LIV Golf can enjoy its own piece of golf pie outside USA - Scott O'Neil
By
Chad Klate
10th February 2026
LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has made clear their stance amid the ongoing rivalry between themselves and the PGA Tour, with a potential merger seemingly still improbable in the near future.
The PGA have launched a new 'Returning Member Program', which Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed immediately took up by walking away from LIV, reportedly costing them millions of dollars in fines.
O'Neil, who passed through South Africa en route to Adelaide for the second event on the 2026 calendar, explained their current focus remains on capturing markets outside the USA, while a future merger isn’t completely off the cards.
"Yeah, we'll see what happens as I say it's a small world and a long life and I believe that the PGA Tour has done really well in building that pyramid in the United States and having those 43 events in the US is really important and a very important media market and a very important sponsor market,” O'Neil said.
“For LIV Golf we have the other 7.3 billion people to work with and there is a lot of golf and a lot of golf market. Incredible courses like Steyn City here, incredible fan support like we're seeing.
“The 90 000 fans we'll have here, so, I think there's a lot of interest around the world to support another global pyramid outside the US."
With the Official World Golf Ranking system now recognising LIV, albeit awarding points only to the top 10 finishers at each of the 14 events, O'Neil welcomes the initial progress but will remain patient in further strengthening the recognition.
"You know, I've never been defined by my patience and certainly have been by my ambition and I will tell you that I feel like the world rankings was a wonderful step,” he added.
“You know the chairman is South African, Trevor Immelman, Masters Champion, wonderful leader, incredible executive as well as a golfer and commentator and I think he did a really incredible job in getting us to this first step."
