Lucas Herbert was thinking about LIV Golf and talking about LIV Golf and even reading about his own negotiations with LIV Golf before he’d spoken to, received an offer from, or signed with LIV Golf.
There were rumblings in the background, though. Cam Smith had been talking to his people, those people talked to Herbert’s people, and all those people talked to LIV Golf's high-ups about the potential for Herbert to cross the Rubicon.
With the benefit of ‘plausible deniability’ at functions and media gigs, Herbert denied approaches with a straight face. When he read a story about the "advanced nature of negotiations" with LIV Golf, he thought, ‘news to me!'
It wasn’t until two weeks before Christmas, in the relaxing days following the Australian Open that Herbert first spoke to Smith about joining Ripper. Herbert says he was as surprised as anyone.
“I honestly didn't think I was going to get the offer,” he says. “I didn't think I was going to be on their radar, basically. So, to get the call, I had to think about it and evaluate whether it was the right move for me.”
There followed much discussion among Herbert Inc., the team coming up with a good-sized list of pros and cons. Ultimately, pros won out, and “we landed on it being the best decision for my career going forward,” Herbert says.
One of the cons – perhaps the con – was that LIV Golf events don’t earn Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points and thus Herbert, OWGR No.82 at time of writing, would not be able to earn entry into the Masters or US PGA Championship, and have to Monday qualify for the US Open and Open Championship.
He still plans to the do that. But the Masters and PGA will have to wait.
Herbert, who finished seventh in the Australian Open and saw his OWGR slip from 66 to 67, says the OWGR is “obsolete”.
“When we talked about this, the pros and cons, [the lack of OWGR points in LIV Golf] was certainly on the con list,” Herbert says. “It was going to make it difficult to get into the major championships.
“[But] the world ranking system in itself … for the last four months, I haven't cared too much about my ranking for any purpose other than the major championships.
“I mean, you're seeing guys like Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau going out to 300 in the world. That shows that the system is not accurately assessing how good these golfers are.”
Herbert fears the majors themselves could become obsolete, also.
“You would hope that the four majors would be our best way to have the best players in the world play against each other,” he says.
“And I think if that pathway doesn't get created at some point, the majors become a little more obsolete than they probably are now.
“If you don't have the best players in those tournaments, winning them isn't as important as it used to be.”
Herbert had one year on the PGA Tour as a past-winner but was not going to be part of the $20 million ‘Signature’ events and thus would’ve spent 2024 scratching for world ranking points and prizemoney, and being a part of a lesser, almost second division part of the PGA Tour.
And grinding for Australia, just to keep up.
“I felt like the longer I've been on tour, the more is expected of me when it comes to tournaments.
“There’s guys out there on the PGA Tour playing so much that I feel like if I'm not playing, you know, nearly 30 events a year, you're just falling so far behind these guys who are racking up points week after week.”
Now, though, he says, with a lighter schedule he can prepare for the Australian Open and Australian PGA, and take up invitations to the Cathedral Invitational and Sandbelt Invitational.
The money? Of course it was a factor, Herbert says. A big one. He hasn’t received Jon Rahm or Cam Smith money but it’s “helped with security given that it's likely I'm going to get suspended from the PGA Tour,” he says.
“And $20 million events every week, I think it should allow me to set myself up, hopefully for the rest of my life playing out here," Herbert says.
“So yeah, money was definitely a factor, don't get me wrong.”
Another reason was the team aspect of LIV Golf and travelling the world with a like-minded bunch of Aussies, having lunches, going fishing, playing with Matt Jones for cash. He says he likes travelling.
He says he wants to leave a legacy for Australian golf of getting kids into the game. He says he's very much looking forward to LIV Adelaide where his team-mates told him they were treated like rock stars.
The one big reason, though, Herbert insists, in his decision to sign up with LIV Golf was the chance to improve his game by consistently competing against world-class players.
“It was guaranteed that I’m going to play against some really, really good players at every single event this year,” Herbert says.
“You look at guys like Brooks and Bryson and DJ and Cam and Jon Rahm … you know, these guys are going to be at every event that I'm playing. And I just wasn't going to play against the stronger fields on the PGA tour this coming year. That was a big thing for me.
“During the whole conversation, the biggest thing was that we wanted to make the decision that was going to get my golf game the best I possibly could get it by the end of 2024, the end of 2025, and the years moving forward.
“Playing against stronger fields, playing against better players, was going to be a big key in how I do that.
“And I think I was going to get a better chance to do that, obviously, out here on LIV.”
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