ROCESTER, England — Swimming in the water, falling into a bunker, drum-rolling long putts, playfully booing, hissing, jeering, taunting, and then cheering, celebrating and ultimately enjoying a rare taste of elite-level golf will be how the first LIV Golf UK at the JCB Golf & Country Club will be remembered for those in attendance.
Golf fans in this part of England have been starved of star-studded competition so they packed out the grounds, fist-pumping their favourite players at every opportunity and then paying credit to the winner Jon Rahm, who entertained throughout.
Detractors still say this is a tour full of mercenaries, where washed-up golfers are paid obscene amounts of money to perform below the standard expected of a serious challenger. Branden Grace, Pat Perez and Anthony Kim didn’t do much to help that narrative, although Kim did have a nice run of par-birdie-eagle on Saturday directly after a spectator crossing the fairway directly encouraged him on. A lot of beer was sold over the weekend.
The heavyweights put on a show, though, and there was drama until the final shot as Rahm eventually got the better of close friend and team-mate Tyrrell Hatton following his painful three-putt down the final hole.
Just look at the makeup of the leaderboard, too. Joaquim Niemann and Cam Smith both finished T2 alongside Hatton with Paul Casey one place back. Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka also had their moments where they drew huge cheers from a pumped-up crowd.
This is a tour that still needs better players for it to grow in stature and finding a way to get the top players in the world together is also what every golf fan wants to see, however that scenario unfolds. Having a winner like Rahm is great for the product because of his history as a double major winner, but let’s also not forget the importance of new storylines.
Andy Ogletree picked up a huge new following after leading by four shots with 16 holes to play before blowing up with three double-bogeys thereafter. John Catlin, 33, gave the crowd here some of their best memories with his hole-in-one down 17 on Saturday and then a superb birdie on 9 where he cupped his ears to the crowd in the Majesticks Inn Pub overlooking the green. And he’s just filling in for the injured Charles Howell III on LIV.
The bad part of the weekend was the behaviour on a rowdy Saturday where pints were poured at a prodigious rate, resulting in a trend of below-the-belt banter.
Just like when The Open was held at Royal Liverpool last year and the winner Brian Harman had to put up with coarse language and bad etiquette — including one particularly bad period on the back nine during the final day as he battled to victory — the unsavoury scenes spilled over a little, forcing security to eject some spectators. Sadly, this is what happens in England when young men, often football fans who occasionally play golf on a weekend for a bit of fun, meet up at events and drink beer from early in the morning.
At times it did get a little out of hand and in the future players will consider the impact events like these have on their partners and children who often walk behind the ropes next to the people making all the noise.
DeChambeau was the main target on Friday but he’s a big boy and handled it all well. Rahm wasn’t as easy going when he was targeted a day later, a heckler shouting as he stood over an approach shot. Caddie Adam Hayes gave a bit back to the guy.
🚨💀⛳️ #MELTDOWN — Jon Rahm gets agitated and stares down a rowdy fan in the gallery on 16 at LIV Golf UK. pic.twitter.com/A4lqAOfQJW
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 27, 2024
Other pinch points included a verbal battering for Thomas Pieters who was berated for his under-performance on the 13th hole by a small group of men who had clearly drank too much. “Shall we follow him around?” one asked, sparking giggles from the rest of his group as Pieters reacted with a face like thunder.
Anirban Lahiri also lost his cool on a loose Saturday, asking for a little respect from those watching him when he bogeyed the 10th.
But this is what LIV has promoted. Golf But Louder. When music is pumped out all day and mixed with beer, it produces the occasional distasteful scene. A party tour — LIV’s stops increasingly feature a marketed “party hole” — encourages party behaviour and Saturdays in the UK are just different. With no work the next day and a post-round concert encouraging fans to stay inside the grounds well into the night, there’s certainly no appetite to put the breaks on alcohol consumption, even if every attending customer is warned of the rules and regulations through email when they place a booking.
Enforcing some of those rules out on the course is a different matter. It’s hard to keep 45,000 people in check.
The Sunday crowd was a lot more respectful. Proper golf fans, you might say, rather than those who came solely for the social. Listen to what the Australian, Smith, for example, had to say. He stayed with his Ripper GC teammates at the nearby St George’s Park — the base of the England football team — and was keen to get out in the community and sample some of the local traditions. “I love the UK,” he says. “The fans are pretty rowdy and there has been a lot of banter thrown both ways but it’s been pretty good.”
