Nick Faldo predicts the demise of LIV Golf

Nick Faldo isn’t a proponent of the LIV team format. He doesn’t think true golf fans are, either. And for that reason, he believes the Saudi-backed league will go by the wayside once the merger with the PGA goes forward.

Faldo is in Sutton Coldfield, England, hosting the British Masters this weekend. He used to be one of the faces of the PGA from the late 1970s through the early 1990s thanks to his three Masters green jackets and a trio of British Open victories. And he became a respected voice of the sport working as lead golfing analyst for CBS for 16 years.

So when Faldo talks about the appeal (or lack thereof) of the LIV, people listen.

During a preview interview for the British Masters, Faldo said of the LIV, “Nobody’s really interested. They’re not going to get the sponsorship that they want. They call it a team [event] and it’s not because it’s stroke play. You see your mates on the putting green and say, ‘Play well,’ and you see them in the scorer’s tent and say, ‘What did you shoot?’ That’s it. A team is out there helping, shoulder to shoulder. That’s a true team.”

Then Faldo talked about the Ryder Cup, the event that pits the best European golfers against the top stars of the United States. Faldo captained the Euro squad in 2008.

“You have the ultimate team event, the Ryder Cup; you know the passion and the atmosphere of that,” he said. “They’re not playing with the same passion and atmosphere as the Ryder Cup.”

There has been much discussion about what happens once LIV, the PGA and the DP World Tour officially wed. The three organizations announced their intentions in early June to combine forces. The announcement was such a surprise that the pro golfers didn’t even know sides were close to a deal or even talking about one.

The LIV made a noisy debut two years ago. And since then, it caused a deep rift in pro golf. The league signed some big names like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson by offering them extraordinary bonuses. Other golfers like Rory McIlroy, even Tiger Woods, wanted no part of a Saudi-backed league. The bigger names on the LIV played in the Masters, US Open and PGA this year and sides seem to calm down.

Faldo thinks that serenity will continue.

“When the dust settles, whether it takes six months, a year, whatever, my goodness, pro golf is in an overall better position financially than we were back in the day,” he said.

LIV is in Spain this weekend. The PGA is in Detroit for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The fourth and final major, the British Open, is later this month in Liverpool, England.

The LIV golfers believe their league will be around for a while, even with the merger.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” former Masters champ Sergio Garcia told reporters. “I think there’s a lot of details that are not finalized yet, and there’s a lot of speculation. But I think it’s going to be a great deal for everyone, and I don’t expect [LIV] to not be here next year.”