LIV Golf now faces an existential test, and the PGA Tour appears to have survived the breakaway league’s challenge. But survival should not be mistaken for an unqualified victory. The Tour may have won the institutional battle, but it came out with its own scars, especially in terms of competitiveness.

That is essentially the concern Justin Thomas raised on the We Need a Fourth podcast. The host asked JT about the best rivalry in golf these days, but he couldn’t name even one.

“That’s tough. I think we, man, as weird as it is, I think we lost a lot of those with LIV. Like a lot of the guys that were kind of the, I don’t want to say edgy, but just were the, maybe that would I don’t know. Just like I think you know, you look at somebody like a Bryson that I feel like is very, would you have to have somebody that kind of plays into it a little bit, right? Like, I think that’s, and I, you know, you look at someone like Scottie [Scheffler], and he just, like, he’s above that.” 

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“I’m not, like, last week, of course, you just answered it perfectly. Like, my rivalry every week is like with the golf course. You’re like, ‘Of course it is, Scottie, just answer it perfectly again,’ whatever, so, but I don’t know, I think that we lost some of those potentials with the LIV guys. So, I think if they come back, there’ll be some.”

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Some of the biggest names who switched to LIV Golf between 2022 and now include Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith. Although some players like Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed have now left LIV Golf, veterans like Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Sergio Garcia continue to support the breakaway league. As Thomas highlighted, these are some exceptional golfers with a great competitive spirit. In fact, DeChambeau once even suggested LIV Golf vs. TGL matches to create rivalries and competitions.

It’s not like there aren’t any big stars left on the PGA Tour, but the level of competitiveness isn’t on that scale. For instance, speaking at the 3M Open, Scheffler said there is no direct rivalry in golf because you cannot stop someone from doing something. It’s not a sport where one person plays offense and the other plays defense, creating ongoing rivalries.

Even if you see rivalry as playing for more wins, Scheffler is way above anyone else. His average OWGR points of 17.6954 are more than double World No. 2 Rory McIlroy‘s 8.7634 and World No. 3 Cameron Young’s 7.9774.

Thomas also noted that golf has changed. Professional rivalries once made the competition much more intense than it is today. Take the Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player era. Then there’s the Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Sergio Garcia era. Regardless of whether there was mutual respect among these professionals, their competitiveness on the course was intense.

This lack of rivalry has significantly affected the PGA Tour. 2024 was difficult, although the Tour’s television audience rebounded in 2025. Weekend broadcasts averaged 2.275 million viewers, up 22% from 1.859 million in 2024. CBS’s PGA Tour coverage also increased 21% and had its best season since 2022. However, it is not yet stable.

Therefore, Thomas believes that if LIV golfers return, people could see some rivalries, especially among golfers in the top two or three in the world rankings. For instance, Bryson DeChambeau, JT, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Aberg, Xander Schauffele, and many others would fall into a similar group, which could increase competitiveness.