After a lacklustre opening to the season in Riyadh, LIV Golf made much more of a statement with their second event of the year in Adelaide, with Joaquin Niemann taking the individual title.
Adelaide has quickly become the flagship event on LIV Golf, with the Australian fans creating a phenomenal atmosphere each year. And it has now been confirmed that LIV will be returning to South Australia until at least 2031.
It is arguably the event which best displays LIV’s potential. However, it would surely be naive to think that LIV has anything like the kind of credibility and prestige that it needs to compete with the PGA Tour.
But it seems that there is real belief within LIV regarding the quality of the league.
Fans baffled by ‘laughable’ claim from LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil
Speaking during the event in Adelaide, new CEO Scott O’Neil claimed LIV is the ‘one place’ outside of the majors to see the best players in the world. Unsurprisingly, his comments have been met by a largely negative reaction.
One person wrote: ‘Not really. You have about 3-4 players on LIV that are now capable of winning a major. The best players in the world are playing elsewhere.’ Meanwhile, another said: ‘That’s a laughable statement, but should come as no surprise.’
Another person responded by simply asking: ‘Is this a joke?‘ And the ridicule continued, with one social media user posting: ‘That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day‘.
There was also a suggestion that O’Neil sounded delusional.
Even those who enjoy LIV seem to be baffled by the claim, with one person writing: ‘I’m all for LIV but when they say things like this I’m kinda like, “do you hear yourself?”‘
Where Data Golf ranks LIV Golf’s stars amongst the PGA Tour’s best players
Of course, it is not an easy statement to disprove to LIV Golf’s fans given the game remains divided, so the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are only facing off against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler on a handful of occasions each year.
Whatever you think of LIV not getting points, it cannot be denied that the world rankings are no longer an entirely accurate depiction of the standings.
With that, perhaps Data Golf’s own rankings provide the clearest picture – and it is not particularly positive news for O’Neil. Just four LIV Golf players find themselves in the top 20 in their rankings as of February 10th.
| LIV Golf players inside Data Golf’s top 20 |
| 4. Jon Rahm |
| 6. Tyrrell Hatton |
| 10. Bryson DeChambeau |
| 18. Joaquin Niemann |
Meanwhile, just two players have won major titles since joining LIV, with Brooks Koepka clinching the 2023 PGA Championship while DeChambeau won the US Open the following year.
Having confidence and belief in your league is absolutely fine, but O’Neil definitely should not have gone as far as to suggest that LIV is the only place to see the world’s best players outside of the majors.
It is an own goal that LIV’s new CEO is probably going to be reminded of a lot over the coming years.
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