LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil on Tuesday spoke to the media at Trump National Golf Club in Lowes Island in his first comments since the Saudi Arabian backers of the golf league announced they would stop funding it at the end of this season.
LIV Golf’s 2026 Virginia tournament will be held at the Lowes Island golf club Thursday through Sunday. The tournament comes as the league faces a funding crisis following an announcement from Saudi Arabia’s government-run Public Investment Fund that it was pulling out. The PIF had previously intended to fund it through 2030, according to some players.
O’Neil, though, put on an optimistic face, saying, “I love this moment … my energy has not been this high since I started.” He added that he believes LIV has a “clear path to a win” and that he has gotten around a dozen calls from potential investors.
He said he does not yet have a plan on how to move forward but plans to have one in the near future. “We know where we’re going and now we just need to tighten the screws,” he said.
O’Neil said the players in the league are key and that he will be consulting them as business partners as the process continues. When asked by reporters whether he thought players would abandon the league because of the uncertainty he said, “I have a lot of confidence that this is a place where players want to be.”
O’Neil also thanked Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump and manager of the Trump businesses while his father is in office, for his cooperation during the tournament. “This is an extraordinary organization, an extraordinary course, and we’re thrilled to be here,” he said.
Prior LIV Golf events last year in the states drew crowds of 40-60,000 people. With this event taking place at Trump’s golf club, multiple groups are planning to hold protests during the tournament aimed both at Saudi Arabia and at the Trump Administration.