Local golf fans will finally get to see what big hitters like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm can do at altitude in Johannesburg.
The $30m (R504m) LIV extravaganza at Steyn City from Thursday to Sunday will become the country’s richest golf tournament, and next year South Africa is expected to become the Tour’s best seller.
Fans have already bought more than 80,000 tickets for this week’s activities, which include a fan zone and concerts after each day’s play. That’s second only to LIV Adelaide, which reportedly topped 115,000 this year.
“We have a one- or two-year period where we have to play a smaller course [in Adelaide], so in 2027 South Africa will be our No 1,” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told the Sunday Times.
He believed fans had reacted to the unique elements of his tour. “I’d love to say it’s all about the Southern Guards,” he added, referring to Louis Oosthuizen’s South African team featuring Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester and Branden Grace.
“They’re going to be loved; people will be wearing their colours, but we also have some of the biggest stars in the game. And we also bring something different — concerts and music and fun.”
Longest drive
DeChambeau has a longest drive listed at 480 yards (438m), achieved at the Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Montana, 2,280m above sea level, more than 500m above Johannesburg.
If he were to match that, he’d drive all the par-fours on the 7,600m Steyn City layout except the stroke-one 18th, which stretches 469m from the tips to the green.
This week’s LIV event has been likened to the early Million Dollar spectacles at Sun City, which in its first 15 years had winners with a collective 26 major victories
O’Neil dismissed claims that LIV had a limited life span because of an unsustainable overspend attracting marquee players like Phil Mickelson, who earned nearly $95m on the PGA Tour (he has yet to start a LIV tournament this year).
Rahm had made $51m and DeChambeau $26.5m. Grace has pocketed $37m-plus at LIV, comfortably more than he made on the PGA and European tours over more than a decade.
O’Neil said before taking up his post at the beginning of 2025, LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan — also the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — had walked him through the kingdom’s 100-year plan for sport.
Growing global interest
He said the chairman was committed and pointed out the growing interest in LIV — last year sponsorships totalled $500m and tournaments were being broadcast to nearly one billion homes.
“What they [sponsors] told us [about] why we matter is that there aren’t many global sports properties [operating yearly]. It’s us and F1 ... There’s so much opportunity for change,” he said, citing the example of T20 cricket’s massive growth. “We came in and in many cases began to transform what global golf is and should be.”
This week’s LIV event has been likened to the early Million Dollar spectacles at Sun City, which in its first 15 years had winners with a collective 26 major victories.
That dropped to four in the last 15 years.
LIV’s full line-up boasts more than 20 majors — and that’s a major selling point.
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