Why did Rick Shiels sign with LIV Golf?
“To be honest, conversations took place a couple of years ago,” explained the 38-year-old to Today’s Golfer. The social media star is currently in Riyadh where the first LIV event is set to start.
“I was always quite intrigued, but nobody knew what it was like early doors, so I wanted to see how the events took place and how it would all pan out.”
While the conversations were happening, Shiels kept himself busy. He attended two LIV events in the UK. The LIV Golf UK 2023 was held at the Centurion and the 2024 edition was held at the JCB Club. He really liked what he saw. “As an event, as a spectator, it was so different to any of the golf events I’ve ever been to,”
Compared to the high-profile PGA Tour events, LIV Golf was something new and different. And the key aspect was that it just kept improving, and that appealed to Shiels. “To someone who’s been to The Open for 15-plus years, and been lucky enough to go to the Masters three or four times, and ample European Tour events, going to a LIV event was just totally different – and each year the product’s got better.
“Once I started to go to events, it really caught my attention that they are really onto something here. So we started talking early last year about how we could work together and do something exciting.” clarified Shiels, who is now an official ambassador and content creator with LIV Golf. But what is he planning to do as per his role at LIV?
Shiels’s focus with LIV Golf
Shiels knows where he has to plug in for LIV. The team aspect is an interesting concept that is not there in the PGA or European Tours. He plans to utilize this idea and make it more appealing to the fans. “I think there’s a disconnect between fans and the teams at the moment. It’s hard to understand, as a fan, what team to support.”
With some teams, fans make an instant connection. Ripper GC is full of Australian golfers, which makes for Australian supporters, similar to Stinger GC, which is a four-man golfing team fully from South Africa. But a lot of other teams do not have this connection within themselves. However, Shiels thinks they do.
“But what I am actually seeing – both at the events I had been to before and here this week – these teams are actually much more team-based than even I expected.”
And that is exactly where Shiels comes in with his content. “And I think it’s taking time to forge those storylines and those connections with fans,” explained Shiels. He will be at all 14 events on the LIV Golf Tour and plans to restart a few of his favorite video series’ like “Break 75” for the fans. Despite being against LIV Golf initially, Shiels seems to have rethought his opinions. So do you still think money was the only factor?
