
LIV Golf changed the sport forever with its historic inaugural event, but not in the way you might think
CBSN
Golf's majors will become more important than ever with the arrival of LIV Golf and other leagues
The best postseason in all of sports, according to fans, almost unanimously belongs to the same organization that has the most boring, diluted regular season. College basketball's March Madness is captivating in almost inexplicable ways following four months of trudging through -- at least compared to its professional counterpart -- one of the worst products of any televised sport.
Thursday was a historic day in golf history. LIV Golf launched its landmark inaugural event in a shotgun-style start at the Centurion Club in London. After months of promising that we wouldn't believe how good this breakaway league was going to be (which actually hinted at the opposite), the league arrived with a surprisingly compelling presentation that included ubiquitous, informative player and team leaderboards, short five-hour days, and a team concept that was easy to understand and even easier to buy into. Contrary to its slogan, you could blink and not miss a lot, but if you closed your eyes for a nap, you might miss most of the show.
One of the elements of the presentation that worked best was a countdown at the top left corner of the screen that informed viewers how many holes were left in the day at all times. Compared to the tedious PGA Tour rounds, the snappy nature of LIV Golf's first 18 holes was a shockingly positive feature. The golf itself was not great. Charl Schwartzel and Hennie du Plessis duking out it at the top of the leaderboard was likely not what anyone at LIV Golf had in mind when this idea was conceived over the last few years, but the framework was stunningly solid.