Rick Shiels shares why he nearly smashed his laptop while watching coverage of LIV Golf UK

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Rick Shiels has revealed what left him considering smashing his laptop as he watched the final day of LIV Golf UK at JCB over the weekend.

LIV Golf had a brilliant opportunity to win some admirers in the last few days, with many of the world’s best players taking the weekend off ahead of the Olympics rather than playing in the 3M Open on the PGA Tour.

Of course, fans attending LIV know the field that they are going to see well in advance, injuries depending. So the breakaway tour would have hoped that the event at JCB last week would attract more viewers than usual.

They certainly would have been helped by the close finish, with Tyrrell Hatton‘s three putt on the last handing Legion XIII teammate Jon Rahm the individual title. But it appears that the presentation of the product is still dividing opinion.

Rick Shiels frustrated with coverage of LIV Golf UK

Speaking on The Rick Shiels Golf Show, Rick Shiels suggested that he is not a fan of the coverage.

“I still have issues with the broadcast. If I heard ‘Championship Sunday’ one more time yesterday I was going to smash my laptop. For whatever reason they are absolutely on that Championship Sunday. It’s the last day, fine. Call it the final round or the final day. It’s the wording of Championship Sunday. It’s so long,” he said.

“I still don’t think they have nailed the actual broadcast yet.”

Maybe too loud?

It definitely does appear that LIV are still trying to prove a point to the wider golfing world, having come in for so much criticism over the last couple of years.

Obviously, every single player on the tour wants to win, but there does appear to be a feeling that they are also playing for LIV as they try and establish the tour as a heavyweight and give it greater credibility, and that means that it does seem like some of the marketing gets rammed down the viewers’ throats at times.

It was refreshing to hear Tyrrell Hatton say a team win meant little in the wake of losing the individual title, but you can imagine that some of those behind the scenes at LIV may not have been best pleased as they try and build the interest in the team format.

Perhaps the marketing will calm down in the coming years when these phrases become second nature to LIV fans, but it definitely does feel like the league’s branding is sometimes more important than the product they are actually offering – which clearly has real potential.