LIV Golf Team Championship Introduces ‘Hyper-Stimulating’ Environment for D-FW

CARROLLTON — On the cart path just off the 13th green Friday at Maridoe Golf Club, a volunteer raised his arm in the universal signal to stop traffic and conversation while Ian Poulter continued to play.

The fans politely agreed, although it seemed questionable given the cacophony coming from speakers on all sides.

“It’s kind of ridiculous,” the volunteer said. “You’re holding your Quiet board and the Stones are blasting behind you.”

In another nod to the spirit of this tournament, the silent board reads: “Zip It.”

Welcome to the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship, which is unlike any professional golf tournament you’ve ever seen or heard of in these parts.

From the DJs to the team concept to the format to the sight of professional golfers in shorts, it was different. Not as shocking as the ads announced it, but it was probably to be expected with its biggest stars, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, being shut out on day one. It might have reduced the size of the galleries.

Officials declined to disclose the number of tickets sold, but Albert Huddleston’s “sandbox of camaraderie,” as he likes to call Maridoe, could welcome a few more this weekend.

It’s also hard to generate Mardi Gras-level excitement when the heat index hit 108 Friday. The last time it was that hot at a Dallas-area tournament was perhaps 1963, when Jack Nicklaus used a towel as a potholder to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy at the Dallas Athletic Club.

“You wouldn’t expect this in September,” said Forrest White, a DeChambeau fan and lookalike from Oklahoma.

You wouldn’t expect this at the gates of hell. The Sweet Tea Dunk Tank, one of a dozen parallel bands on Friday, looked like it would be a great show. Other activities included a putting contest on a guitar-shaped course, a kids’ area, a bubble show, a fake tattoo booth and a real mechanical bull.

Any takers?

“One guy lasted 32 seconds,” said the operator, who apparently has a different idea of ​​a mechanical bull than John Travolta in “Urban Cowboy.”

The shotgun format, with everything decided at 11:15 a.m., had the advantage of reducing the time spent in the sun for spectators who braved the harsh, rustic conditions. The three teams that earned a bye — DeChambeau’s Crushers, Jon Rahm’s Legion 13 and Cam Smith’s Ripper — went out for a bit of practice and then retreated to the cool comfort of the locker room to watch the elimination process unfold on television.

“That alone was worth the rest,” Smith said.

Friday’s format was a bit dizzying, so pay attention: Ten teams of 40 players competed for the right to participate in the weekend and the $14 million top prize. Two individual matches and one foursome make up each match, with the latter played in alternate-shoot mode.

Or something like that.

“The challenge,” Southlake’s Julian Collins said as he stood near the ninth green, “is we’re trying to figure out the format. It’s match play, right? But why does it take someone 30 minutes to get to the green, man?”

“What’s going on?

If the format was a little confusing, Collins and his friend, R’Kes Starling, were fine with everything else. Collins said the PGA tournaments had a more “corporate” feel than the LIV experience, which felt more like their golf games. They liked that the players were so up close and personal that you could probably reach them on the tee box and stop them in their backswing.

An “intimate experience,” according to Starling.

“Of course, the energy is different here,” he said. “We have multiple DJs and music everywhere.

“I mean, it’s a little bit hyper-stimulating.”

Of the fans your intrepid reporter surveyed, most LIV fans focused on one golfer in particular: DeChambeau, whose defending champion Crushers are seeded No. 1 this weekend. The Seals — Chad, Cassie and their 19-year-old son Cash — have only been playing golf for a little over a year, but they made the hour-long drive from Leonard, in East Texas, to see DeChambeau.

For what?

“They love him,” Cassie said of her husband and son. “They watch his YouTube videos. They love it.”

“They’re just obsessed with Bryson.”

Of course, some are just here to party. DeChambeau hinted at the area’s predilection when he said this week that Dallas is “a party town.”

It’s hard to say whether any of the six raised, covered bars that line the course remind anyone of the behavior reported at the Pavilion, the Nelsons’ worst-kept secret at the time. The difference with LIV Golf is that they’ve stripped away the pretense. The party is an important part of the story, not a secret subtext.

No one seems to have a problem with LIV Golf being funded by Saudi money. And certainly not Caleb Randall of Hurst, who wore a black T-shirt with “Phil Mickelson was right” written in white letters across the front.

What was he right about?

“I mean, beyond political ideologies, I think we have to remember that it’s a game and it’s for fun,” Randall said. “And I think he had good intentions in retiring, and I know he’s taken a lot of flak for it. But I think it’s also helped. It’s brought a lot more eyes to the sport, people who didn’t know about it.”

Randall noted the “welcoming” atmosphere Friday and the “vibe” in general.

“Everyone has a smile on their face,” he said.

It probably depends on where you were at any given time. There was a buzz in the bars, where a sign warned fans to “crouch and shield their faces” if they heard “Fore!”

A little warning for anyone new to the game, apparently.

For those who ventured away from the bars, Friday’s experience was different, as one overheard conversation indicated.

“There’s a good tree on the fifth, about halfway,” one fan told another latecomer.

“Good shady spot.”

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

Photos: LIV Golf Team Championship Round 1 Begins at Maridoe

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