The fiery, rebellious and controversial debut season of LIV Golf comes to a close this weekend with the Team Championship in Miami. We're going to look back on 2022 as being a really disruptive year in golf, for better or for worse. I guess time will tell. But as Phil Mickelson claimed in his press conference earlier this week, the LIV Golf team sees their first 6 months as a roaring success.
When LIV first burst onto the scene with their inaugural London event back in June, the team element seemed like a bit of a gimmick. I wasn't excited by it; I like the team events being special and few-and-far-between, like the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. The additional money for the winning team seemed excessive. However, I'll be the first to admit I'm pretty excited for this weekend – and the players are, too.
The LIV golfers have waxed lyrical about the team dynamic. They get to play for more than just themselves – they're putting points on the board for their whole team. When Brooks Koepka was coming down the stretch in Jeddah a few weeks ago, going head-to-head with teammate Peter Uihlein, he said he was most concerned about the team securing first place.
Cam Smith and Marc Leishman, who are good friends and past Presidents Cup teammates, have both talked about the excitement of the teams and how it's really revitalized them.