tulsa made for some interesting plays (including a triple-bogey by Johnson on the par-3 10^th hole), and the duel between arguably the two best players on the LIV circuit in Johnson and Smith likely boosted interest too. The 2022 Open Championship winner charged back from five down on the back nine to briefly take the lead on 18 before Johnson tied it up with a birdie of his own.

Cam Smith was five shots back with 9 to play. He just sunk this birdie on his final hole to take a one shot lead 😱#LIVGolf @rippergc_ pic.twitter.com/KmEcGCOjvz

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) May 14, 2023

Much like the PGA Tour, big names playing good golf at the top of the leaderboards on Sunday is what will help LIV Golf the most.

Johnson and Smith are two of 17 LIV members who will be teeing it up at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York, for the PGA Championship this coming week.

Cover Image Via Twitter