LIV Golf CEO hoping to convince players league is relevant | D'Angelo

O'Neil also wrote in that memo, which was obtained by SI.com, that LIV is proceeding with the 2026 schedule with "the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder and more influential than ever before.”

Before adding: “The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure. We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace."

LIV golfers can believe that or they can start ringing up the PGA Tour, like Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed already have done.

O'Neil's memo came amid reports in The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal on April 15 that PIF is cutting funding to the league. As CEO, O'Neil is trying to put out this raging fire with a squirt gun.

What those reports mean in the immediate future is unclear. Is LIV shutting down even as its players and personnel are on site in Mexico City, site of its next event that started April 16? Is LIV scaling back just to survive?

LIV made Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm rich

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 20: Phil Mickelson of Hyflyers GC plays his shot from the fifth tee during day two of LIV Golf South Africa at The Club at Steyn City on March 20, 2026 in Johannesburg. (Photo by Johan Rynners/Getty Images)

LIV Golf has done one thing, made a lot of people rich. And not just those who defected from the PGA Tour such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Cam Smith and many others. Koepka and Reed were part of that group before returning to the Tour, Koepka this year and Reed in 2027.

When it comes to the PGA Tour, LIV ironically benefitted those who spurned the league the most. Those players can thank LIV for the creation of signature events and $20 million purses, and the players receiving equity in their league.

LIV Golf held leverage over the PGA Tour in December 2023 with the stunning announcement it had signed Jon Rahm, the No. 3 golfer in the world. Tyrrell Hatton joined him soon after. We were promised more big names would follow.

LIV Golf was always more about just the golf as this Motown themed putting green in the fan zone at the Michigan Team Championship semifinals last August shows.

The league could not sustain that momentum. Not one significant player has signed since and it lost Koepka and Reed. Then came Donald Trump acting as if he could unite LIV and the PGA Tour with two meetings in the White House 14 months ago that served nothing but to cater to his ego and have him believing he could save golf.

He failed.

Those meetings were the last time the two sides met and it's the PGA Tour now holding all the leverage.

And LIV hanging by a thread.

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: LIV Golf CEO says league has 'most compelling show in sports'