LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil hopes for OWGR ‘solution’ by 2026 season

Five-time major winner and PGA Tour player Rory McIlroy last month criticised LIV Golf’s “irrational spending” on huge player contracts saying that it makes a merger very difficult, and that LIV would have to keep spending to maintain its position.

O’Neil does not want to be drawn into a war of words with LIV’s most outspoken critic.

“Rory has had an extraordinary career and is an extraordinary player,” said O’Neil.

“I’ve met him a couple of times, but I don’t know him so don’t really want to comment. All I will say is I am working every day to create the greatest sports league in the world.

“We have players who are committed and our players commit to a different level of travel.”

When pushed on whether there would be further significant spending on player contracts O’Neil said: “I only have an 11-month view. I wasn’t here when they had to do what they had to do to set LIV up, I wasn’t here when some of the madness in the ecosystem was happening.

“I only know from the first day of January when I showed up, I have hired a business team that I would argue is second to none in terms of commercial acumen. So I like what we do and how we do it.

“I feel like there’s a good opportunity to have plenty of growth in markets like Australia, Korea, the UK, North America, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore. I know I am in the market. There are golf fans everywhere.”