Aussie behind radical plan to shake up golf like LIV couldn’t
An Adelaide businessman is at the forefront of a radical new golf league he says can do what LIV promised, but couldn’t deliver.
Simon Zybek is the CEO and founder of Blitz Golf, which he says is effectively the sport’s version of Twenty20 cricket.
Aussie cricketer Glenn Maxwell competes at a Blitz Golf event. Blitz Golf
Professional tournament golf is played over four days, with upwards of 160 players in a field and a winner decided at the end.
Blitz Golf is condensed into a three-hour window, with an initial field of 24 players consisting of professionals, amateurs, celebrities, and even fans who can win their way into a tournament.
Those 24 play a six-hole round, with the top 12 advancing to round two. If there are ties on the cut line, those players go into a nearest-the-pin shootout to decide who advances.
The 12 players then compete over three holes, with the top four at the end of that advancing to round three. The four players left standing then play one hole repeatedly until a winner is crowned, walking away with all the prize money. Veteran Aussie pro Wade Ormsby last year took out the Adelaide event and pocketed $10,000 for an afternoon’s work.
Aussie cricketers like Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head have competed in Blitz Golf events, while Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson made the final of a tournament last year.
Other “celebrities” to compete include social media influencers, and Blitz has amassed a significant viewership on YouTube.
“It’s short enough that celebrities can beat the pros,” Zybek told nine.com.au.
“We know the pros are better over 18 holes... this format with the resetting of scores, celebrities have matched it with pros the last few years.
“I don’t think it’s going to be too long before a celebrity wins an event because it’s geared up for them to do well.”
Zybek’s sporting background is in basketball, and he runs a project management business in the South Australian capital.
He wasn’t interested in golf until he began sponsoring a young Aussie player and attended the Australian Open in Sydney several years ago, where he realised there was a “gap in the market” for a short format of the sport.
The controversial LIV Golf has attempted to cash in on the same concept, with three-day tournaments rather than four-day, and monstrous prize money on offer thanks to back by the rich Saudi Arabia public investment fund, which is now pulling its cash out of the sport.
Zybek doesn’t have the financial backing of the Saudi billions but Blitz has attracted commercial interest over the years, and Coopers Brewery is the latest business to get on board with his league.
“Completely opposite to the LIV Golf model where they had all the money in the world and they can just come out with a bang,” he said.
Travis Head and Wade Ormsby ahead of the crowd in Adelaide. Blitz Golf
“We are seeing there is definitely an appetite for what we’re doing, and a gap in the market for short format golf, much like there was in cricket back in the day.
“It’s funny with LIV Golf, with all that money, it does appeal to a lot of people, but it hasn’t really filled the void that golf had, and I think we’ve got the right product.
“We’ve bided our time, we have the right investment now, we’re getting that sponsorship and that growth. I think the next few years will be some rapid growth for us.”
Zybek’s aim is to attract new eyeballs to golf while still respecting the sport’s traditional format.
He says his idea has the support of some of the world’s major tours and organisations, and he hopes to one day even work in tandem with Golf Australia, the DP World Tour and even the PGA Tour.
“We are friends with everybody. We have friends at LIV Golf, we have friends at the PGA,” he said.
“I think because our product is so short, and our series is run in a short amount of time, it doesn’t really clash as such with the other tours.
“We don’t go out there trying to steal players. We’re still doing something great for golf, we’re bringing new people to the events.
“Maybe in the future a major tour like the US or DP decides they want to do a partnership and build it onto the front of their events, or it might even be mid-tournament they decide to put on a Friday night, it might work at some events where round two finishes, now we’re going to put on a Blitz Golf event on the Friday night as a spectacle.
“Because of the shortness we can actually co-exist with all the tours and maybe even supplement their tours.”
Blitz Golf held its first tournament in England this year and Zybek plans to hold one in America before too long.
The 2027 Australian series kicks off in Perth on January 3 and will feature six events, finishing on the Gold Coast on February 7.