sport news RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Is it too much to ask? A Grand Slam for Rory McIlroy trends now
After the chaos comes calm? Or just a little extra chaos? If any sport endured more madness and disruption in 2022 than golf, then they did a quite magnificent job with the smoke, mirrors and concealer.
The myths that once spoke to golf’s higher virtue and sedate nature are all buried somewhere in the crater left by the LIV asteroid, which did not so much shake up the old game as demolish its landscape and a good few of its friendships.
With so much left to untangle in that civil war, it is a certainty that the toxicity of the relationship between LIV and golf’s traditional factions will once again be a dominant topic in 2023.
Rory McIlroy (pictured) hoists the FedEx Cup following a hugely successful 2021-22 season
But from Rory McIlroy’s battle with the monkey on his back, to Tiger Woods’s battle with his own body, to Europe’s Ryder Cup battle with the US, there is considerably more to the 12 months ahead than off-course squabbles.
Here, we take a look back at a year like no other in golf and the year to come.
How much more disruption from LIV?
What first needs to be recognised is that LIV have grown far bigger and quicker than most anticipated. Even with $2billion of Saudi Arabian money, their expansion has been rapid — it would have been one thing to land an ageing megastar like Phil Mickelson and a few strong names such as Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, but it was quite another to secure Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
They amassed some tremendous talent and in the next month to six weeks will look to finalise their line-up for the coming season.
Where 2023 is meant to be different to 2022 is LIV intend to have their golfers all signed up before the expanded 14-event season commences in February, theoretically meaning less disruption.
To date, there have been no new arrivals announced since the close of their first season but it is understood as many as seven could yet be recruited, with the American Ryder Cup pair of Patrick Cantlay (world No4) and Xander Schauffele (No6) long known to be the top targets.
But there has been a curious silence around them and other names they want to recruit. A more underwhelming move for world No44 Mito Pereira is believed to be in the pipeline, but expect the next batch to make far fewer waves than those generated by the arrivals of Johnson, Mickelson, etc.
2023 will bring the answer to the question on many peoples' lips: just how much more disruption can the LIV Tour wrought?
LIV and let die or LIV to thrive?
On the broader topic of LIV’s health, questions need to be asked. They have no TV deal, no ranking points, meaning their players continue to plummet in the standings (the idea Dustin Johnson is only the 41st best in the world is laughable) and there is plenty
