{"id":408115,"date":"2026-01-15T05:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T05:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/408115\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T05:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T05:18:13","slug":"liv-golf-isnt-done-making-changes-in-hopes-of-acceptance-from-official-world-golf-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/408115\/","title":{"rendered":"LIV Golf Isn\u2019t Done Making Changes in Hopes of Acceptance From Official World Golf Ranking"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. \u2014 If LIV Golf has been diminished because five-time major winner Brooks Koepka has left<\/a> and that other recent major-winners could follow, you\u2019d never know it from the message conveyed Wednesday\u2019s state-of-the-league gathering of LIV executives.<\/p>\n

As part of a media preview week at the Palm Beach Convention Center, CEO Scott O\u2019Neil, president of business operations Chris Heck, head of events Ross Hallett and executive vice president, head of team business and operations Katie O\u2019Reilly met with the media to discuss the future, which will see the league play 14 events this year, starting next month in Riyadh.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly wants to grow the value of LIV\u2019s franchises to $1 billion for each of the 13 teams, Heck said there\u2019s been considerable interest from possible franchise owners and said an overhaul of the TV production is underway.<\/p>\n

And O\u2019Neil talked about achieving more acceptance within the larger golf ecosystem, including his recent conciliatory approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably my biggest surprise since coming into LIV Golf,\u201d said O\u2019Neil, who has been in his role for a year. \u201cI wasn\u2019t here maybe a month, and I was sent an invitation to come to the Masters by [Augusta National\u2019s] Will Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery step of the way, every meeting I\u2019ve had, every engagement I have, from\u2014Mark Darbon and I started about the same time, as well, at the R&A, of course, and Mike Whan with the USGA has opened his arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like everywhere we turn, there are more and more people that want to see some structure and framework emerge in global golf, and I think we\u2019re on the precipice of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, O\u2019Neil made clear again his desire for the league to get Official World Golf Ranking accreditation, a process that dates to last summer when he officially applied<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LIV Golf was initially rejected in October 2023 and never reapplied until last summer. Both O\u2019Neil and OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman, the former Masters champion and now CBS analyst, have said they\u2019ve communicated extensively over the last several months, with no indication when a decision will be made.<\/p>\n

\"Trevor<\/p>\n

LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said he continues to be contact with Trevor Immelman around LIV’s OWGR application. | Ben Jared\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have several changes coming this year,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the move to 72 holes was much talked about. For us, that was relatively simple. We want to make sure that our players are best prepared for the majors, that it\u2019s not as much of a sprint, that our teams have a chance to recover after a tough day one. And with the overwhelming support we have seen in several of our markets, quite frankly, more content is better. More fans come in, more broadcast content, social hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was good for business, great for golf, and I think resoundingly supported by everyone in the ecosystem and certainly at LIV.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see an expanded Lock Zone, an expanded Drop Zone this year, which as we\u2019re working towards world ranking points, we think there\u2019s some things, some shifts you\u2019ll see in ’26 that I think help our case and continue to give us more hope that that comes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil said he\u2019s in frequent contact with Immelman and is hopeful of resolution soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said publicly 100 times but I\u2019ll just repeat it. I think he has the toughest job in the world,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cThink about his board. As a CEO for a long time, I\u2019ve 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\u2019s some people on that board that don’t have a lot to gain by us getting world ranking points.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrevor 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\u2014we 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\u2019re doing everything possible to make the decision easy and quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the intention is to get this done before the season starts. That’s the intention. But hey, I don\u2019t have a vote, ironically enough. Hopefully that news comes through and true, and I\u2019m still going to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize if we get this thing done.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIV Golf purses are going even higher<\/p>\n

A few other topics:<\/p>\n

* The weekly purses are going up to more than $22 million for the individual competition (from $20 million) and to $10 million (from $5 million) for the teams.<\/p>\n

* O\u2019Reilly said the league is actively working to enhance the franchises to seek owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to build 13 billion-dollar franchises,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is our goal. Are we there yet? No. But right now we are building the foundation for that … right now we are focused on things like driving sponsorship revenue. Each of our 13 teams are heading into the 2026 season with a marquee partner, whether it’s on their chest, on the hat, the Pings, the Callaways of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, we are building new businesses under the teams and we are leveraging and using our NIL rights. So right now we are foundation-building. But certainly we are headed that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Heck: \u201cI think it\u2019s fair to say that we have a very heavy interest coming our way, all of us, of getting a lot of calls and real interest. But we are trying to do this wisely and also responsible for what we think is something that\u2019s going to keep building and building in value. So that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

* O\u2019Neil said he got word in advance of the PGA Tour\u2019s plans to announce Brooks Koepka\u2019s path back to the Tour along with three other major champions who would be eligible\u2014Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith and Jon Rahm\u2014to return due to their major status.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaming the players … me personally, I would have named a lot more of them. I think we are loaded with talent,\u201d O\u2019Neil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, Bryson and Jon and Cam are not only wonderful leaders and extraordinary golfers and great people and understand their role in growing the game of golf. They have all that down. But DJ [Dustin Johnson], that would have been one I would have added. Dean Burmester, Carlos Ortiz, Seb Mu\u00f1oz? I could spend 10, 15 minutes and go down this roster of guys that I think are elite human beings, elite talent, understand the growth of the game, understand the power of the world of golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Golf from Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. \u2014 If LIV Golf has been diminished because five-time major winner Brooks Koepka has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-408115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}