General Director of Liv Golf Scott O’neil in the ‘mission’ of the League, and why did he get the job

Scott O’neil looked at the part in a conference room at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas on Saturday afternoon.

While the young CEO Liv Golf reflected in the state of the Global Golf connection he now runs, he wore a black Liv Golf polo and a liv silver money attached to his belt. The deployment was also appropriate: Liv Dallas, the ninth Liv event of the season, which on Saturday attracted 20,000 fans, a one-day record participation for a Liv event in the US, Ligat said.

“This has become an event that is for celebrities and influential and athletes and business people,” O’neil said in an interview for Golf.com. “Pretyty is very special.”

O’neil, who replaced Greg Norman In January, it is new to the Golf world, but not for sports and entertainment. Before taking on Livi’s work, he was CEO of Merlin Entertainments, which oversees the topic parks and other attractions across the globe. Earlier in his career, O’Neil, who is 56, held executive positions with other professional sports teams, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.

O’neil attended Villanova University, from where he graduated in 1992, and later won an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he counted Director General of PGA Tour Brian Rupp Among his classmates. O’Neil said he plays most of his Golf at Trump National in Bedminster, Nj

As he enters his sixth month at work, O’neil spoke to Golf.com about Livi’s situation, his relationship with Rollapp and why he sees Liv Golf as “good boys”.

This interview is easily edited for clarity and brevity.

Golf.com: As a newcomer of this sport, have you felt welcome?

Scott O’Neil: As for the golf ecosystem, I am miraculously welcomed. This is from USGA and Augusta (National) and R&A and PGA of America, from pings and the Callaways of the World to the largest network leaders where Golf is a big focus. I feel like I was brought and welcomed and given a place on the table and an opportunity to be part of this extraordinary golf family.

What is something that has entered you about liv that you don’t know when you first got the job?

Enough. First, that we are the good guys. This is the biggest surprise since I was here. We have this beautiful mission to increase the golf game. Get the best players in the four corners of the land.

What do you mean by a “mission”?

I feel like we live it. Some of them are seeing here today (in Liv Dallas) with these big crowds, pressing crowds. But to start in Riad and then go to Australia and Hong Kong and Singapore, Korea, and The city of Mexico – These are places that do not get the opportunity to see this kind of star power in Golf. Statistics weigh quite well in our favor. Thirty percent of our attendees have never been to a golf event before. Just looking at the crowd here (in Dallas) is amazing. Forty percent of our audience is usually female. When does this happen in golf events? You will see parents pushing the carriages. I’ve ran into children smiling and I think it’s the next golf generation.

Something else?

The biggest thing is the purity of the mission. It surprises me how wonderful it is to work with the players. We have a lot of gift and, in many cases, the biggest stars or business partners, so you are part of the owners of their teams. I had not predicted that (players) would be so talented in business. I had not predicted how difficult they work in their craft, how focused they are taking care of their bodies and minds. How long these people pass in the range and in the green placement, perfecting what they do. This has been a beautiful surprise.

You and New CEO PGA Tour Brian Rolapp They are friends and former business school. Do you think your relationship can help build bridges between your two organizations?

He is a good friend. I don’t think this is about Brian or to me. There are boards of these organizations that decided that what was happening in Golf is not as good as it should be. And they went out and everyone recruited various leaders in this extraordinary Golf world. We all know what to do, what to do, what we will do, what to do. I think we see the golf world joining in several different ways already. We need to join together and get cricket, tennis or football.

You have expressed your excitement for your new role. Do you get the same sense of enthusiasm from Brian in terms of how he feels about his new job?

Brian and I have been in the sports business for a really long time. I will talk about myself – I don’t want to talk about it – but the opportunity to run a sports league does not come out very often. And Liv, where you have some of the biggest stars in the game, you have a global platform, a canvas that is only three years old.

How do you see Liv Golf’s place in the big look of the game?

I always think of Augusta (national) as the purest expression of golf. Masters It is almost indescribable in terms of its purity and beauty. And I always think of the Ryder Cup as annoying and filled with nationalism and pride, energy and shouting, shouting and singing and flags. But we still love those two extraordinary golf expressions. This (liv) is the third expression of golf. Fun fun; It is a little younger where music makes a real influence. I think those of us who love golf should embrace and understand this, and this is bringing more people to this extraordinary sport.

What do you see as your role in Liv?

I think my role is to be an ambassador for the game. It is to help the strategically guidance where this business is going. It is up to ensure that we have an increasingly an increased and strengthening area of ​​competition, which we continue to keep the fans at the center of everything we do and continue to represent all the extraordinary values ​​that come with this game.

Does Liv need a deal with PGA Tour?

I think many of us are trying to do what is best for the golf world. The platforms we have between what PGA Tour is doing and what Liv is doing are very different. The audience is very different. We have a global platform, and we love this notion of taking this game in the world. I would say that almost everyone I met in Golf want to do what is best for this sport, and we are all so early on this trip. We will all understand what is best over time.

The given is still early in your mandate, but do you have a plan to keep Livin in a growing trajectory?

Yes, I would say that many of them began with the Fox (TV) deal, with a large US network to approve a sharp league. Many of this are about the inclusion of Bryson dechambeauJon Rahm, Brooks koepka and Dustin Johnson. When you have such names, it certainly helps. But having approval from the world’s big media networks was a great start. And then to see our global partners, because we are a global property – we have never seen the sponsors’ rush for an event that I have seen since I have been here in the last six months. And I happen to have an extraordinary chairman. His Excellency Yasir bin Othman al-Rumayyan is the reason I got the job because I believe in it, I believe in his vision, I believe in his willingness to do what is best for this extraordinary game.