Forward of the Masters final weekend, star Sergio Garcia took to X (Twitter) to publish a photograph of himself and 12 different LIV Golf opponents invited to compete on the yr’s first main.
“We’re coming for the inexperienced jacket,” the two-time main winner declared.
However Garcia and his 12 LIV compatriots underwhelmed. None completed within the prime 5, although three – Bryson DeChambeau, Australian Cam Smith, and Tyrrell Hatton – made it into the highest 10. 5 missed the reduce, together with Garcia himself. The 13 gamers completed a mixed +82 for the weekend.
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It’s a really totally different story to 2023, after they took three of the highest six locations earlier than winner Jon Rahm subsequently defected to LIV. And on the PGA Championship final yr, LIV’s Brooks Koepka reigned supreme.
So claims that LIV stars are unable to hold with their PGA Tour rivals anymore – given they solely compete over 54 holes at LIV occasions – may appear a bit overblown, an over-reaction.
Smith had a fierce response when requested whether or not LIV gamers had much less aggressive edge in comparison with their PGA Tour opponents.
The Aussie stated: “No. No, that’s BS.”
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However the LIV cohort was roundly slammed for his or her performances this weekend, none extra so than defending champion Jon Rahm.
Rahm completed in a tie for forty fifth at nine-over (his worst Masters scorecard ever), whereas his rounds of 73, 76, 72 and 76 meant he by no means went beneath par.
He blamed the Friday wind for a horror 76 which may have been worse if not for a few late birdies.
“A pair instances (I used to be) questioning myself why we have been on the market, particularly once I acquired to 18 and noticed the entire entrance of the inexperienced simply stuffed with sand [blown out of the bunker by the wind]. It’s rolling a bit bit totally different,” he stated.
“I perceive they need us to complete. I can think about they have been very near calling it just a few instances, particularly once we have been on 11 inexperienced and we have been getting these large gusts each couple of minutes or so. It was extraordinarily troublesome.”
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And but in excellent situations for the ultimate spherical, he shot one other 76. Maybe the climate wasn’t in charge in spite of everything.
“He has been taking part in resort programs in shorts for the previous couple of months and hasn’t actually been examined but,” three-times Masters champion Nick Faldo stated previous to the match.
“Rahm’s a hell of a participant, however he’s going to should make a bit little bit of effort to step it up and get the precise depth. Whether or not he’s simply not fairly sharp sufficient as a result of he hasn’t examined himself fairly as a lot, we’ll have to attend and see.”
Faldo’s issues shortly manifested into actuality.
Rahm was removed from his finest all weekend, and – although he rarely smiles anyway – he seemed notably sad along with his lot.
The Spaniard’s dire efficiency led to a withering take-down from revered Each day Mail journalist Oliver Holt, who wrote: “He performed his closing spherical sporting the air of a person who’s starting to grasp he has made a horrible mistake. He was the king of the world and all of golf stretched out earlier than him, ready to be conquered. After which he sabotaged all of it.
“He ruined his legacy by turning his again on mainstream golf on the peak of his powers and becoming a member of a tour with a 54-hole format, the place the dearth of depth appears to have left Rahm singularly unprepared for a return to the calls for of extra aggressive golf.”
It’s the identical criticism that Smith known as ‘BS’. However within the fourth and closing spherical – the one not performed on the LIV Tour – solely three LIV golfers went beneath par: Smith, Hatton, and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed.
Holt added of Rahm: “He isn’t the primary to have struggled with the mantle of profitable the Masters however his defence of his title was notably tepid, bitter and uninspired.”
“It didn’t really feel as if we have been watching the reigning Masters champion. It felt as if we have been watching a man who blew it when he was at his peak.”
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His defection has definitely price him loads of reputation, and led to some ‘hostile attitudes’ from former PGA Tour acquaintances.
The 29-year-old informed Spanish newspaper El Mundo: “Sure, I’ve seen hostile attitudes.
“However I anticipated it, my mates have continued to be my mates, however some with whom I had a really cordial relationship haven’t even checked out my face.”
However like Smith, Rahm denies that taking part in on LIV has diminished his means to compete over 72 holes.
“That’s an argument that, in case you haven’t skilled taking part in in a match you may’t actually perceive,’’ Rahm stated. “I perceive there’s much less individuals [in the LIV tournament fields]. I perceive the group format’s a bit totally different. I perceive we’re going shotgun and issues are a bit bit totally different (54 holes) to how they’re in a PGA Tour occasion (72 holes).
“However the strain’s there,’’ Rahm continued. “Like, I need to win as dangerous as I wished to win earlier than I moved on to LIV. So, yeah, happening the stretch whenever you’re in rivalry is the very same emotions. That actually doesn’t change.
“The identical manner it was once I went by way of the Spanish Open or many different occasions the place the sphere may not be as much as the extent that it might be on a delegated [PGA Tour] occasion. That doesn’t actually … profitable is profitable, and that’s what issues.’’
However no LIV star seemed like profitable. Not even shut.
2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson missed the reduce at +13. Former Masters champions Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel (+10 and +11 respectively) have been equally atrocious. Sergio Garcia, the 2017 winner, missed the reduce at seven-over.
As John Huggan wrote for Golf Australia: “The mix of predominantly weak fields, not-great programs and a format that’s each shorter than the norm and conflicted by the mixture of particular person and group play would appear to have had a detrimental impact on the play of most.”
Johnson, Watson, Schwartzel and Garcia all seemed as if they’re nicely previous their finest – maybe why they’re all competing in LIV as of late.
Jon Rahm, simply 29 years previous, has conceded he misses competing with some PGA Tour rivals and misses taking part in some PGA Tour occasions, too.
But when he believed his bombshell defection to LIV would drive the PGA Tour to lastly seal a unification take care of the Saudi-backed league, the stalled negotiations has left these hopes unfulfilled.
And on the proof of his dire Masters efficiency, he could be heading down the highway of the likes of a few of his LIV compatriots at Augusta Nationwide – a shining gentle of the sport diminished to a fading star.