LIV Golf came to South Africa. Then South Africa showed up

JOHANNESBURG — It’s not so much that Bryson DeChambeau signed autographs to the point his neck hurt Thursday evening. It’s that he kind of promised he would.

After taking a share of the first round at LIV South Africa, DeChambeau walked into the media center for a press conference and declared he’d sign for every last fan. By the time he walked out of the press center, more than 30 minutes later, the horde was still waiting. Children poking their heads through gaps in the fence. Men climbing up onto the platform to get closer to him. 

DeChambeau likes to sign — it “re-energizes” him, he says — but this session was notable for what he was signing. Gloves, hats, flags — sure. But also umbrellas poked his way. An umbrella case. Backpacks. Even shoes from fans hopping around on one leg, and shirts from sweaty chest-bearers squeezed in among the fully clothed.

DeChambeau knows too well how pro-golf event promotion goes. Every tournament promises to be great. Some offer a headliner course; others assemble a loaded field. Some sell a great amount of tickets; others are endlessly hyped . . . and yet still flop. 

LIV events have worked in some locations, and not so well in others. LIV promoters have learned that in the last four years. For months they’ve been selling their first African event as something special, something different, but you just never know. This is LIV’s third tournament in three weeks. Most players flew west to Hong Kong, then further west to Singapore, then really far west to Africa. When the week wraps, the westward migration will continue, to America. The Masters is 13 days away. 

But LIV always had this week circled based on ticket demand. Since the event was announced in July, ticket sales rivaled only LIV’s most popular event, in Australia. The league then added a surprise bonus 18 holes to its tournaments, which meant it could sell another full day of tickets. And sell they did. Just this week, LIV issued more tickets for the South Africa stop, and the league says it has moved 90,000 of them.

Official attendance figures won’t be released until week’s end, but on Thursday the grounds here at the Club at Steyn City did not lack for activity. There were fans after DeChambeau’s round elbowing each other to get a closer look at LIV’s biggest star. And fans during DeChambeau’s round rushing him after a flared drive, shoving a phone into his hands and begging him to take a selfie. Thousands more spectators seemingly walked all 18 holes of this hilly course with DeChambeau and another big draw this week: Louis Oosthuizen, who is captain of the all-South African Southern Guards team.

“Me and Charl [Schwartzel] just stood there talking a little bit, and I was there watching his tee shot,” Oosthuizen said after the round. “I was tearing up a little bit. I put my glasses on because I felt so proud, and then Charl just said he felt the same way.”

Added Schwartzel, who played in the group ahead of Oosthuizen’s: “Very few times you get to experience in your career where your hair stands up and you get these needles going through your body. I was walking up there [on the first tee], and it was just so loud, and I started tearing up. I was like, Wow, I need to hit a tee shot but I’m busy crying.”

Their teammate, Dean Burmester, said much the same during an on-course interview. Their fourth teammate, Branden Grace, meanwhile, is one shot off the lead. As a quartet, the South Africans are leading the team competition by one. Their general manager, Richard Glover, has worked in sport in this vast country for over 15 years. He’s been promising people only one thing should the Southern Guards win the team event.

The biggest party they’ve ever seen.