New LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil on his plans to work closely with Golf Australia, investing in the women’s game and how he’s handling the pressure of stepping into Greg Norman’s shoes.
New LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil was somewhat of an unknown quantity when he arrived in Adelaide in February. It was less than a month since the American was announced as Greg Norman’s successor in what has been the most polarising role in all of golf.
In day-to-day management, O’Neil is now responsible for driving LIV’s strategic vision, business operations and worldwide growth for the league and its 13 teams of world-class golfers. It’s a daunting role but one he appears more than capable of delivering.
Prior to LIV, O’Neil served as CEO of Merlin Entertainments and oversaw its business operations and growth across more than 140 attractions in 23 countries. He has more than 25 years of experience in managing sports and entertainment brands, such as the NBA’s New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers, the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, the NHL’s New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils as well as the iconic Madison Square Garden.
Australian Golf Digest publisher Brad Clifton and senior writer Rohan Clarke spoke with O’Neil prior to the second round of LIV Golf Adelaide. O’Neil shared his thoughts on a range of subjects – from his new role with LIV, dialogue with Golf Australia about elevating the Australian Open, expanding into new markets and exploring ties with the LPGA Tour.
O’Neil, who possesses a delightful self-deprecating wit, sounds heavily invested in LIV Golf by the passion in his voice. He also appears to have a genuine connection with the LIV players judging by his way of greeting them with a bear hug at The Grange Golf Club. And, refreshingly, O’Neil came across as a friend of Australian golf.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: What were your first impressions of LIV Golf Adelaide? Everything that happened yesterday, the hole-in-one by Patrick Reed, and the vibe when you were walking the course. What were your first impressions?
O’Neil: In a word: wow. I had seen videos. I’ve seen photos. I’ve heard the stories from our players. I’ve heard the stories from my team. But nothing quite prepares you for staring down that first tee, fans eight deep. Or walking around the putting green and seeing fans four deep, 90 minutes before tee-off of a shotgun start. I mean, it is spectacular.
I was so happy for Patrick, who’s had quite the relationship with the fans here since the Presidents Cup. He’s a wonderful competitor, fighter, prepares himself, works tirelessly hard to be one of the best golfers in the world. To see him rewarded and the fans celebrate. That brought me quite a bit of joy.
Then to see Sam [Horsfield], coming off an injury. Played really well in Riyadh [tied 12th] and then to see him atop the leaderboard. When you hear the stories from the trainers how hard these guys are working, how hard they’re competing, how hard they’re preparing. And he’s one of those guys [that] just gets after it. Wonderful to see him rewarded. Then, as is a part of the case for a LIV event, you don’t have to look too far down the line to see Jaco (Joaquin Niemann) and Bryson and Brooks and DJ breathing down your neck. Because these leaderboards are something that’s not seen outside the majors. So it’s pretty special.
We talk about being the Formula One of golf, and this is the closest I’ve ever seen to it. It’s no mystery why [LIV Golf Adelaide] has been named the No.1 golf event in the world two years running… But the crowd, they were young and fun and interested. About 30 percent of our audience – this is worldwide – are first-time golf-event attendees. Our average age is about two decades younger than most golf tournaments… You’re looking at the future golf fans of the world. You’re looking at the way that festivals surround the game. They don’t detract. I wish every golf fan in the world, everyone who loves this great game, could come to this event in Adelaide because they would understand what we do and why we do it. They would understand why we take the biggest stars in the game to the four corners of the world. And they would understand the role music plays, the role food plays, the culture. By the way, there was a fashion show out at the event as well. So it’s food, fashion, music, culture. Not to detract from the golf, but to actually lift it – to bring more people to this great game.
I spoke to Cam [Smith] this morning and he… couldn’t be happier with what’s happening with his junior Ripper program in Golf Australia… every 5-year-old that picks up a club in Australia wearing a junior Ripper hat. You think the future of this game is in really good hands with guys who actually care. They care about where they’re from. They care about the community. They care about the game of golf. They work hard at their craft. These guys get after it. And yes, do they have a little bit of fun? Of course they do, especially the Rippers.
