LIV Golf Has Signed the Amateur Champion Who Peed in Rae's Creek and is Winning the Golf Girlfriend Game

By now every golf fan should be acquainted with Jose Luis Ballester. Celebrated Amateur Champion. Notorious wearer of golf hats with the logo backwards to be read in rearview mirrors like "ECNALUBMA." Famed defiler of the most cherished body of water in the game:

And romantic partner of a young lady worthy of taking her place among the greats of the Golf Girlfriend Tour:

Well today Ballester made news by signing with the outfit that is struggling in its attempt to compete for attention with the PGA:

Which honestly, credit where it's due, is a great move by LIV. An organization that has a lot of the top golfers and the much deeper pockets, but a tiny fraction of the interest. I honestly never hear LIV come up in conversation unless it's in the context of the two tours reuniting. Which might be considered subject. But this isn't:

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Grok -  For example, on May 4, the PGA Tour's CJ Cup Byron Nelson final round on CBS averaged 2.9 million viewers, while LIV Golf Korea on FS1 drew just 48,000. Earlier, on April 6, the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open on NBC had 1.746 million viewers, compared to LIV Golf Miami's 484,000 on Fox.

Overall, PGA Tour events on major networks like CBS and NBC average around 3.1 million viewers on Sundays, while LIV Golf on Fox and FS1 averages about 475,000, with FS1 broadcasts often dipping below 100,000. 

I don't need to break that down further. You know that if a moderately attractive suburban hausfrau posts a video of herself in her car complaining about some perceived slight from her husband, it's doing numbers closer Byron Nelson and leaving LIV Golf Miami in the dust. The Saudis can afford the loss. But the question is what they're getting for it in terms of PR if no one's watching. 

Now along comes Ballester. This is what LIV needs more of. A talent? To be sure. You don't become the best Amateur in the country unless you can do it all. A guy with a reputation? Absolutely. Your average Augusta National patron would gladly lay down and block your urine stream with their face if it meant protecting the sacred waters of Rae's. (In fact, I'm sure some of them pay good money for just that treatment. I don't judge.) And he's got the street cred that can only come from having a ready made, plug-and-play, Ryder Cup spouses dinner-worthy lady in his life. 

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There's never been a sport that understood marketing the way pro wrestling has. They perfected the art when Vince McMahon was still a hungry, ambitious young businessman trying to claw his way out of his father's shadow and prove himself, and not a disgraced laughingstock. The WWE would know exactly how to market Ballester. He'd be Golf's Bad Boy. The rebel. The loose cannon with no respect for the traditions of the game who's capable of any misbehavior. 

They'd have him whizzing at every sacred site they could find. These examples won't work because LIV doesn't have stops there, but the Road Hole Bunker at St. Andrews. Hanging one off the cliffs at Pebble Beach. The green at the Par-3 16th at TPC Scottsdale, right in front of the Waste Management crowd. Down Jack Nicklaus' leg at The Memorial. On Arnold Palmer's grave with a bladder full of Arnold Palmers. The possibilities are endless.

My guess is we'll forget Jose Luis Ballester exists until such time as the tours do finally work out a peace deal. Or until he makes noise in a Major. Which is a shame. LIV needs him more than he needs them.