Once again, LIV Golf Adelaide proved to be a huge success, with over 100,000 fans attending the tournament as Joaquin Niemann claimed a commanding three shot victory.
Arguably its flagship event, Adelaide is set to host the tournament until 2031 and, speaking at the tournament in Australia, the League's CEO, Scott O'Neil, made a big claim whilst speaking to the broadcast team.
🚨⛳️🏌️♂️ #WATCH — LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil: “You don’t have to look to far past our leaderboard to know that outside of the majors, if you want to see the best players in the world, there’s only one place to see it, and that’s at LIV.” (H/t @LIVRandONIONS) Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/hD8wTzyUAYFebruary 16, 2025
In conversation with Arlo White, Jerry Foltz and David Feherty, the newly appointed boss explained how the tournament had caught the eyes of a nation, especially as Australia had been overlooked in terms of golf over the last few decades. However, it was one particular statement from O'Neil that raised eyebrows.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” O’Neil explained. “But you have a public-private partnership, you have corporate support, you have fans that want it, and you don’t have to look too far past our leader board to know that, outside of the majors, if you want to see the best players in the world, there’s only one place to see it. And that’s at LIV.”
The statement drew some criticism, especially from Brandel Chamblee, who has been a critic of LIV Golf since it first started back in 2022.
And yet their top 10 players average finish was outside the top 40 in the 34 majors they played last year… meanwhile Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler won 3 of the 4 majors in 2024 so maybe you only have to look far enough past their leaderboard to see a PGA Tour… https://t.co/jaHoI5HGRiFebruary 16, 2025
Writing on X/Twitter, the Golf Channel analyst stated: “Their top 10 players average finish was outside the top 40 in the 34 majors they played last year. Meanwhile Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler won 3 of the 4 majors in 2024 so maybe you only have to look far enough past their leaderboard to see a PGA Tour leaderboard.”
As of writing, two players from the LIV Golf League rank inside the world's top 50 (Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau), with Jon Rahm dropping outside the top 50 for the first since since 2017.
Currently, LIV Golf is without OWGR points, but does possess the current US Open champion in DeChambeau, as well as Hatton claiming the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the start of January.
Looking at Data Golf, Rahm ranks fourth, Hatton sixth and DeChambeau 10th in the rankings, whilst Niemann is also inside the top 20.
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