Pat Perez suggests every LIV player was suffering with the same ‘weird’ problem during first event of the season

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LIV Golf perhaps did not get off to the start to the 2025 season that they would have hoped for, with Legion XIII strolling to the team title while it was not one of their superstar names who clinched the individual crown in Riyadh.

LIV Golf could have hardly asked for a better start to the PGA Tour season, with frustrations over slow play overshadowing the first events of the year. Meanwhile, LIV was providing a unique offering with its first tournament of the season, with the event played under the lights in Riyadh.

Ultimately, it was Adrian Meronk who won in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Legion XIII made a real statement with their team victory. Jon Rahm‘s side finished 11 shots clear of second place on 50 under par for the week.

Unfortunately, it was a mixed week for LIV. Their broadcast on Fox averaged 12,000 viewers during the first round. And it seems that some of the players were not particularly impressed by the course itself.

Pat Perez suggests why many players struggled with the same problem at LIV Golf Riyadh

Rahm was furious with a missed putt during the final round. And he was far from being the only player who had a difficult time from close range on the putting surfaces.

During the post-round show, the presenter asked whether nerves may have been a factor behind the problems over short putts. However, Pat Perez provided more than a hint that the greens were not up to standard.

“That was all week, that was all week. We can’t really comment on them. But there was only one reason why all those putts were missed,” he said.

“I mean, [Sebastian] Munoz right here, he missed – maybe not that short – but he missed five from just outside that all day. So you’re talking about between that and Rahm and [Tyrrell] Hatton and probably a bunch of other players that had a lot of putts; Rahm doesn’t miss these ever, so.

“It was weird this week because everybody made longer putts, and everybody missed the shorter putts. It was a completely different week. When the greens are really good, it’s hard to make longer putts because you’ve got to have the speed and the line. These are slower, so some guys don’t hit it hard enough, so if you don’t hit it hard enough it will just tail off like that.”

How the putting statistics at LIV Golf Riyadh compared with Jeddah’s event in 2024

Of course, it is hard to make too many comparisons because of the fact that the tournament was played at night. Reading greens suddenly becomes a very different challenge.

The 2024 event in Jeddah was won by Joaquin Niemann on the same score Meronk finished on this weekend. So perhaps that is a better event to compare Riyadh with than most.

Cam Smith was first for putts per green last year, averaging 1.44 across the event. Meanwhile, his Ripper teammate Lucas Herbert was first this time around on 1.50.

In fact, the top five players in Jeddah all boasted a lower average than Herbert this week. And there was a 0.09 difference between the worst performers at each event.

Clearly, this comparison is far from scientific. But it is interesting that not one event in 2024 saw the best putter in the field average worse than 1.48 putts per green.

Some of that can be put down to the light, without doubt. But only some of it perhaps.