DORAL, Fla. — The new CEO of the LIV Golf League pushed back on recent media reports that suggested confidence about a deal with the PGA Tour had waned, but acknowledged he is fine if an agreement doesn’t come together, citing the patience of his Saudi Arabian bosses.
Scott O’Neil, who took over for golf legend Greg Norman in January, acknowledged that this week in Miami is a big one for the league as it plays its first domestic event with Fox, its new television rights partner.
But he stopped short of saying a deal is necessary for LIV Golf’s long-term future.
“If the deal can help grow the game of golf I’ll jump in with two feet,” O’Neil told a group of reporters at Trump National Doral in advance of the LIV Golf Miami event that begins Friday. “Do we have to do a deal? No. It would be nice to do a deal, so long as we’re all focused on the same things.
“So do we have to do a deal or need a deal, whatever word you use, leave that to somebody smarter than me. I will say I love what we’re doing, I love our prospects. I love the growth in three months. I know what’s coming in the next three months. And I love where we are.”
O’Neil, who has held executive positions in both the NBA and NHL among other jobs before coming to LIV Golf, has taken a more cooperative approach in dealing with the greater golf landscape than his predecessor, whose battles with the PGA Tour date back 30 years to when he attempted to start a rival circuit when he was among the top players in the world.
“Moving from ‘Golf, but Louder’ rough and tumble or adversarial to ‘Long LIV Golf,’ let’s be partners in the ecosystem,” O’Neil said. “Let’s grow the game of golf, let’s focus on our mission. Take some of the greatest players in the world to the four corners of the earth. It’s really clear to us what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I have really high expectations.”
O’Neil said he knows and has been in touch with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan since taking the job but said he has not been part of negotiations that are undertaken by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which backs LIV Golf.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, has a team that has worked with PGA Tour and DP World Tour representatives for nearly two years in the aftermath of a June 2023 “framework agreement” that was meant to reunify men’s professional golf.
That has proved to be problematic. The PGA Tour early last year brought in outside private investment from Strategic Sports Group as it formed PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit arm that is expected to return a profit and pay equity to players in the future.
Although there was optimism about a deal in February after Monahan and player director Adam Scott met with President Trump at the White House, a second meeting involving Al-Rumayyan appeared to not be as smooth.
Comments from the PGA Tour side since that time have suggested that the sides are not close to a deal. And that LIV’s team concept—the league is comprised of 54 players that have 13 four-mean teams and two wild card players—is an impediment.
“I’m not on the transaction committee (which deals directly with the PIF), so I don’t know how Yasir is with other forms of TV golf, where we incorporate PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the LIV tour,” PGA Tour player and policy board member Webb Simpson told Sports Illustrated two weeks ago. “It’s complicated.
“We’ve presented at least at the board level other team options that aren’t just franchises like they have for the whole year. More like different points on the calendar where there is an appetite for fans to see some type of team stuff. Then it goes back to the idea that the beauty of a team is sport is you get behind that team for the season. You ride their highs and lows. Is four times a year really going to work? Will that satisfy what Yasir wants?”
O’Neil said he is briefed by Al-Rumayyan on the talks and wouldn’t “negotiate in the media” but felt “I’m sure there’s a way we can work together and there’s a whole host of things that will work. But right now, but my focus, 100 percent of my time, is making sure that Adelaide becomes the floor, not the ceiling.”
The reference was to LIV Golf’s most popular event, the one in Australia played before enthusiastic and large galleries in a market that has embraced LIV Golf. This week is the fifth of 14 LIV Golf events in 2025, the first in the U.S. after tournaments in Riyadh, Adelaide, Hong Kong and Singapore.
“Already that’s been a really nice surprise, how welcome we are outside the U.S., we’re beloved and appreciated and welcomed,” he said. “It was a pleasant surprise to see how much opportunity there is in the business and how far we can move the needle in three months.”
Still, LIV Golf has faced head winds in the U.S., especially in regards to television ratings—although as O’Neil acknowledged, so far, the events have been played during late-night or early-morning windows.
There has also been a slow acceptance in golf circles of the team concept, which sees players competing as individuals but their scores added up for an aggregate team score as well.
"I think we all hoped it would have been a little bit further along, and that’s no secret,” said five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who captains the Smash GC team on LIV Golf. "No matter where you’re at, you always hope everything is further along. But they’re making progress, and it seems to be going in the right direction.”
Koepka’s contract status and when it expires became an issue earlier this year when there was speculation that he might want to return to the PGA Tour. Although there have been suggestions that LIV’s team system would get more buzz if fans knew when player contracts expired, O’Neil declined to discuss contract terms and said he’d be opposed to doing so in the future.
O’Neil said he’s already met with all of the leaders of the four major championships, is appreciative of both the U.S. Open and British Open extending exemptions to LIV Golf’s leading points earner, and that he’s been invited to next week’s Masters by Augusta National—something that did not happen for Norman.
“We have to continue to show up and be good partners in the game of golf, we have to continue to show grace and sometimes we may be held to a different standard,” he said. “And that’s O.K. … I work for a pretty amazing man (Al-Rumayyan) and he’s got a really long view. He’s got a long, patient view.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LIV Golf CEO Is Prepared to Move On Without PGA Tour Deal.