Ogletree enjoyed the additional attention and a smiling Casey said cheekily that he quite likes the wind-up merchants. “It was a great atmosphere. Hairs on the back of the neck standing up.”
Sam Horsfield was in a good position to discuss further; he enjoyed a week from home as he slept in his own bed and drove his Lamborghini into the course every day, but admitted that he couldn’t repeat some of the things he heard from the crowd.
Two-time Masters champion, Bubba Watson, a popular figure around these parts, spoke about the music drawing out some of the noise, but admitted that it does get to players from time to time.
Minus a few idiots in the sell-out crowd and the lack of internet connection around the course, this was still a big success for LIV, which held events its first two years (including its first-ever tournament) at Centurion Club outside of London. The beauty of having 18 holes plus vast amount of land around the edges was that it didn’t take long to move away from the minority who were there to cause unrest.
There’s a stretch on the front nine at the JCB where the viewing areas are ample, were less crowded and ideal for those wanting to see a variety of the action. This was where the “true” golf fans pitched up, gazing at the players, applauding every shot and showing respect.
“What I love about English fans is that how they really understand the game,” says Horsfield. “You can be in a horrendous lie in the rough and you hit it to 20, 30 feet, and they understand and appreciate the level of shot you just hit, whereas in some other countries they just think you’ve hit a wedge to 30 feet.”
Ian Poulter waves to the crowd at the Majesticks-themed pub overlooking the ninth green at JCB. (David Cannon / Getty Images)
Where some of the madness could not be avoided was down the ninth hole. A pub terrace overlooked the green and to get a flavour of the popularity, over 1500 pints were sold within the first two hours of it opening. At times this was as boisterous as the “party hole” 14th as onlookers started a drum roll on Friday for long putts and booed anything that missed.
“We like a bit of banter in the UK, don’t we?” said Casey. “But we’re also pretty good at finding the balance.”
By Sunday the sentiment on the ninth had changed slightly. No doubt the biggest roar was when Casey holed out for birdie, but Niemann also got a huge applause for recording the same score before one supporter yelled: “Dos cervezas por favour” to the Chilean. The kind of banter that we can all get behind.
And what about the party hole — the par-3 14th placed in-between The Digger Inn and Birdie Shack — two hospitality areas offering all-day drinking and entertainment?
It was fun as each player picked a walk-out song and the crowd improvised by also making up some of their own. DeChambeau’s name was chanted to the tune of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.
“Jonnie, Jonnie, Rahm” to the tune of Daddy Cool by Boney M gained traction as the weekend went on with Ogletree saying: “It felt like they were singing it on every hole!”
Harold Varner even pulled on an England shirt which drew huge cheers.
The atmosphere wasn’t quite as wild as Adelaide where 94,000 people came to watch earlier in the year, but around half of that number whipped up unforgettable scenes.
One element that didn’t attract too much attention despite the relentless pushing from those involved was the team element. Coming down the closing stretch of holes, all the talk was around the individual winner, because golf has been recognised as an individual sport.
It was, however, lost on many that Rahm and Hatton were actually on the same team — the winners of the weekend Legion XIII — which created an unusual ending.
In the press conference where all four team members sat in a line answering questions about the event, Hatton had to painfully watch on as Rahm discussed his win.
Asked whether the team win softened the blow of missing a short putt on the last to throw away any chance of taking the game into sudden death, Hatton said: “It’s pretty raw for me as an individual and hard to put to one side.” His commitment to sit through 30 minutes of further questioning deserves applauding, as does the way he signed autographs immediately after that when it was obvious he just wanted some time to process what had just happened.
The long-term vision at LIV is that each of the 13 teams will eventually become valuable, well-supported clubs.
“Golf is continuing to grow in popularity but people have never had a way to associate themselves with a team,” said Chris Rosassen, GM of the 4Aces. “I see the popularity growing in the amount of merchandise we’re selling on a weekly basis. The aim is to build a sports franchise where people want to wear the logo with pride.”
It’s going to take some time for that, certainly in the UK, but as the LIV commentators and presenters on the tour-produced broadcast remind us during every live event: “We’re just getting started.”
So, too, is the JCB, who will host again next year. LIV Golf will be welcomed back into the UK, for sure. How many new supporters each team will have remains to be seen, but if beer is available all day again, the crowds will flock back in their numbers.
(Top photo: Bradley Collyer / PA Images via Getty Images)
