Most golf fans believe that the LIV Golf tour boasted a strong tournament at the Masters this year; however, that is not true. The thought is such because three of the top five players were members of the LIV population. So, when you look at the final standings and think you are seeing justification for the argument, what you are truly seeing is actually fools gold.

Although some of the top finishers were from the LIV Golf tour, that does not define the event for the entire tour. The tour only had four players in the top twenty-five of the tournament. The statistic that LIV Golf had three of the top five is an illusion. As a whole, the LIV Golf tour underperformed. With eighteen players in the tournament, six did not make it to the weekend, including former winners such as Bryson Dechambeau and Sergio Garcia.

There are big differences between the three in the top five and the rest of the LIV Golf members as well. These top performers actually developed in the PGA before making the switch.

There is nothing that proves that Phil Mickelson is not a legend. He is one of the greatest golfers of all-time and has won the Masters multiple times. He only recently, late in his career, switched to the LIV Golf tour. He knew exactly what to expect. He even flew to Augusta the week before the tournament to get practice rounds in. This is a privilege that only former winners have. He also knew how to prepare and what had worked for him in the past. This is the same with Patrick Reed, another former winner. Both men knew what worked for them when it came to preparing.

Brooks Koepka is a little different. He deserves all the credit for his performance. Koepka’s career has been plagued with injuries. This was one of his first events since his most recent injury, and he performed well. With this being said, he has not been playing healthy on the LIV tour either. He was at the top of his game on the PGA Tour when he got injured and performed at that level at the Masters.

The LIV Golf tour simply does not prepare players for a major. It was seen with Koepka especially; he was winning through three rounds but collapsed on Sunday. In typical LIV Golf tournaments, there is no fourth round. Koepka proved the lack of that fourth round really does impact a player’s stamina.

These results also show another profound fact: the LIV Golf tour is not good at developing players. The only players that performed well were ironically veterans of the PGA Tour. Simply put, the LIV Golf tour simply does not raise kids to the level of men like the PGA Tour does.