'Beginning to go stale': Australia could be the biggest loser from LIV Golf's implosion

Patrick Reed has become the second big-name LIV Golf star to announce he will walk out on the Saudi-backed league to return to the PGA Tour.

Three days after he won the Dubai Desert Classic on the European PGA Tour, Reed has joined Brooks Koepka in turning their backs on the rebel tour that ignited arguably the biggest war in golf's history.

Reed's announcement comes in the same week Koepka makes his return to the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines.

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While Reed's isn't as big a name as Koepka's, that a second major winner has quit the league to return to the PGA Tour is no doubt a massive concern for the tour that promised to shake up the sport, but seems to have only made a select few players stupid-rich.

It weakened the PGA Tour but didn't counter it by strengthening the sport as a whole by any measurable metric.

Now, LIV seems to be having something of an identity crisis. When the tour first launched, it boasted about being different – 54 holes, no cuts, shotgun starts.

One of those key differences was removed late last year, when LIV opted to shift to a 72 hole format – just like nearly every single golf event the world over, plus the four majors.

The league's name is the roman numeral for the number of holes played – LIV. While no cuts and shotgun starts remain, hopefully so does the name, because LXXII Tour doesn't quite flow off the tongue.

But the crisis runs deeper than its name. Its remaining big name players all seem disillusioned with the tour, and a mass exodus is becoming a distinct possibility.

While this is great news for the PGA Tour, this is terrible news for Aussie golf fans.

Fans unconvinced

It's been more than two-and-a-half years since the PGA Tour and LIV together dropped the bombshell they were merging. But given little – if anything – has changed, and negotiations have come to a screeching halt, it's looking more as if that bomb was just a pretty firework that got fans excited for a moment.

Maybe that's by design – after Koepka's announcement, the PGA Tour released details of the Returning Member Program, which would allow LIV players who had won a major since 2022 to return to the tour. Only Koepka, Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau were eligible.

When asked by reporters, the remaining three all said they were remaining with LIV, but each gave answers many fans interpreted as suggestions they, too, are looking for an out.

DeChambeau reaffirmed he's contracted for 2026, but made no commitments beyond that. He also said it would be "an incredibly viable option" to snub both and focus on his YouTube channel.

Jon Rahm said he "wasn't going anywhere", and Cameron Smith said: "I've made my bed and I'm going to sleep in it".

Perhaps they've seen the writing on the wall. Beneath the loud music and the gimmicky teams is a product few want to watch.

With Koepka and Reed gone, those three are the best players on the tour. The rest of the field is made up of has-beens – Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Bubba Watson, even Dustin Johnson – and youngsters nobody has heard of.

Aussie Elvis Smylie put himself on the radar of casual golf fans when he won the 2024 Australian PGA, but having signed with LIV to play alongside Smith for Ripper GC, the TV numbers suggest it's unlikely his star will rise any higher.

Despite picking up a TV deal with Fox in the US last year, average viewership was only 338,000, with final round viewership at only 385,000. By contrast, the PGA Tour's final round average was 2.66 million.

'Starting to go stale'

Aussie golf fans are still starving for top-level golf and they got a glimpse into what that might look like at this year's Australian Open, with Rory McIlroy igniting a week of golf fever in Melbourne that even had his peers on the other side of the world commenting enviously.

Organisers of the two-week Australian PGA-Open swing will no doubt hope McIlroy's appearance last year entices some other big names to follow but there is still a way to go before it resembles the halcyon days of the late 1990s when the likes of Norman, Faldo and even a young Tiger Woods graced Aussie fairways.

Despite the fact their best golf is likely behind them, Mickelson, Poulter and Sergio Garcia remain drawcards for LIV Adelaide organisers, and when you add in Watson, Johnson and the aforementioned trio, LIV's remains the strongest field at least for now.

With no new big-name signings, an ageing field, and no clear pathway for its young players to grow into superstars, it's difficult to see how LIV can continue to grow its fanbase. Gimmicks like loud music and cringeworthy team names – looking at you, Majesticks, RangeGoats and Ripper GC – can only do so much.

It's not hard to work out what happens when there is no fanbase.

For Aussie fans starved of elite-level players for more than a decade, LIV represented a well-stocked buffet – plenty of crowd favourites with a couple of new and interesting dishes organisers hoped fans would grow to love.

Indeed, the crowd favourites were initially devoured, but those new and interesting dishes went untouched. Now, those crowd favourites are beginning to go stale and yet still none of the new dishes have been to taste.

The move from The Grange to Kooyonga for 2027, and ongoing uncertainty around the North Adelaide redevelopment has also left fans wary. Meanwhile, the Australian PGA and Open is having a genuine crack to rediscover the magic of years gone by but still has a way to go to lure a larger group of top players to Australia, alongside the likes of McIlroy.

Aussie golf fans will be hoping LIV can find a happy medium, or for the Australian swing to continue on an upward trajectory. Or both.

Or the PGA Tour could just bring an event here, but let's not hold our breath.