But you can have fun and be serious about your craft. You can have fun and be a fierce competitor… We happen to have wonderful human beings – who happen to be some of the best golfers in the world – who are interested in changing the game and the world through golf. I may be the luckiest person in the world. And I may have the greatest job in the world.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: In Australia we’ve been starved of golf. LIV Golf Adelaide has absolutely been a whirlwind and we’re very excited about it. But many Australian golf fans would like to see LIV Golf Adelaide book-ended with an Australian Open. There’s a bit of an impasse at the moment with where the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are at. In an ideal world, is there a chance that LIV Golf Adelaide and the Australian Open could be played back-to-back for the Australian fans?
I don’t know. We’ve had really productive conversations with Golf Australia… We’re looking at different opportunities to work together. The junior Rippers is probably the best example. But it’s one example on the table of a list of two pages. So far we’ve found great leadership… So I don’t know if it should be bookended, meaning right together or it should be separated. It really is going to depend on how Jim (Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland) and his team and my team figure out how to grow the game of golf in Australia together. And some of that is junior Ripper. Some of it is how we get more players to the Australian Open. Some of it is what’s the time of the year that makes the most sense to get the best fields here. Some of it is how we grow the next generation of fans. The next ‘Leish’ (Marc Leishman) or the next Cam is now 10 years old at this event. With big bright eyes thinking, I can do this someday. How do we make sure that we have the best coaching and performance here? It’s a whole host of things we’re talking through to make sure that this incredible market continues to flourish. And we’d like to play as big a role as Jim would like us to play here. We love Australia. We certainly are grateful for the incredible fans in Adelaide.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: I think Joaquin Niemann may have let the cat out of the bag yesterday, suggesting he’s looking forward to playing the Australian Open in Melbourne?
Joaco, what are you doing?! I’ve got to talk to him about that. [Laughs]. No, I’m just kidding. Listen, we’re talking about a whole host of things… There are only 14 events at LIV. They’re going to need other places to play. This event has certainly lit Australia up on the minds of our best players to say, “What a wonderful place to come play.”
▶ ▶ ▶
Brad Clifton: Obviously, you’ve got an extensive background in US sports, working with megastars, very marketable commodities. I’m interested to get your thoughts on how LIV Golf’s biggest stars compare. How important are the Bryson DeChambeaus and the Cam Smiths to the growth of this tour moving forward?
Well, in this current media landscape where social media rules the day, and facts are sometimes hard to come by, and there are 7½ billion media members on the planet, and there’s so much swirling back and forth in terms of news and noise. Boy, does it help to have some starpower. What Bryson has done in social media is nothing short of spectacular. The impact that Cam is having on golf in Australia is equally amazing. His commitment to youth and player development is amazing.
What we’re talking about as a team is: how do we get the world to know these guys like we get to. That, to me, is the next phase for us. How do we tell the stories about how these guys give back? How hard they work in the off-season. It’s like this notion of golfers just rolling out of bed and playing golf. I love to tell stories about how hard they compete. Like they are fearsome competitors. Don’t let the country club appearances fool ya. These guys are as vicious and incredible and nasty competitors as I’ve seen in any sport I’ve worked in.
I love the notion of this young gun group coming in. You see [Tom] McKibbin and Caleb [Surratt] and Luis [Masaveu], Freddy [Kjettrup] and David Puig, and you’re like ‘Holy!’… As Brooks [Koepka] said it, the other day in our press event, we talked quite a bit about this behind closed doors with several of the stars. These guys come out and they fear no one because they’ve grown up differently, right? They’ve grown up scrutinised. They’ve grown up with social media in their face. They’ve grown up with microphones in their face by the time they’re 8 years old.
