LIV Golf League First Look: Goat Milk, “It’s a Startup!” and the Carlos Ortiz Frat House

Carlos Ortiz’s Dallas home is a golf frat house this week. He’s hosting Joaquin Niemann and other non-Texan buds as the LIV Golf League wraps up its third season in the Lone Star State at Maridoe Golf Club. Unconfirmed, but Ortiz, a Mexico native is likely a generous host and without question—certainly has one of the best tequila selections north of Jalisco.

“Yeah, also I can borrow some information from them. We’ll be able to practice together today and I’ll get some info there. But yeah, it’s also nice that they (Carlos Ortiz, Sebastian Munoz) all live here. We’re staying at Carlos’ house. I think it’s a little bit more like a home tournament it feels like, to be staying in a house with their family and be here on the golf course and playing in front of their friends and crowds. It will be a nice challenge,” Niemann shared Thursday morning at the Captains Selections press conference.

The League’s top three teams: Crushers, Legion VIII and Rippers all received first-round buys. The other ten teams will play five matches to advance, and the matchups were decided in the LIV Golf League media center this morning.

11 a.m. CT Friday:

• Smash GC vs. Iron Heads GC
• Torque GC vs. HyFlyers GC
• Fireballs GC vs. Majesticks GC
• Stinger GC vs. Cleeks GC
• Range Goats GC 4Aces GC

Five teams will be eliminated after Friday, then eight teams to play four matches on Saturday where another four teams will be eliminated which will leave four teams to play cumulative stroke play on Sunday. All four scores from each player will count and the team with the lowest cumulative stroke play score will win $14 million and a trophy—$1.4 million per player, the surplus goes to back to the team operations budget.

The LIV Golf League is a startup and “startup” was a word used often at Thursday morning’s press conference.

“First and foremost, I think we all need to understand that LIV is still a startup. They (LIV) started only two and a half, three years ago, and where we’ve come to date today has been absolutely amazing. The league is still learning, trying to improve, and it will take some adjustments until we get it all perfectly right, so therefore this year also you saw a few changes already in the individual tournaments but also this week, that the captains can play in the different positions than we did in previous years. I think this is really exciting to be part of that,” said Martin Kaymer.

“I think he said everything that we’re all probably thinking. It is still a startup, and it’s been a great experience for me as a player and a captain to be part of a team,” Louis Oosthuizen added.

“Yeah, the creative juices are flowing. When you’re in the meetings for all 54 guys and for the league, like Martin (Kaymer) said, it’s a startup business and you’re trying to grow it. You asked about laughter and things like that. Look at other sports. At the end of the day they go and high-five and hug or whatever, and now we travel together—even though we’re trying to beat everybody, we’re still friends. We’re trying to grow the business together, so it makes it more fun because we see the same faces every week. On other tours you might not see a guy for a few weeks because they’re taking a break, they’re doing other things,” Bubba Watson added.

Few startups, if any have garnered more attention than the LIV Golf League—some positive and some negative. The Wednesday pro-am was an on-brand golf experience with an emphasis on fun. As of Thursday, fan experiences with putting greens, a tattoo parlor and merch for days are still being installed, but it’s easy to see that LIV is trying to deliver on their promise, “Golf, but louder.”

There is no individual winner this week, it’s a team event only, it’s the 14th and final event of the season and there is a “last day of school” relaxed vibe at Maridoe Golf Club. On Wednesday in the pro-am, Sergio Garcia and Bryson DeChambeau are relaxed and helpful—their amateurs are essentially getting playing lessons from major champion winners. But on Sunday, if Garcia and DeChambeau are still playing golf—they will be going for blood.

As the press conference ended, Bubba Watson offered an update on how the Range Goats GC is making the world a better place.

“We’re giving goats away. Every team we beat, we give a goat away, and in November we’re actually going to, as of right now, out of the country, there’s a couple countries, but we’re going to go and deliver goats and see and help people around the world. Goat milk is the most nutritious milk in the world, so golf is just my avenue to do other things and help people around the world,” Watson added.