14 January 2024 , 23:30
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LIV Golf are set to follow in the footsteps of the NBA by adopting a new gesture for those who win the team events.
The controversial Saudi-backed circuit plans to give the winning team a commemorative ring in addition to the trophy. A longstanding tradition in the NBA sees the champions receive rings in the first game of the following season, the same night a banner is put in the rafters to acknowledge the championship win.
While LIV Golf won’t be handing out banners, they have announced that team ‘Crushers GC’, who are the 2023 team champions led by Bryson DeChambeau, will receive rings. The 2020 US Open winner, along with team members Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri, will be awarded the lavish rings at LIV’s season-opener in Mayakoba, Mexico.
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This comes after Talor Gooch, the LIV Golf 2023 Individual Champion, was presented with his championship ring created by jeweller Ben Baller in October at Miami’s season-ending Team Championship. It came as a shock to Gooch, who said at the time : “I had no idea about it until last night. So cool. Everyone was blown away. Like, Ben Baller just made that? That’s so cool.”
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Baller has worked with top brands like the NFL and has done collaborations with multiple high-profile athletes and celebrities and he relished the chance to have the opportunity to work on the project. "Will Newell, LIV’s VP of Creative, reached out to my team last April," Baller said. "I told him that I’d love to make the rings.
“I took a year absence from jewelry making and this was my first project back on my comeback tour! Once I built a solid friendship with RangeGoats Captain Bubba Watson, I knew I had to do it. Especially after the amazing time I had in [LIV Golf] Chicago, and playing in the LIV Pro-Am.”
They will follow Talor Gooch who received a ring for winning the individual 2023 LIV Golf championship (X/@SharkGregNorman)In the aftermath of his LIV Golf team's success, DeChambeau claimed the circuit is due to become a 'dominant force' in the world of professional golf sooner rather than later. The American became one of the top names to leave the PGA Tour to join the LIV setup since its inception in 2022.
While talks to see if the PGA Tour can work in unison with the breakaway league moving forward are ongoing, DeChambeau does not believe the rebel league is not going anywhere, anytime soon. "In the end, when this is all said about LIV and done, five years out from now LIV is going to exist," he told the Good Good Podcast in December. "LIV is going to be a dominant force. I don't know what the landscape will look like or if it will even be called LIV, but I can say that it will be here. Team golf will be here to stay.
"I know in my heart that the team aspect will continue to permeate through the game of golf for as long as I'm alive. That's my opinion. I could be wrong, but from everything that I feel, the sentiment, the movement, the way things are headed, I do believe that LIV will be here to stay.”