Forget about all the stuff happening, some of the noise and nonsense. The game’s in great shape. The game of golf is growing. I believe we added 3½ million ‘golfers’ to the ecosystem last year in 2024 over 2023. In particular in APAC between Australia, Korea, Japan and China, you see the game growing by leaps and bounds. You see sim [simulator] golf growing quite a bit. Topgolf and that format has helped quite a bit. We want more people swinging clubs. We think the lessons you learn from golf will help shape and change the world. Those are integrity and resilience and consistency and hard work, humility – all those lessons that you learnt from this great game are important in the world right now. Maybe more so than ever in the history of the world.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: In the first few years of LIV Golf, we’ve had good access to the players. Can you assure us that will continue to happen?
I certainly think so, hope so, plan to… Our players are our partners, literally and figuratively, and we are completely aligned. The guys that had the courage enough to join LIV – and that’s what it took, courage. The guys that were crazy enough to join LIV understand the impact and influence the media has in who they are. And how they’re seen. And how much we can grow this game. I’m projecting again. I’m 40 days into my role, but all I can say is that we consider the media to be partners of ours, to be quite frank. And the players are our partners. So therefore, by extension, we’re all partners together. So long as
we stay true to the mission, good things will happen.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: You’ve been around sport and entertainment for three decades. It took me about half an hour to read your CV. It’s so impressive but…
[Laughs] My mum wrote it though.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: From an American’s perspective, which markets are ripe for LIV Golf around the world? You’ve obviously spoken to Greg Norman about this. You talked about the Asia-Pacific region before. But have you got a gut feeling for one or two particular areas that are a good fit?
I do. You don’t have to look too far. Some of the strongest golf markets in the world haven’t had a LIV event. So we’ll be in Korea this year for the first time. I’m hoping that we’re in Japan in short order. That’s a market I’d love to spend some time in. I’d love to have an event in mainland China. Should be no surprise there. We’re in Hong Kong and have a wonderful experience there. But we’d like to add one to China. We’re in Mexico City for the first time. Abraham [Ancer]’s from Mexico and so very nice to have players from all four corners of the world.
Wherever we go, it’s typically that we have some players in that market. I’d love to venture into South America because we don’t have any active conversations. There seems to be something there. We’ve just had an International Series event in India, which went extraordinarily well. And that’s a huge market. We have to build a business in this business. And to do that we’re going to need partnerships, very much like we have with the [South Australian] Premier [Peter Malinauskas] here in Australia, the business community here in Adelaide and the fan support. It’s not a complicated model. We have to mix and match where we have strong golf communities. And where we can mix and match to find a public/private partnership that works at the highest level. But we have very big eyes, even bigger aspirations. And we’re willing to do the work and get on a plane and go. I like South Africa as well.
▶ ▶ ▶
Brad Clifton: Particularly after last year’s little showdown in the playoff, I think the South Africans would be itching for one over there.
I believe I’m flying down there on my way over to Korea. It’s not exactly a short stop along the way either, Louis [Oosthuizen] mentioned to me. I’m going to stop over with Ross Hallett, who runs our events, and we’re going to go visit with some folks there. And that’s par for the course. There’s no special news there. We are not only willing to get on a plane and go. We relish the opportunity to go to the four corners of the world, meet with the federations, meet with the business community, meet with the best courses in the world.
That’s where we want to be. That’s where our players are from. What a gift. I remember working for the NBA when players were coming from all over the world. Thinking how wonderful would it be to have NBA teams throughout Europe at the time. Dirk Nowitzki could go finish his career playing in Germany. I thought, Wow, that would be so amazing. It just doesn’t seem to work for other sports – for hockey or basketball or baseball or football. It actually works for golf. And that’s why we’re different. And that’s why we have this special opportunity. And we want to take advantage of it.
▶ ▶ ▶
Brad Clifton: I asked you this in the press conference the other day about filling in some pretty big shoes of Greg Norman. I was thinking about it… you would be in a very small club of people who’ve ever replaced Greg Norman in any role. What surprised you about Greg since you’ve got to know him in the transition period? And how important has he been? Could you elaborate a little bit on that transition period and how he’s obviously been a key player in the LIV Golf League, particularly down here in this part of the world.
