CBS’s decision to give equal coverage to LIV golfers at the Masters is the right one

In the lead-up to the 2023 Masters tournament, there was a growing concern among LIV golfers that the official broadcaster CBS would choose not to show them live. However, CBS has now made an official statement on the matter by clarifying that they will give LIV golfers the same amount of coverage as anyone else in the field. 

Could a LIV golfer win the Masters?

It’s a wise decision given that out of the 18 LIV golfers set to tee it up at Augusta National, six are past champions of the event. In fact, the latest golf odds list a number of LIV players as the outright favorites going into the showdown at Augusta National.

The standout LIV name in the most recent Masters betting odds for 2023 is of course Cameron Smith who has been priced at +2000 to win the tournament. There is good reason for the hype surrounding the Australian’s chances of winning the Masters on account of the fact that he won The Open in 2022 and is without question one of the best players of his generation.

Simply put, Smith can’t be ignored at Augusta National and neither can any other LIV golfer as there is a genuine chance one of them may win. It goes without saying but if CBS decided not to broadcast any of their shots on the way to claiming the green jacket, how would the public know what happened during the playing of the 87th edition of the Masters?

Admittedly, it seems like an improbable decision and one that is disconnected from reality but there is precedence here.

LIV golfers pay an unfair price for jumping ship

To start with, it was only recently during the playing of the WGC Match Play event in Austin that a graphic appeared on the screen showing the past winners of the competition. Incredibly, any LIV golfer who had won the event before joining the breakaway tour had been airbrushed from history with years 2017, 2018, and 2020 mysteriously without a winner.

In addition to this, LIV golfers were not included in any groups that were chosen for TV coverage during events on the PGA Tour and European Tour that they were eligible to play in during 2022. Most notably, this was the case during the BMW Championship which would eventually be won by Irishman Shane Lowry.

On that occasion, it was a decision that didn’t cause any real controversy as Lowry is a PGA Tour player, and so were the runners-up, Rory Mcllroy and Jon Rahm. In other words, the broadcasters weren’t tasked with having to ignore a LIV golfer charging up the leaderboard but the truth is that it will happen at some stage if this blackout continues. 

CBS’s decision will set a healthy precedent

Hopefully, the decision that CBS has now made will set a new precedent that broadcasters around the world will follow. 

After all, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series isn’t going anywhere anytime soon which ultimately means that it will be wise for broadcasters to use the narrative of players from two rival tours going head to head as a way of increasing viewership, instead of pretending they don’t exist.