LIV Golf and PGA Announce New Inter-league Match Play Event

This article was updated in June 2023 after news broke of the PIF and PGA Tour merger.

• LIV Golf and the PGA of America have announced their first inter-league matchplay event.
• Twelve players from each organization will compete at a newly developed coastal golf course.
• A different format will be used each day of the event.

(Frisco, TX) Today in a joint press release, the PGA of America and the LIV Golf tour have announced a new inter-league matchplay competition. Following the international success of the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, both leagues hope the new Odium Cup competition will garner a similar level of popularity. The underlying hope is that this new tournament will also be the first step toward improving relations between the two leagues.

The Odium Cup is named after professional golfer Connor Odium.

Odium was a prolific golfer from the early 20th Century who became famous for playing on all existing golf tours at the time. While originally from Wyoming, Odium often described himself as a “citizen of the golf course.”

“We felt that Odium exemplified everything that is happening in professional golf today. We wanted to show golf fans that the LIV and PGA tours are not fractured, but whole. Ultimately, this event will allow the tours to stop the arguing, and make a statement by playing with their balls instead.”

-Morgan B. Guile, Odium Cup Tournament Chair

Tournament Format

The Odium Cup will be played over four days in April 2024, with the format of play changing each day. Thursday’s opening round will be fourball. Friday’s round will be foursomes (alternate shot) and Sunday’s round will be a classic matchplay finish. Saturday’s round will feature a newly developed format, Reverse Two-Man Alternate Shot.

Reverse Two-Man Alternate Shot

Each Odium Cup team will consist of one PGA TOUR pro and one LIV pro paired at random. The pros will play alternate shot, keeping track of how many strokes each player in the team takes. At the end of the hole, the scores for each league team are scored and that will decide the hole.

For example. On Team 1, the LIV player tees off, the PGA player hits the approach to the green and the LIV player makes the putt. For Team 2, the PGA player tees off, the LIV player misses the approach, the PGA player chips up and the LIV player makes the putt.

For this hole, the LIV players took a combined four strokes to the PGA team’s three. This means that the PGA team would win the hole.

Completely Novel Strategies

Though it seems complicated, the tournament organizers and players are very excited about this new team format. Players are already assessing potential scoring strategies.

Reverse 2-Man really changes how you approach a given hole. Do you try and go low by setting up your opponent for a good shot or do you hit the ball to a place where they are going to take more shots? It’s going to take some rethinking to play a round where a hole-in-one could lose you the hole.

-Anonymous PGA/LIV Pro

Equipment Limitations

The PGA has decided that the Odium Cup is the perfect venue to introduce their newly announced limited-flight golf ball. As a result, the PGA team will be using the new 15% flight-restricted Titleist No V1. Most of the PGA professionals welcome the chance to show what they can do with a ball that negatively impacts their play, saying that it will be that much sweeter to win with this additional disadvantage.

The PGA also expects the usage of the new ball to spark consumer interest in hitting the ball shorter.

Since LIV Golf was not part of the ball rollback discussion, their pros will be allowed to play a ball of their choosing. Some of the LIV Golf pros considered playing the No V1 to level the playing field but decided not to after determining that the ball “plays like shit.”

Unique Course Design

As a concession to LIV Golf’s typical three-day play schedule, rounds will be shortened by 25 percent to 13 holes. While 13-hole rounds are atypical in golf, many LIV players believe the format to be more challenging.

“It’s not just about playing less golf for more money,” said one. “In a 13-hole round, you must be focused at all times since you only have 13 holes for scores. Think about it. You can’t make 14 birdies because there are only 13 holes. It’s stressful. Sure, you get to the clubhouse for a massage sooner but you also took fewer swings over the course of the tournament. If they are not good swings, you could lose.”

Kalaallisut Oqalusinnanngilanga Country Club

The Odium Cup match will be played at a newly developed 13-hole course in Greenland, viewed as neutral ground between Europe and the United States. The newly constructed Kalaallisut Oqalusinnanngilanga Country Club is located on the western coast of Greenland between Upernavik and Uummannaq.

This area was chosen for its beautiful coastlines and its current lack of a Tour-caliber golf destination. According to the lead architect, building a 13-hole course in Greenland was a labor of love but not without challenges. The course designer had this to say about KOCC.

