Just because the game of golf seems to be edging closer to coming back together in one way or another, it does not mean that fans have seen the last of the bizarre statements from those on the LIV Golf side, it seems.
Of course, Greg Norman was absolutely perfect for the role of LIV Golf‘s first CEO. The Australian was never afraid to cause a stir with his comments. And it seemed to be a positive move towards peace in the game when he moved on.
However, his successor has taken little time to take a page from Norman’s book. Scott O’Neil surprised many during LIV’s Adelaide event by claiming that the league is the only place outside of the majors to watch the world’s best players.
Unsurprisingly, O’Neil was ridiculed by fans. Meanwhile, Brandel Chamblee pointed out the dominance PGA Tour players had in the majors in 2024. And with that, it was hard to not feel that it was a tactic from O’Neil to create even more publicity during what is clearly LIV’s biggest event of the year.
Why LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil decided to take a shot at the PGA Tour
However, perhaps that may not have been the motivation after all. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that O’Neil may have actually been sending a message to those on LIV.
“I felt like it was an unnecessary stray because where we are right now, we’re coming off of what was, by all accounts, a good week at the front of the house. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes when it comes to the negotiations, but you had the commissioner standing in front of reporters and actually sound optimistic about, ‘yes, we’re going to get a deal done. We have to get a deal done for the health of the game’. You had Adam Scott who maybe pealed back of the layers and gave you an idea of exactly how this might work out. You had Tiger Woods who was, by far, the most optimistic person when he spoke with CBS on Sunday in the booth at Torrey Pines. And then, you had Scott O’Neil taking an unnecessary shot across the PGA Tour’s bow,” he said.
“My guess is this was to appease everyone around him at LIV Golf, because it’s important to point out even though we conflate these two things, the negotiations are going on between the Public Investment Fund and the tour. LIV Golf, whether that’s Scott O’Neil or Greg Norman before him, have never been involved in those negotiations. So if you’re a CEO like Scott O’Neil is, and you have a team around you and players around you that are looking to you for answers that, in this moment, you probably did have to throw something out just to let everyone know we’re not going anywhere. Give me a minute and we’ll figure this out.
“But I think the idea when Jay says we’re going to come under one roof, I think a lot of people interpreted that to mean, oh, it’s going to be the PGA Tour roof and it’s going to be one tour. I don’t know if that’s necessarily going to be the case. But it was curious, especially the timing of it, simply because we were coming off what everyone seemed to think was a good week.”
What Greg Norman said about LIV Golf’s future in May 2024
Tiger Woods spoke of the best players playing together again. That certainly hints that something will have to give with either the PGA Tour or LIV Golf. And clearly, it seems much more likely that LIV will have to change considerably.
However, some on the LIV side obviously do not think that that will be the case. Norman claimed LIV was set to stay when discussing the league’s future back in May 2024.
“Look I’m just going to answer as CEO of LIV. My chairman has told me LIV isn’t going anywhere. It will be well and truly in operation well past his death, and he’s a young guy. He’s asked me to stay focussed and deliver. LIV is a standalone entity, he’s invested billions of dollars into this and we’re starting to see the creation of an ROI on this, so we’re going to stay focussed,” he said.
It is definitely going to be fascinating to see the golfing landscape does look once everything is agreed and things start to fall into place with the schedules.
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