revolves around a leaner schedule with leaner prize purses<\/a>, but O\u2019Neil boasted that the next generation will make players \u201cthe majority equity holders\u2026 a first for a major global sports league.\u201d<\/p>\nAmong the many questions that remain unanswered in LIV\u2019s post-Saudi era, however, is whether their most important players will stick around for the transition of power. Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are both yet to publicly comment on plans for what is being described as \u2018LIV 2.0\u2019.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neil was asked specifically about both major champions and whether this new investment will allow LIV \u201cto keep and afford stars, the likes of Bryson and Jon Rahm, going forward.\u201d His long and roundabout answer was focused around Major League Baseball and the sport\u2019s shift to attract younger fans. O\u2019Neil was then quizzed again directly on the futures of DeChambeau and Rahm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI define it a little bit differently, and for those of you who have had the privilege and pleasure to travel with us around the world, you get to see it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think there was any bigger star on the planet in South Africa than Dean Burmester. And I don\u2019t think there was any bigger star on the planet than Cam Smith when we were in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a global game and you have 57 players from 21 countries and you\u2019re playing in 10 countries on five continents, how you define stars gets really interesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo while I have all the time in the world for Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, I think I\u2019d be remiss in saying they\u2019re not only two of the biggest, best golfers on the planet, but I think they\u2019re some of the biggest stars in sports, let alone golf. Would certainly love them to come along for the ride and journey because they carry maybe more weight than anybody in the game and I have a lot of time for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is not a stretch to say that, despite securing an agreement for investment, LIV\u2019s longer-term future is entirely contingent on the movements of both DeChambeau and Rahm. Neither player has explicitly committed to the new direction but both have unique cases. DeChambeau\u2019s contract is up at the end of this season and he has long flirted with the idea of focusing on the majors alongside full-time content creation.<\/p>\n
However, TG has learned that senior officials at LIV are relaxed about his future, and DeChambeau could still relish being the biggest fish in the pond. DeChambeau led a player\u2019s meeting at Bedminster on Tuesday and has been directly involved in talks with investors. There seems to be a mutual indifference with DeChambeau and the PGA Tour, and the the idea that LIV\u2019s success could rest on his shoulders is a prospect that could appeal to DeChambeau\u2019s ego.<\/p>\n
Whether the same motivation entices Rahm is another matter. The Spaniard\u2019s circumstances differ in that he is still owed in excess of $100million for his LIV contract. With the Saudi taps turned off, it seems impossible that he will be remunerated on that promise. If, as widely expected, LIV turns to bankruptcy, Rahm will need to negotiate new terms in his contract as a creditor. Rahm will then need to decide if he is more interested in a large chunk of equity in LIV\u2019s new product or a return to the traditional tours.<\/p>\n
Until DeChambeau and Rahm make their plans clear, speculation surrounding their futures will rage on. And O\u2019Neil\u2019s evasion did nothing to end the growing noise around his two most important assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf boss Scott O\u2019Neil provided a positive update on the league\u2019s survival plan, but the futures of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-848785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}