Surreal Scenes from LIV Golf Riyadh

Carnival rides. Fireworks. Drone shows depicting the new “Long LIV Golf” slogan. A heavily edited version of Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us blaring on the first tee. Whatever the hell that thing above is. All under the lights in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf began its 2025 season the only way it knows how: loud and over the top.

In case you missed the 54 Tour’s season-opening round on Thursday morning, here are the highlights:

Let’s start with the broadcast, which didn’t look or feel any different on FOX (FS2, to be exact) compared to last year’s product on the CW. The biggest change was the addition of former player Pat Perez as an on-course analyst, who had a decent debut on the mic. This week will only be FS1 and FS2, but nine of LIV’s 14 events will have at least one round on FOX proper.

Night golf is pretty fun to watch! That said, putting under the lights proved to be a challenge (Jon Rahm blitzed one eight feet by the hole on the front nine), and they nearly lost Cam Smith’s ball in the rough. Is it a bit gimmicky? Sure, but it’s a unique way to start the year, and LIV has always been about entertainment, not being a true test of golf.

Last month for the TGL we played “Seat Filler or Fan.” I’m curious if this guy is a plant or just genuinely happy to be playing “Sonic Slinger.” If we’re being totally honest here, I kind of want to play now.

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A live band was playing the Macarena while Jon Rahm was teeing off on the front nine.

Play was paused for a few minutes shortly after the turn for a light show that featured some pyrotechnics, water fountains, and drones. Guys literally stopped what they were doing on the green to watch.

Arlo White was in mid-season form on Day One. He called Adrian Meronk, who leads at 10 under, “The Polish Prince” at least three times and referred to Crushers GC as a “band of brothers” because they’ve played 34 LIV events together.

Poor players can’t hide anymore! Starting this season, all four scores count in each round for every team. This is good! In 2024, only the final round counted all four scores, with just the top three scores counting for each of the first two rounds.

This format change was revealed the same day the U.S. Open became the first major stakeholder to legitimize LIV results by creating an exemption based on the season-long individual points list. One spot is up for grabs at Oakmont this summer, but next year two players can qualify. That’s a lot less than the 10-15 exemptions LIV and its players were pushing for, but it’s a lot more than the zero they were getting.

Remember when LIV was the cool mom of professional golf when it allowed players to wear shorts? The league has since changed its stance and apparently now requires pants to be worn. From what I saw, every team but one, Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats, wore pants on Thursday. We’ll be looking into this further.

The Backstreet Boys interview went just about as you’d expect it to go. When asked to create a “LIV Golf Foursome,” someone asked if they could bring Greg Norman back. Too soon?

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.