LIV Golf’s CEO said “remaking,” another member of the league’s C-suite said “evolution,” and the word choices may have satisfied everybody, no matter where one falls on the polarizing league.
To LIV’s advocates, such change is welcomed. To them, it’s buzzy. It’s momentum. It signals growth in the league a month from starting its fifth season..
Then again, adjustments can also be viewed as corrections. As desperation. Remember that LIV continues to struggle to find a foothold in the U.S., one of its stars has migrated back to the rival PGA Tour, and a few others may follow.
Or they may stick around. Remaking and evolution are on the way, after all.
Below are the details revealed Wednesday at a LIV season preview session that featured four LIV execs — CEO Scott O’Neil; Chris Heck, president, business operations; Ross Hallett, executive vice president, head of events; and Katie O’Reilly, executive vice president, team business operations.
More relegated players?
As a means to receive Official World Golf Ranking points for its events and subsequently its players, O’Neil hinted that more LIV pros could be dropped at season’s end. Last year, LIV’s season-long points race worked this way: 24 players were in what is called the Lock Zone and are secure; 24 players were in the Open Zone, where they face potential releases or trades; and nine players were in the Drop Zone, which means what it says.
“You’ll see an expanded Lock Zone, an expanded Drop Zone this year,” O’Neil said, “which as we’re working towards world ranking points, we think there’s some things, some shifts you’ll see in ’26 that I think help our case and continue to give us more hope that that comes through.”
What does this mean? Over the past several months, LIV has taken other steps to receive OWGR points. It expanded its tournament length from 54 holes to 72. It increased qualifiers into the league through the Asian Tour-based International Series and its Promotions event. The reasoning? Points mean more pathways into the major championships — and more appeal to either joining LIV or staying.
Did O’Neil see progress with LIV’s application? He said he’s talked regularly with OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman and that the hope is to hear the decision before the start of the season.
“I’ve said publicly 100 times,” O’Neil said, “but I’ll just repeat it: I think he has the toughest job in the world. Think about his board. As a CEO for a long time, I’ve had different boards, and they all come with their own complexities. His is made up of the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the four majors, and there’s some people on that board that don’t have a lot to gain by us getting world ranking points.
“Trevor has to put together — he has that complexity. He has the complexity of where the rankings are today, where some of the greatest golfers in the world are on that ranking system, and they happen to play in LIV. We are trying to lean in — we are all trying to lean in as quickly as we can and as far as we can, while keeping the integrity of the league, to make sure we’re doing everything possible to make the decision easy and quick.”
Rules changes?
O’Neil spoke briefly on this, saying that rules changes will be coming after talks with the USGA and R&A. He also said LIV’s rules committee had been “remade” and that there would be several new rules officials this year.
What does this mean? The thought here is that LIV will enact several of the new Model Local Rules. The PGA Tour recently did so, and you can read about that here.
A ‘complete makeover’ of the TV broadcast?
That came from Heck, who said this:
“Our television broadcast, we have a complete makeover. We think there’s two stories to tell. We believe that the stories that are told may have been difficult to follow in the past, so we’re going to have very much a conscious effort to focus on two stories: one on the individual golfer, two on the team golf. So you will see almost like a color-coded broadcast, and they will not be mixed on the same page at the same time to confuse.
“There are two stories, because there’s two champions, as well, at the end of the week. We’re super excited. We think the fourth day of golf for us is giving us a platform to tell our stories a bit better and a bit cleaner. We’re super focused and excited about what’s to come.”
What does this mean? Previously, individual and team scores had been listed on a leaderboard on the side of the screen. Now? We’ll find out when LIV’s season starts next month, though we may have gotten a preview from last week’s LIV Promotions event, where that leaderboard was smaller and last names were completely spelled out. Notably, according to a story written by the Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter (which you can read here), James Watson, LIV’s senior vice president – worldwide production, has left the league.
Bigger purses?
The prize money is increasing. This season, events will have $30 million purses, with $22 million going to the individual competition and the rest going to the team race. Last year, $25 million was up for grabs.
What does that mean? Money, money, money.
DP World Tour resolution?
LIV players also currently play DP World Tour events — but the former European Tour suspends and fines players who play in LIV tournaments, so LIV pros either abide by the penalties or take their case to court. The latter is what Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have done — and as they await a decision, they have played in DP World Tour events and met European Ryder Cup team qualifications.
On Wednesday, a reporter wondered if O’Neil hoped there was a resolution “so guys can go play in Europe without facing those punishments,” and O’Neil said just this:
“I would just say there’s an active dialogue going on, so I’d rather not provide any more further comments.”
What does that mean? Success there would be a big victory for LIV. But if the DP World Tour continues to penalize LIV pros, the Ryder Cup futures of Rahm and Hatton (and others) could be in doubt.
National open pursuit?
This came from O’Neil, who said this:
“What you’ll see over the next several years is the remaking and reshaping of the International Series and working with the incredible relationships, some of the gifted and talented people at the golf federations around the world into a national open strategy. Again, more to come over time. You’ll likely see four or five or six coming in this year, but if you fast-forward out two, three years, you’ll have 10 to 12 of the biggest national opens will become the International Series.
“The reason is because we believe that national opens will drive more fans, drive more viewership and drive more people to this great game.”
What does that mean? Potentially more pathways into the majors. In August, the Masters and the Open Championship announced that it was giving exemptions to the winners of six national opens, and you wonder if more could be handed out. Several players have also recently expressed their love of national opens.
That came from Heck, who said this:
“We have an elite, if not the elite, timepiece that we are going to announce shortly. We have a number of global iconic brands that will be aligning themselves with LIV Golf, and it’s super exciting. We’re on a path that I don’t think there’s a comparable, to be honest with you, at least in my 30-plus-year career.”
What does that mean? LIV has broken through some with sponsors, after many balked at the start. The league continues to be largely backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
Team changes?
Over the offseason, three of LIV’s 13 teams either changed names or changed its look: The Iron Heads GC became the Korean Golf Club; Stinger Golf Club became Southern Guards GC; and the Majesticks changed their image to a more British theme. Several LIV teams are completely made up of players from certain areas of the world, and O’Reilly said the recent team moves emphasize that.
“We are lucky enough that we have guys and players representing who grew up in those cultures so who really live and breathe them,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that our team brands really brought to life just the beauty of all of the cultures and the global identities around the world and tied up in our nice bow at LIV Golf.”
What does that mean? Connections help team support, and LIV has worked at this. But that’s also dependent on who comes into the league.
Any reaction to Brooks Koepka leaving and returning to the PGA Tour?
On Dec. 23, LIV announced that Brooks Koepka was leaving the tour — and on Monday, the PGA Tour said he was rejoining the circuit. O’Neil talked extensively on the move, and to read his comments, please click here.
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