The long-due merger is still far away from being done. But with its fruition picking up pace, the comparison remarks have also paced up, leaving the golf world shocked. Considering the splendid success of LIV Golf’s Adelaide event, the new CEO Scott O’Neil has marked some controversial points in comparison with the Majors.

Sharing about the comparison of LIV events, he said, “I don’t only think it’s our 13 other events that need to be measured against this. It’s every golf tournament in the world.” Continuing further, he went on to compare the event with the Majors pointing out it as the best league of golf. O’Neil voiced out, “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 remark comes after just two events of the 2025 calendar year, where the first one, Riyadh, observed 12,000 viewers in round 1. While on the second at Adelaide, it has 882,000 accumulated viewership on Channel Seven. While for LIV fans this might seem quite a milestone, but not for the rest of the golf world. After the controversial remark, analysts have started to share their thoughts on the LIV CEO’s remark.

First Brandel Chamblee, who has been a critic of LIV Golf, shared a post on X replying to the interview which had O’Neil’s statement about the league. The post read, “And yet their top 10 players average finish was outside the top 40 in the 34 [4] 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 pointed out by Chamblee, Scottie Scheffler won the Masters, while Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. For the US Open, we had the winner from LIV Golf, i.e., Bryson DeChambeau. However, with the OWGR struggle for the league, the continuing presence of the PIF league golfers at majors is based on exemptions only.

Not only Chamblee, but Kyle Porter, founder of Normal Sport, also joined in discouraging the statement. He wrote on X, “This is, like, not a big deal. Except that, it’s emblematic of what LIV’s leadership has always been, which is delusional, distrustful, or simply dumb. Those are the only three ways you arrive at saying something like this. And that is a difficult thing to get behind and/or trust.”

Looking at the viewership comparison between the two leagues of the last two events, AT&T Pebble Beach has 4 million plus viewers, while Phoenix has 2.37 million. On the other hand, LIV Golf witnessed 54,000 in Riyadh and Adelaide had 882,000 viewers. Well, the difference is clear, but not in the eyes of the CEO, for which Porter has shared a three-word post targeting the statement. which is “delusional, distrustful or simply dumb.”

Surprisingly, recently partnered YouTubers have also spoken on similar lines as Scott O’Neil.

LIV Golf partner YouTuber makes a similar comparison remark

After the controversial remark made by the CEO, popular golf YouTuber Rick Shiels, who recently partnered with the league, has also compared the league with the Majors. In a recent interview with Australian Golf Digest, the influencer shared his best experience of golf being at the JCB event of LIV in 2024.

However, further continuing about the experience, he shared his extensive presence at 15 Open Championships, Masters a couple of times, and even the European Tour. Despite that, he expressed his great experience at the JCB LIV Golf UK, “I was at the party hall and it was incredible. As a golfing experience, it was incredible.”

While speaking ahead about his experience at the recent LIV Golf Adelaide, he shared how the best according to him has been replaced. While praising Adelaide’s event, he voiced out, “I know that Adelaide is that time 10.” While concluding his experience at the event, he went on to praise the team and the player’s roster which has some of the prominent names in the golf world including Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Brooks Koepka.

Considering the great start of the PIF league revival with the staggering growth in viewership, the event can be looked at as great, but comparing it better than the majors is a bit skeptical for most of the golf world. Is it correct according to you? What are your thoughts on the statement of Scott O’Neil? Share with us in the comments below.