Australian LIV golfer Lucas Herbert has declared that the breakaway league now not needs to behave as a disrupter, and as an alternative slot in with the world of golf.
Talking to Australian media after his two-under par opening spherical of 69 on the NSW Open, Herbert stated that LIV Golf’s announcement earlier this month that its tournaments will broaden to 72 holes from 54 holes going ahead was publicised instantly after a Zoom name with the enjoying group.
The change to adhering to the standard format of 4 rounds is available in a bid to earn Official World Golf Rankings factors for its tournaments.
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LIV gamers have watched their world rating plummet since they jumped throughout to the Saudi-backed league because the organisation’s bid to obtain world raking factors from its three spherical occasions was rejected two years in the past.
The change appears to be a key step in the direction of gaining them to assist gamers play their means into main championships, and acquire higher legitimacy for the league.
Herbert, who’s defending his NSW Open title within the Hunter Valley this week, stated the change has come off the again of latest figureheads stepping in on both facet of males’s skilled golf’s divide.
“After we all got here throughout, we knew what we had been signing up for,” he stated.
“On the numerous instances that guys came visiting, there have been no world rating factors.
“It didn’t appear like we had been near getting rating factors at any level both.
“All of us knew what we had been signing up for and I don’t assume there was an expectation, however the advantage of a brand new CEO at LIV with Scott O’Neil and a brand new CEO on the PGA Tour with Brian Rolapp, I do assume there’s a vested curiosity in desirous to deliver the sport just a little extra.
“Particularly from LIV’s perspective possibly making it much less of a disruptive setting and wanting to slot in with {the golfing} ecosystem.
“We see how good golf is in America, clearly with the PGA Tour, and we need to make that affect internationally on numerous completely different international locations.
“LIV needs to slot in with that. We clearly need to play the majors. We all know how necessary they’re. The workers and the gamers nonetheless actually care about these tournaments and it’s necessary that we get into them.
“For the time being, I believe one of the best ways to get into them is thru the world rankings system.
“I do know that’s what Scott’s working fairly onerous on, to have extra gamers competing in these tournaments.
“We’ve had nice illustration within the majors this yr. I believe it’s been someplace between 25 and 30 per cent of the league has performed in every main championship, which is basically, actually good, and it simply goes to indicate that there’s nonetheless gamers on LIV which are very, very aggressive.
“They nonetheless care about their golf. They’re not on the market for a success and giggle. They nonetheless actually intensely care about their recreation, the sport on the whole.
“With the 72 holes, I don’t know that it was essential to get world rankings, however I believe for us it might need been low hanging fruit to get what we do on LIV alongside the opposite excursions by way of extra of an identical product to rank gamers..
“Possibly not one of the best ways of describing that, but when all gamers internationally are enjoying 4 spherical tournaments to rank themselves, that’s in all probability one of the best ways to do it.”
The massive change was not player-led, based on Herbert, however somewhat got here from the LIV hierarchy.
Not that the Ripper GC star is complaining regardless of an additional day being added to his workload at every occasion.
“It hasn’t been a subject of dialog too typically, to be trustworthy,” Herbert stated of the transfer to 72 holes.
“I don’t know if I’m the most effective particular person to ask a couple of basic consensus from the tour.
“My take can be that I don’t assume gamers don’t actually care.
“Attending to play internationally the best way we do, in entrance of crowds the best way that we play in entrance of, and the cash we play for, we’d play 9 rounds if we wanted to.”
He later added: “We in all probability don’t get consulted and it’s in all probability an excellent factor as a result of we’re good at hitting golf pictures and we’re form of not the largest geniuses if you have a look at the remainder of it.
“Particularly from a enterprise viewpoint, there positively needs to be individuals just like the Scott O’Neil’s of the world making these choices for us.”
One factor that gamers will push for with the modifications to LIV’s schedule, nevertheless, is best administration of journey throughout the globe.
LIV has already introduced 11 occasions for subsequent yr, throughout 5 continents.
Herbert is hoping for some amendments with the added day of match play.
“I’m contracted to play 17 occasions for the yr. Another guys are 15 or 14. When you’re enjoying commonly on different excursions world wide, you’re in all probability enjoying 25 and up,” he stated.
“I wouldn’t have thought that the 4 rounds would deliver within the fatigue. What can get fatiguing is the journey.
“Clearly travelling loads wider internationally than you’d say on the PGA Tour.
“Final yr we had some fairly enjoyable back-to-back weeks.
“Mexico Metropolis to Korea was possibly not the most effective scheduling determination they’ve ever made.
“With it being 4 rounds now, they’ll in all probability do a a lot better job to have the ability to get that taken care of in order that the gamers can carry out rather well.
“Finally, on the finish of the day, we’re the product they usually need to see us play some actually good golf.”