“Greenland is an untapped market for golf. Most of the natural resources remain woefully unexploited. The Odium Cup should open the door to more awareness of Greenland as a golf destination, even if golf seems in conflict with the environment. Many people, myself included, assumed that based on its name, Greenland was already full of golf-friendly grass.

“Upon arriving at the build site, I learned this was not the case. While the Kalaallisut Oqalusinnanngilanga Country Club’s land features spectacular ocean views that will justify exorbitant greens fees, it is profusely lacking in native grasses.

“We like to include the native flora whenever possible but this proved especially challenging at KOCC. Not only were the native plants not conducive to 5-iron strikes but the soil in many regions of the course was solid granite. We initially expected to use a fescue-Bermuda hybrid but we quickly needed to pivot from that plan after destroying our third backhoe. At that point, we decided to install synthetic turf.”

A Novel Turf Solution

Artificial turf was the perfect option for Kalaallisut Oqalusinnanngilanga Country Club. Not only could the turf be contoured to match the fantastic natural setting but it makes KOCC one of the most environmentally friendly golf courses on the planet as well.

By using artificial turf, designers could carefully control every element of the course layout. All the rough is exactly 10 centimeters tall and greens roll precisely at a Stimp of 12.2. Artificial trees allow the daily layout to be adjusted to increase or decrease the course difficulty. The tee boxes can be physically moved from day to day as well, allowing each hole to play very differently over the course of the weekend.

The incorporation of recycled plastics into the turf and the ability to roll up the entire course for winter storage are the icing on the cake.

Greenland Weather Contingencies

Understanding the importance of this tournament to the modern game, tournament organizers have taken a novel step to minimize the adverse effects of poor weather. Should the weather turn sour, the hole, or even the entire round, moves to an indoor simulator or virtual reality headset.

Many of us believe that digital golf peaked with Wii Golf, but the truth is that modern simulators provide a nearly perfect parallel experience to playing on an actual course. As such, the entire Kalaallisut Oqalusinnanngilanga tournament course was scanned and uploaded into video simulators should that option be necessitated by nature.

Talk on the turf is that the LIV Golf players are especially interested in the virtual option. Finishing the tournament this way would allow them to play from the comfort of the Learjet and to spend more time with their families.

Odium Cup Player Selection

Each team will consist of 12 players and two captains. Each tour’s governing body select the captains, with the players selected per each league’s selection plan.

The PGA has decided to select the top 12 players based solely on FedEx cup points at the end of the 2023 season. The belief is this will give the team the best chance to win the Odium Cup the following April.

Currently, LIV Golf has not finalized its selection process. One proposed idea selects the top three LIV team rosters for the Odium Cup. Upon selection, the three team names combine into the new team’s name. Using current rankings, that would be the 4Aces Fireball Crushers.

Using player likability for selection could also be the route LIV takes. However, early polling indicates this approach may not produce a full 12-man roster.

Tournament Purse

Naturally, a tournament of this magnitude needs a significant cash purse. The 2024 inaugural Odium Cup’s total payout to the winning team will be $120 million. This is a winner-take-all event, with the losing team taking home only despair sprinkled with defeat. Photocopies of losing players’ current bank accounts will be provided as grief counseling.

One And Done Or a New Tradition?

What are your thoughts on the Odium Cup? Do you think this will help mend the fences between the tours? Will this further stoke the rivalry flame? Obviously, the antagonistic relationship between the tours and the players is unsustainable. Perhaps this event is a first step away from the bifurcation of professional golf.

Regardless, I anticipate a great deal of hype and discussion leading up to the tournament next year. One year from today, April 1, 2024, we should have some exciting golf to watch.

Find out more about the tournament and get your tickets at TheOdiumCup.com

PGA LIV Merger – June 2023

While this article started as only an April Fools joke, the reality is that the Saudi PIF (Public Investment Fund) has just merged with the PGA Tour. The result? While many details are unclear at this time, here’s what we know:

• According to the PGA Tour website, “PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity, alongside the PGA TOUR, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including the right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity.”
• The new for-profit entity will be collectively owned. PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of the new entity’s Board of Directors while PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan will serve as CEO.
• The release from the PGA Tour also states that “PGA TOUR Inc. will remain in place as a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization and retains administrative oversight of events for those assets contributed by the PGA TOUR, including the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other “inside the ropes” responsibilities, with Jay Monahan as Commissioner and Ed Herlihy as PGA TOUR Policy Board Chairman.”