Sunday At LIV Golf Michigan

I do not think that LIV could have asked for a better finish to a weekend of golf in Michigan. After two rounds of match play and a round of stroke play, Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII found itself in a tie with Bryson Dechambeau’s Crushers. Two playoff holes later, the Legion was victorious.

The Thirteenth Legion, by the way, is not one that is historically to be admired. But I guess it sounds cool.

If you want all the details of the tournament, there are plenty of reporters producing blow-by-blow accounts. As with my posts on Friday and Saturday, I’m going to focus on what it was like to be a spectator.

I don’t have any official day to day numbers, but my sense was that the course was not as crowded on Sunday as on Saturday. Aside from the scrum on the first hole as the lead groups were teeing off, in most places fans were one to two deep around the tee boxes and greens. On Saturday, they had been three to four deep. There also were few fairways with people lining the edges on Sunday.

That made viewing the golf shots much easier.

I captured a screen shot from a rebroadcast of the crowd around the eighteenth (normally the ninth) as the final playoff holse was being resolved. It’s a good crowd. As you can see, the spectators are five and six deep around the green, and one and two deep futher down the fairway.

But that’s also the only hole on the course that’s still being played, so it is a people magnet. Some were no doubt on the amphitheatre grounds waiting for the Swedish Mafia concert, but most of the remaining real golf fans were on the final hole at the end.

Ultimately, I think LIV’s powers-that-be will be pleased with the weekend totals. There reportedly were 40,000 fans over the three day event.

People certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was a daylong party with a concert at the end, using golf as the excuse. I do not ever recall seeing baseball-park-style vendors walking the grounds of a golf course hawking their beer and canned cocktails, but there they were.

Screens all over the course meant patrons could watch the action without actually walking around. Just enjoy a beverage and enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors.

The weather actually could not have been better. It was on the edge of warm, with a steady breeze and blue skies. It’s the kind of day you wish would last forever.

I nearly got clocked on the seventh hole by a drive hit three quarters of the way down the fairway. I moved back behind one of the signs that warned spectators that “FORE” means duck and cover.

A minute later, a guy standing near me took a tee shot to the cheek. He went down, and the EMTs arrived quickly and started working on him. His cheek was bleeding.

The player who had hit the man — Tom McKibbin — walked right by him being strapped into a stretcher and played his shot. I was frankly very surprised. It’s the first time I have ever seen a player not show concern for the fan they had hit. Usually, there are apologies and a “consolation prize.” Phil has been known to reel off wads of cash; others at least sign a glove.

Not McKibbin. One of the veterans needs to have a conversation with the guy.

I thought the Cardinal held up as a course. There was some talk that it might be too easy for pro talent. One media person I know said it wasn’t a championship quality course. Indeed, on Saturday evening, there was media speculation that The Cardinal might yield a 59 in stroke play.

That wasn’t the case. DeChambeau’s -8 was the best round of the day. Thomas Pieters and Abraham Ancer carded a -7. A bunch of guys were at -5. Cam Smith shot a +1, as did Peter Uihlein. Richard Bland was at +2. Frederik Kjettrup came in at +3.

If you project a -8 over four days, DeChambeau would have been at -24. That would have been on the high side of a PGA TOUR event, but not unheard of. Tommy Fleetwood was -18 in this weekend’s TOUR Championship.

I also think that the Cardinal is a very attractive course for a tournament. Fairways and greens were pristine. Trees nicely framed the holes. Many of the holes have mounding on the edges that made good spectator positions. There are a couple of nice elevated tee and green areas that offer a striking vista.

One of the great ways to watch a tournament is to find a spot with good view of a green or tee box and stake a claim. The Cardinal has plenty of such spots in the shade of a tree.

If I were a casual golf fan, out for a fun outdoor day of music, partying, concert and golf, LIV checked a lot of boxes.

As a serious golf fan, I have some reservations, about which more in a couple of days when I’ve mentally processed the whole thing.

The article Sunday At LIV Golf Michigan first appeared on GolfBlogger.Com. Publication elsewhere is probibited.