LIV Golf CEO Reveals Upcoming Talks With LPGA Tour On Potential Involvement In Women's Game

Scott O'Neil has confirmed to Australian Golf Digest that he will hold talks with interim LPGA commissioner Liz Moore

Scott O'Neil during a press conference before LIV Golf Adelaide
Scott O'Neil has revealed he will meet with the interim commissioner of the LPGA to discuss a potential LIV Golf role in the women's game
(Image credit: Getty Images)

New LIV Golf CEO Scot O’Neil is open to the possibility of working with the LPGA Tour.

O’Neil, who took over as CEO from Greg Norman in January, revealed the news in an interview with Australian Golf Digest, where he also explained that he would meet interim LPGA commissioner Liz Moore to discuss where LIV Golf may have a role to play in the women’s game.

He said: “I’ve had the privilege of having a couple of conversations with Liz Moore, who’s the interim LPGA commissioner. She’s going to join me in Miami, and we’re going to talk a little bit about about how we might contribute to the women’s game.

“With LIV’s introduction, we’d like to take all the good that we’ve learned and put that into practice if the women’s game is one that we enter.”

Before LIV Golf began, Norman claimed on the 5 Live Sport: All About... podcast that an offer of investment in both the LET and LPGA Tour by LIV Golf had been rejected, but in July 2022, Moore’s predecessor Mollie Marcoux Samaan admitted the LPGA Tour "would engage in a conversation" with LIV Golf.

She said: “It’s my responsibility to evaluate every opportunity. I would engage in a conversation if it would achieve our aim of promoting women’s golf but there needs to be input from players and sponsors. There’s a lot of factors to consider before we do business with LIV Golf.”

Mollie Marcoux Samaan at the CME Group Tour Championship

Former LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan expressed an interest in talking to LIV Golf three years ago

(Image credit: Getty Images)

With two new figures at the helm of LIV Golf and the LPGA Tour, albeit on a temporary basis in the latter’s case, it appears the possibility is being looked at afresh.

O’Neil is currently attending LIV Golf Adelaide, where he also told Australian Golf Digest that he is hoping more players from the circuit will tee it up in the Australian Open in the future.

He said: “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.”

Earlier in the month, it was revealed that the Australian Open will revert to a more conventional format following three editions where the men's and women's events took place on the same courses concurrently.

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Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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