The countdown has begun to the first of the Invitationals of the 2025 LIV Golf season.
From February 6 to 8, the thirteen Teams (plus the two wild cards, Editor’s note) will take to the field on the course of the Riyadh Golf Club, in Saudi Arabia.
As we have seen, the Riaydh course makes its entry into the LIV calendar for the first time, and it will be a debut with a bang.
Yes, because the first tournament of the Saudi League will be played entirely at night.
Liv Golf, night
I did a little research, from which it emerges that it is the first time that an official professional golf tournament has been played after sunset (until now, short exhibitions had been held, Editor’s note).
The tee times of the three days, in fact, are all scheduled after sunset (I remind you that the tournaments are played with a shotgun start, Editor’s note).
This innovative decision was made to respond to a specific request from Fox Sports, the newest television partner of LIV Golf, aimed at maximizing the audience in the United States (Riyadh is 8 hours ahead of the US time, Editor’s note).
According to a source close to the top management of Fox Sports, it is possible that other tournaments among those played outside the American borders could be played at night, always with a view to maximizing spectators in the USA, guaranteeing live viewing of the tournament, a fundamental element to increase the audience.
Television ratings are a very current topic or, better, a problem for professional golf.
Last season saw all the Tours suffer, for various reasons, from a drastic drop (PGA Tour) or even the lack (LIV Golf) of ratings.
The newborn TGL of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy had fluctuating ratings in the first three days, but it is certainly not possible to draw any conclusions on the matter, given that we are in the launch season.
So, as far as LIV by night is concerned, we can only wait for the ratings, to understand if Fox Sports had a good idea.
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