LIV Golf Moment Was Like 'Wolf Of Wall Street' - Book Excerpt Explains

Since it began in 2022, LIV Golf has disrupted the elite game in ways many would have struggled to imagine just a couple of years ago.

However, according to an excerpt from an upcoming book, LIV and Let Die, by golf journalist Alan Shipnuck, there was a moment before it launched when LIV executives doubted it would get off the ground.

Uncertainty apparently crept in when the officials held negotiations with Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, only for the players to publicly pledge their loyalty to the PGA Tour. 

However, with doubts over whether the project had a future, in stepped Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) Governor Yassir Al-Rumayyan, who conducted a group call that steadied the ship, with one LIV executive describing the moment as akin to a scene in hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

The excerpt, published on The Fire Pit Collective, begins: “LIV executives had been deep in discussions with Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau but were blindsided by the players’ public pronouncements of loyalty to the PGA Tour.

"‘We first heard about it on Twitter, says one LIV executive. ‘It was complete and total panic and chaos. We went from the verge of launching to feeling like, Hey, it was a good run, but now it’s over.’ Then Al-Rumayyan organized a group call.”

The excerpt then describes the moment that reignited belief in the project, and quite possibly altered the trajectory of the elite game.

It continues: ‘”I believe in all of you, I believe in what we are building, and we are going to press forward,’ Al-Rumayyan said with some steel in his voice. ‘We will do what we have to do to launch this. Just get me 16 players.’

"His resolute tone galvanized the operation. ‘We all went into the call with our heads hanging low, feeling so defeated,’ says the LIV exec. ‘Then it became like in The Wolf of Wall Street when Leonardo DiCaprio gives that speech and the whole room goes crazy.

"‘When His Excellency finished speaking we were all high-fiving. It was like, Let’s f****** go! We’re gonna f****** do this!’”

The rest, of course, is history, with LIV Golf getting underway in 2022 after huge sums of money were used to attract some of the game’s best players, including Johnson and, later in the inaugural season, DeChambeau.

An unprecedented fracturing at the top of the game soon followed before, more recently, the likelihood of a long-term agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF.

While the direction of the elite game is yet to be determined as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF thrash out the terms of a framework agreement, the ramifications of LIV Golf are still being felt, and it could all have stemmed from that stirring group call to revive belief in the project.

The full excerpt from Shipnuck’s book, which details the battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, also reveals how Brooks Koepka explained his $130m offer to join the circuit.

LIV and Let Die Will be released on 17 October.