Veteran PGA Tour announcer Jim Nantz took a pretty funny, yet subtle jab at LIV Golf during this year’s PGA Championship.
Over the last year and a half, the rivalry between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour has been the biggest story in the sport. The new league funded by an arm of the Saudi Arabian government has quickly grown to notoriety by luring star golfers with huge signing bonuses and tournament winnings.
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In response, the legendary PGA Tour and DP World Tour have banned LIV Golfers from playing for them. However, despite being exiled from the established golf circuits, the four majors have allowed LIV players to compete against stars from the PGA and DP this year.
While the Saudi-backed league likes to model itself on equal ground as their rivals, that is not necessarily the case. Especially when it comes to their television partners in the United States.
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Due to its connections to the Saudi government, LIV Golf has had difficulty in finding TV deals in the US. Their first season was aired over Facebook, but in 2023 they agreed to a deal with the CW Network. However, ratings for LIV events have not been strong and the network recently showed its lack of prioritizing its content in the final moments of its event in Tulsa Oklahoma.
After Dustin Johnson hit a birdie to set up a three-way playoff the broadcast team shockingly informed viewers they would have to watch the rest of the tournament on the CW App as local networks switched to regularly scheduled programming. It was a sad moment PGA Tour broadcaster Jim Nantz took a shot at during round one of the PGA Championship.
With Johnson set to tee off for the event, Nantz mentioned that he won a recent LIV Golf event in a unique way that subtly mentioned what happened at the end of the Tulsa broadcast. “Not sure if you had a chance to see it, but he was a winner last week in Tulsa in a playoff over Cam Smith and Branden Grace,” Nantz said.
Asking viewers if they had happened to see a star player win a notable event is not something Nantz usually asks golf viewers during broadcasts of major events like a major.
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