Success Or Failure? Rating LIV Golf's Off-Season Signings

LIV Golf made huge waves in the golf world in December when the Saudi-backed circuit signed Jon Rahm from the PGA and DP World Tours for a mammoth deal reported to be north of $500m.

Rahm's move sent shockwaves through the game and was seen as a sign from the Saudis - the Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV Golf - that they have the financial power, and desire, to continue on the path of poaching the biggest names in the sport if a deal isn't made with the PGA Tour.

Rahm's signing has been arguably the biggest to date, but things went quiet for the best part of a month as LIV attempted to sign more players. Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood were all rumored to be joining, but with less than a week to go until the third season the rosters were still not completed - at least publicly, anyway.

There was news this past weekend of a big Spanish TV deal done with Movistar, as the signing of home favorite Jon Rahm started yielding revenue straight away.

Then the players started to come in. Jon Rahm got his man Tyrrell Hatton along with US college star Caleb Surratt, who LIV will hope can grow into a player of the Andy Ogletree, David Puig and Eugenio Chacarra mould.

Then DP World Tour Player of the Year Adrian Meronk made the move, as did three-time DP World Tour winner Lucas Herbert.

And LIV wasn't done there, either. The tour addressed concerns from live audiences that having just 48 players and 16 tee times meant that there was always a large gap between the front and back of the field. This will no longer be the case thanks to Jon Rahm's 13th team and the addition of two individual wildcards, meaning the fields increase to 54 and 18 three balls.

The league has also welcomed International Series Order of Merit winner Andy Ogletree as well as three new faces from the Promotions event in December - Kalle Samooja, Kieran Vincent and Jinichiro Kozuma.

The league has strengthened the fields with world class players (all the while weakening the PGA and DP World Tours), increased the field size and negotiated a Spanish TV deal from the Rahm signing.

The circuit still remains on the CW Network in the US, which likely won't be the first choice after NBC, CBS and ESPN, and it isn't on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland yet, either. Will they get these big network deals in the future? That's surely in their sights.

They'd also love to gain world ranking points or at least cut a deal with the Majors to gain spots for its players. Whether any of these outcomes are realistic without a deal with the PGA and DP World Tours is to be seen.

So what does the future hold? It seems like LIV is going absolutely nowhere and is a key player in the PIF's negotiations with the PGA Tour, which are hoped to be finalized by the Spring.

Could LIV really integrate with the PGA Tour and take some of the key spots in the calendar? Or will it be pushed to the fall? Or might the deal not even happen? The PGA Tour's new $3bn investment from SSG is either a huge help or hindrance - we simply don't know those details yet.

It's all set to play out, but the value of the league has certainly increased this off-season with some astute dealings and a format change that makes it more watchable.

LIV's off-season appears to have been a resounding success.