LIV Golf's Valderrama land grab is an extremely smart piece of business by CEO Greg Norman
Published 01/12/2022 at 14:14 GMT
Money can't buy anything, and some golf courses are so exclusive that not even the best to have played the game can get a tee time. But money has helped the Saudi-funded LIV Golf make a splash in the sport, and it made a big move when announcing storied Spanish course Valderrama, the host of the 1997 Ryder Cup, had been added to its roster of courses for the 2023 season.
“We're looking for maybe seven.”
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has never been slow in making bold claims, and his suggestion that he was targeting seven of the world’s top 20 to add to his already impressive roster of players for 2023 raised eyebrows.
There have been rumours, claims and counter-claims - with Xander Schauffele recently denying he was set to jump ship - and the player trail has gone a little cold, but LIV’s biggest signing for 2023 may turn out not to be a player but a piece of land.
The storied Spanish course of Valderrama was rumoured to be in talks with LIV to host an event in the summer of next year. Petrol was poured on those flames when Valderrama was not on the DP World Tour’s schedule announcement for 2023.
And the secret was out when LIV released the names of three more courses for next year, with Valderrama to host an event from June 30 to July 2.
Valderrama first hosted an event on the DP World Tour (then the European Tour) in 1988, and has been a regular fixture on the calendar.
The best golfers in the world don’t always play on the best courses in the world. There are some so private that money can’t buy entry, but in the world of professional golf money talks and some average tracks regularly play host to tour events.
Valderrama, let’s be clear, is no average resort course. It is breathtaking, has facilities that are unmatched and pretty much every player in the game is a fan.
The roll call of honour is a who's who of golf with the likes of Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and Padraig Harrington tasting glory at Valderrama.
Golf courses can beat players up, yet they can fall in love with them. Valderrama, when it bears its teeth, can make fools of the best in the game. And it is why the players sweep the calendar looking for the date to pencil in their diaries.
For the players on the DP World Tour, there will be no date to pencil in for 2023.
There’s not much sweeping of calendars to be done by LIV players, their expensive contracts mean they have to turn up at all 14 events. But make no mistake, Valderrama will be the talk of the players’ executive jet.
Sergio Garcia has a love affair with the place, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell are other LIV players to have won at Valderrama, and a young Lee Westwood was part of the European team that triumphed under the captaincy of Seve Ballesteros in the 1997 Ryder Cup at the course.
This place has history, and you can bet good money that the likes of Garcia, Westwood, Poulter and McDowell will be talking up Valderrama to the rest of the LIV roster.
This is a land grab by Norman, and an extremely smart one. Rumour has it that LIV has shelled out north of $2 million to Valderrama for the privilege, but given the jaw-dropping numbers the Saudi-funded series has thrown around, it is a drop in the ocean.
The players on LIV are extremely well compensated and it would be wrong to suggest they are going through the motions, but golf at Pumpkin Ridge, Bedminster and the Centurion Club is not going to set the pulse racing.
Taking on the challenge of Valderrama will do exactly that, and if it also puts the noses of the DP World Tour, and by extension the PGA Tour, out of joint then Norman will see that as a massive win and money well spent.
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