‘It’s distracting’: Rick Shiels explains what he finds completely pointless about LIV Golf

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Golf YouTuber Rick Shiels has admitted that there is one aspect of LIV Golf which he does not understand fans caring about at all.

LIV kicked off their season in Mexico last week. It was Joaquin Niemann who won in Mayakoba after defeating Sergio Garcia in a play-off.

Elsewhere, Jon Rahm made his debut for the breakaway tour following his surprise switch over the winter. Rahm finished with two bogeys to miss out on making the play-off alongside his compatriot and Niemann.

Rick Shiels not impressed by team competition in LIV Golf

But it was better news for Rahm in the team competition. His Legion XIII team claimed victory by four shots, with Tyrrell Hatton shooting a 64 on the final day. No-one in the field went lower than the Englishman on Sunday.

It seems however, that not everyone was captured by Legion XIII’s performance. Speaking on The Rick Shiels Golf Show podcast, Shiels – who listed a number of positives and negatives from the event – suggested that the team format did not manage to win him over.

“I just feel like the team element, I just wasn’t bothered at all,” he said. “I went in there with a real mindset, I was like, right, come on Rick, is there any connection to any team? I’ve been very lucky to play with, film with quite a lot of the guys across all different teams. And I just don’t land on a team at all.

“It just doesn’t connect with me. If anything, it’s distracting from the actual playing of really good golf. It just feels like it’s a bit of a side-story, I don’t understand how fans are interested in it.”

Give us a reason to care

There are plenty of us who are yet to be overly impressed by what LIV offer. Admittedly, there is a lot to like about their product. And it does appear that their presence has given the PGA Tour and DP World Tour a much-needed kick up the backside.

The team format could be something really interesting. Many of us would pick the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup as our favourite events in the sport.

But it is hard to find the motivation to care about the teams at this stage. Supporting individual players is much easier. And given the funds on offer just for being associated with the tour, it is hard to get excited about the prospect of a team picking up another cheque when that prestige just is not there yet.