LAS VEGAS — The videoboard at Las Vegas Country Club showed 4:29 as it counted down the time to when the range would close and the LIV Golf League's next tournament could start. In the sky, a group of parachutists floated their way to the first fairway, adding to the spectacle.
A man approached and asked, "Where do I find Jon Rahm?" He was on the second hole, not unusual, except the tournament still had not started.
LIV Golf is different — and yes, louder, but only because of audio speakers set up near tees and grandstands for a constant beat of music throughout the day.
This is the life 54 players chose when they signed up for the Saudi-funded league, some of them for enormous signing bonuses. Rahm was the most recent when the reigning Masters champion donned a black letterman's jacket to pose with LIV CEO Greg Norman in December.
And they appear to like it — 54-hole tournaments, shotgun starts, no cuts, $20 million purses, $50,000 guaranteed for last place (down from $120,000 when the field was 48 players) and a team aspect at every event.
Professional golf has never been more fractured than now. But even as the conversation turns to punishment — if any — for players who took the cash from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund if they want to return starts with whether they even want to come back to the PGA Tour.
It's hard to find many who are in a big rush.
The notion the upstart circuit was going away when the PGA Tour agreed to a commercial deal with the Saudi backers of the rival league has given way to the realization LIV isn't going anywhere soon.
There's also the question whether the PGA Tour, which last week signed Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor for as much as $3 billion, will ever strike a deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the original partner in the June 6 framework agreement.
"We could throw around ideas here forever and not get to a really good outcome," Adam Scott, one of six players on the PGA Tour board, said last week at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. "The first thing I think of when I hear 'Just bring them all back' is, well, they want to play on LIV. They don't want to play here. So what if they don't want to come back and play? So what happens then?"
Scott was asked if unification was necessary to meet PGA Tour business goals.
"I personally don't think so," he said. "And obviously, SSG don't either, because they've been willing to do this deal not contingent on anything to do with PIF."
LIV Golf photo by Charles Laberge via AP / Frog-X Parachute Team members land on the first hole at Las Vegas Country Club just before the start of the first round of an LIV Golf League tournament Thursday.START THE RUMOR MILL
And on it goes, LIV in Las Vegas during the Super Bowl week, the PGA Tour in Phoenix, great players at both going about business in their own way, emotions driving each side.
Among the curious spectators Thursday in Las Vegas was Tommy Fleetwood, his long hair hidden by a hoodie in the frigid weather. That should be worth at least two days of rumors that Fleetwood would be the next PGA Tour player to leave for LIV, and this brought laughter from the Englishman.
He was in Las Vegas for two days to work with swing coach Butch Harmon and figured he would go to an LIV event to see what it was like for himself, nothing more. There was no indication LIV Golf appealed to him. He was delighted to see old friends.
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy wants the game whole again, no punishment for anyone if they are eligible. Few others share that view. Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Scott are among those who are adamant that players who defected — some of whom sued the PGA Tour — should not just walk right back in.
Key to this entire divide are the majors.
The only pathway for an LIV player to one of the four biggest tournaments annually is to have won a major before or be high enough in the Official World Golf Ranking, and the league doesn't get ranking points. Abraham Ancer was No. 20 in the world when he joined LIV in June 2022. Now he's at No. 155 and is not eligible for any majors.
Regrets? Not many.
"Personally, I'm happy where I'm at," Ancer said Thursday. "I knew the possibility of not getting world ranking points. I was OK with it, and I'm not going to be crying about it. The competition, we have a great field every week. It's not easy to win out here. I'm just focused on getting better. That's all I can do. And I want to play the majors. I'll do anything I can to qualify."
LIV Golf photo by Montana Pritchard via AP / PGA Tour member Tommy Fleetwood, center, hangs out near the driving range at Las Vegas Country Club on Thursday during the first round of an LIV Golf League tournament.HAPPY OVER THERE
Rahm said it was emotional for him to drive past the TPC Scottsdale course and realize he would not be at the Phoenix Open. He also misses San Diego's Torrey Pines, his favorite spot and the site of his first major win in the 2021 U.S. Open.
He was confident in his decision to leave for LIV. He wouldn't mind returning for a few PGA Tour events of his choosing.
"I'm hoping that in the near future I can be back playing some of those events," Rahm said. "I would certainly love to go back and play some of them."
But all of them? Since joining LIV, Bryson DeChambeau has played only one other tournament outside of it, the Saudi International. Dustin Johnson hasn't played anywhere but LIV and the majors.
"It's professional golf that's some of the best players in the world," Johnson said. "I think it's a little bit different than obviously the PGA Tour. We have teams. But I think the fan experience here is a lot more fun. I think the player experience is more fun. We've got the music out on the range, some music out on the course. It's kind of just trending to where golf is going right now."
Charles Howell III played 609 tournaments in his PGA Tour career. He misses some of his favorites, like the Sony Open and Bay Hill and the John Deere Classic. Otherwise, he's perfectly content with LIV except for seeing the big picture.
"I can't speak for anyone else, but I want golf in some way, shape or form to be together at the top," Howell said. "I don't think that means going back. I think that means golf is together at the top. And people smarter than me can figure it out."