'LIV's tough task to 'Trump' glory of majors and tours'

LIV Golf parade new recruits, including Europe's deposed Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson and English veteran Paul Casey, in the third event of their Saudi Arabian-funded existence this week.

It takes place at Donald Trump's place at Bedminster in New Jersey and will have to go some to match the quality of sporting narrative currently being generated at pretty much every level of the pro game.

Wherever you looked across the golfing spectrum last weekend there was compelling, meaningful action to excite fans.

There was no hangover from Cameron Smith's epic Open win the previous week, just a seamless sense of continuity.

Brooke Henderson became a two-time major champion despite enduring a tortuous final round at the Amundi Evian Championship and Richie Ramsay's wild celebrations showed his Cazoo Classic victory meant more than just his £250,000 prize money.

At that same Hillside tournament, runner up Paul Waring advanced 88 places on the Race to Dubai to secure playing privileges on the DP World Tour for another season.

These are examples of raw sport with livelihoods on the line. They help form legitimate sporting pyramids, giving us reason to care whether a player makes a cut or not.

It makes us admire sporting bravery and delivering when pressure mounts.

With career earnings in excess of $25m (£20.7m), Tony Finau has few apparent financial worries; but his ability to win had long been questioned, with a meagre return of only two PGA Tour victories in 15 years as a pro.

He was feeling the heat during a come from behind win at last Sunday's 3M Open in Minnesota, driving into the water at the last despite a comfortable lead.

Ultimately Finau recorded one of those victories that meant more than the value of the winner's cheque. "It's tough to win out here," said the 32-year-old American who rises one place in the world rankings to 16th.

"I think I'm about as good an example as any of how tough it is to seal the deal. Anytime you win one, it's awesome to get the respect of the guys that you're playing against."

And what of Scott Piercy, who led by four going into the final round and was still comfortably ahead until he buckled to an inward half of 41 - eventually finishing tied fourth?

It's a brutal game. Just ask this 43-year-old who has not won an individual PGA Tour title since 2015.

Piercy's heartbreak counter balances Finau's joy. It is a competitive knife-edge that makes champions and chumps.

And the sport such captivating viewing.

A rung below - David Kocher, a 26-year-old from New Jersey, went into last week's Korn Ferry Tour event in Missouri feeling like he was playing pretty decently but without a top-10 finish all year.

He proceeded to reel off 31 birdies as he won the Price Cutter Charity Championship by six shots on 28 under par. The result sees him climb to 30th in the feeder circuit's standings and in the mix for the top 25 that gain a PGA Tour card for next season.

"I didn't think it was going to happen this week," Kocher admitted. "I didn't know if it was going to happen this year."

Uncertainty, another key aspect in making us want to watch professional sport.

Henderson was the dominant leader at the Evian and for long periods last week seemed nailed on for her second major success. But by the early part of the Canadian's back-nine last Sunday she was in a seven-way share of the lead with among others England's Charley Hull.

It turned into an enthralling scrap; Henderson birdieing three of the last five holes, including the last after pulling her drive into trouble, to edge home.

LIV, meanwhile, is promising to revolutionise the sport and make golf "louder" with its expensively assembled cast of players. They maintain the new project is "a force for good".

It certainly does no harm to the players' bulging bank accounts and none of them have to worry about making the cut this week.

They know they are guaranteed at least $120,000 (last place money) with the prospect of landing a $4m first prize.

Greg Norman's operation has taken massive strides, their staging and marketing have been outstanding and they have upset the status quo like never before.

This week will have Trump backing their cause. Like Norman, the former US president bears a grudge against the PGA Tour after, in 2017, they moved their World Golf Championships event from Trump's beloved Doral.

The Miami venue stages LIV's season team finale in October.

With many in this week's field having signed lucrative contracts, the vast prize money matters less than the inflated figures would suggest. But if the first two events are anything to go by, dollar signs will be at the heart of the storyline.

Armed with their newest commentary recruit, the renowned David Feherty, they will also seek to make the most of their team element, which is rumoured to be attracting billion dollar corporate interest for future backing.

Maybe Stenson joining a 'Majesticks' line-up captained by Lee Westwood will help generate another tale to continue golf's current golden thread?

Or maybe not? I genuinely have no idea.

But that is, surely, the biggest challenge for LIV and its 54-hole, 48-man shotgun start format - to give sports fans reason to care about an outcome beyond already wealthy guys getting even richer.