New LIV CEO Scott O Neil predicts golf will open up again

HONG KONG – The new chief executive officer of LIV said the world of golf will eventually “open up again” and the Saudi-bankrolled league has an important role in growing the game around the world.

American sports executive Scott O’Neil, who has in the past run National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League teams, took the reins from Greg Norman in January.

The period since has seen a flurry of meetings between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and their Saudi backers, the Public Investment Fund (PIF),but still no deal to reunite the sport has been reached.

“I think LIV has a place and an important place, and it’s very different from anybody else in golf,” O’Neil told AFP in an exclusive interview on March 9, on the sidelines of the LIV Hong Kong event won by Sergio Garcia.

Only days ago, leading PGA Tour player and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy said that a deal to reunify golf did not feel any closer.

O’Neil would not comment on the talks with the PGA Tour but pointed out that the once icy reception from golf’s Majors to the breakaway series had thawed.

“I feel like the narrative just generally is shifting in and around LIV and golf,” said O’Neil, who is the former CEO of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

“That’s probably most highlighted by each of the four Majors in inviting LIV players and providing a pathway for LIV players to play in the Majors, which I think is a great, positive step in the right direction.”

But as it stands, LIV’s multiple Major champions and greats of the game such as Jon Rahm, current US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson only go up against the cream of the PGA Tour four times