Well, first off, the opportunity to stand on the shoulder of a giant is pretty cool. Just as a sports fan, as a golf fan, as a human being. Secondly, LIV Golf isn’t here without Greg’s fortitude, courage, strength, guts, grit and how he just drove this thing forward – with a lot of people coming at him. And it’s not something I think I could do, to be frank with you.
And for me, he’s a friend. The only thing he hasn’t helped me [with] yet is my golf swing. It needs real repair. That’s the only thing I’m pissed [off] about, to be honest. And I’m gonna talk to him about it today. I need help.
But other than that, he’s been a friend. He sits on our board. Hopefully a great partnership for a really long time. That’s the gift. When you talk to our players, they always talk about the family, like the LIV family. Sergio [Garcia] talks about the Fireballs family. I just love that notion. A lot of the group that’s been here for these four years or so, they’ve endured a lot. They’ve taken a lot of punches. They’ve just kept on pushing forward.
I’m a bit spoiled. I come in and there’s this incredible arc of momentum. We have the Fox deal signed in the US and the ITV deal signed in the UK. We have some incredible marketing partners coming out the woodwork. The players are emerging on this global scene. It looks like so much positive has happened and I’m happy to stand up and cut a ribbon like anybody else. But don’t for a second think that I don’t recognise and realise all those hard yards that have been driven – or metres, I should say – that have been driven and plowed through the fields.
I have nothing but love and respect for Greg and for the team here that’s had to get us to where we are. Dare I say it with a straight face, now’s the fun part. Now we get to build and grow. I’m really grateful and I appreciate him as a friend.
▶ ▶ ▶
Brad Clifton: There was a scathing opinion piece written this week – I won’t name the media outlet – saying how LIV shouldn’t call itself the future of golf unless it’s involving women. Do you have anything you can share, potentially, about what plans you’ve got to involve women, whether it’s players, fans or the engagement?
Yeah, well, I’ll give you a couple of fun facts first. I’ve worked in women’s sports over decades. I worked very closely with the WNBA. I had my time with the NBA and our commissioners were Val Ackerman and Donna Orender, two dear friends to this day. I then oversaw the New York Liberty of the WNBA. Then we acquired part of a Women’s Hockey League team when I was with the Devils and the Sixers. In my house I have four daughters. I coached my daughters in basketball forever. Since they could walk and talk, they had a ball and they were dribbling it. Until they got to high school, they had their dad as their coach. First of all, I love the notion of what sport teaches, the values it teaches. And I think that in order for more young girls to be picking up a club and swinging, they need to see people who look like them playing on the world’s biggest stage. As a philosophical point, I think it’s critically important.
On a more practical point… as a three-year old league, my goodness, we have plenty of things to work on. But that’s not to say that we haven’t had very high-level discussions on what that might feel like and look like. I’ve had the privilege of having a couple of conversations with Liz Moore, who’s the interim LPGA commissioner… We’ve talked on the phone. We have mutual friends. She’s strong, she’s smart, she’s practical, engaged… She’s going to join me in [LIV Golf] Miami, and we’re going to talk a little bit about how we might contribute to the women’s game… We’d like to take all of the good that we’ve learned and put that into practice. If the women’s game is one that we enter, we’d like to take some of the lessons we learned – by a few thumps and bumps that we took and maybe leave those on the sideline.
▶ ▶ ▶
Rohan Clarke: From your background in many different sports, is there any one thing we can take from other sports and apply it to LIV Golf as a whole?
If you’d asked me this five years ago, I would say this notion of team. I think team sports matter. I think they matter for kids. Growing up, you play on your high school golf team, you play on your college team, you play on a club team. I like the notion of bringing that to the pros. I think it develops leadership opportunities and skills for our players and talent. I think it takes some of the loneliness and heartache out of this game. I think it gives you a little community to rally around and support each other. That’s the one thing that I probably love the most about what we do and how we do it.
