BANGKOK - A tuk-tuk ride in the bustling streets of Bangkok is not for the faint-hearted and here at the Stonehill golf course in Pathum Thani, organisers of the LIV Golf Invitational are looking to spice things up at its first Asian stop this week.

The runaway golf circus that is giving the DP World and PGA Tours a run for their money aims to live up to its tagline "Golf, but louder" in Bangkok, where the city's iconic tuk-tuk is making a pit stop - it will be used to ferry players to their shotgun starts on Friday.

After five tournaments in Britain and the United States, LIV's first trip to Thailand is one that the Asian players are relishing, particularly with the region's golf calendar hit hard by the pandemic in the last two years.

Anirban Lahiri, the only Indian player to make the switch from the PGA Tour, said at a pre-event press conference on Wednesday: "You look at where the Asian Tour was post-Covid, I know a lot of my friends who play on the Asian Tour were without a job for almost 18 months.

"Asia being such a strong economic region in the world, the professional golf industry hasn't quite reflected that. I think this investment into the Asian Tour is necessary, and timely, because there's a lot of potential. There are so many golfers. Golf is huge, even in terms of tourism, in terms of a lot of these countries and how the economies work."

Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the US$255 million (S$363.3 million) LIV Series offers an eye-watering US$20 million per event - sums that were previously unheard of in this region where LIV Golf has since pledged an investment of US$300 million. Before the pandemic in 2019, Asian Tour events like the SMBC Singapore Open offered a prize purse of US$1 million.

Lahiri, 35, who has nine wins on the Asian and DP World Tours, added: "I think it's timely, it was necessary and I'm very glad and grateful. I think it's fantastic and it can only get better and grow from here and every which way."

Agreeing, Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai said: "LIV Golf is another option or opportunity, apart from the two main tours for the men... It will help inspire a younger generation (by showing them) that there are more options for them in the future as a pro."

Only two regular season tournaments remain on the 2022 calendar, with the top three players in the individual standings set to win the US$30 million prize purse - the winner pockets US$18 million while the second- and third-placed golfers receive US$8 million and US$4 million respectively.

Over in the 12-team competition, the Asian swing in Bangkok and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will build up to the season-ending LIV Golf Invitational Miami Team Championship, where the teams will compete in the matchplay and strokeplay tournament for the US$50 million prize.

Touted as one of its big innovations, the team championship sees the 48-player field divided into teams of four, each with their own branding and merchandise.

While the idea is still new to golf fans, English veterans Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood - who are 46 and 49 respectively and have spent over two decades competing on the DP World and PGA Tours before making the switch to LIV - said it brings a new, exciting element to the game.

Poulter said: "Back in the hotel, we've got a wonderful ballroom where everybody is socialising, dining, hanging out. There's more of a team atmosphere like we would normally see at like a Ryder Cup, and because of that, it's much more enjoyable.

"We've got the ability to spend quite a lot of time together, play practice rounds together, and it's exciting. It kind of gives you a bit of an energy boost... even if you're not up on the leaderboard with a chance to win, like your score really counts, which is exciting, so it keeps you 100 per cent focused, fully energised and ready to go."

Westwood added: "I'm 50 years old and when I was playing on the European Tour or the PGA Tour, I didn't really have anything in common with the younger guys.

"Now on LIV, there are a lot of my friends and I get to spend more time with them and there's more of a family kind of attitude and feeling to the environment."

And as the action tees off in the Land of Smiles this week, players like the United States' Kevin Na, who joked about eating "a lot of curry and pad Thai… to find another 30 yards" will hope to be smiling on Sunday.

If not, there is always the cool tuk-tuk ride to write home about.