It’s been more than a year since Scott O’Neil officially took over as LIV Golf CEO, brought in as a calming influence on the league following Greg Norman’s whirlwind leadership in its turbulent early days.
The business history where he led some of the world’s largest companies in sports and entertainment also gives the American a certain reputation, which has been translated into partnerships with companies such as HSBC – sponsors of the title of this week’s event in Hong Kong – Rolex and Salesforce.
Not that O’Neil has more than broken a few eggs himself, but that non-confrontational approach seems to have made the circuit’s presence more palatable to those with more traditional tastes.
There is no guarantee that it will last, and his claim, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, that LIV will soon sit on top of the golf pyramid everywhere that is not North America, where the PGA Tour is king, is an obligation to ruffle feathers.
“In the United States, the pyramid is very clear; outside the United States, the pyramid is a little bit darker,” O’Neil said. “And we think in the next two, three, four years, it will be more clear.
“And we think that LIV Golf sits at the top of the pyramid.”
