LIV GOLF PRESS CONFERENCE

January 14, 2026

Scott O'Neil

Chris Heck

Ross Hallett

Katie O'Reilly

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the LIV Golf Week executive panel. We're pleased to be joined this morning by LIV Golf's leadership team. We have Scott O'Neil, chief executive officer; Chris Heck, president of business operations; Ross Hallett, executive vice president and head of events; and Katie O'Reilly, executive vice president, team business operations. Thank you all for being with us today, and thank you for everyone joining this session.

A quick note on the format: We'll begin with a moderated Q & A with our panel followed by time for questions from the media. With that, let's get started.

Scott, welcome. I'll start with you. You were appointed CEO on January 15, 2025, almost a year ago to the day. As you look back on the success and momentum of last season, how would you describe 2025 in the context of the league's mission to grow the game?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Thanks, Will. First, I just want to say, when you get the opportunity to do a State of the Union or something like this, you wish you could have -- I wish I could have all the executives and team that we have at LIV up here. Fortunately with Ross, you have an extremely talented -- I'd argue the best event operator in the world sitting next to me on my right. I think he predates me by six months or eight months or so, and coming in and being able to work with such an extraordinary talent who is brilliant, who is creative, who is evolving a sense of humor, would you say, he travels the world tirelessly, putting on what I think are the best events in the world.

Katie and I have some history working together. We worked at the NBA when she was really young in her career and then I saw her career just take off, and she was our chief marketing officer and eventually our chief revenue officer when I was at the Philadelphia 76ers, and to come into a business, to have an extraordinary talent, it's made my transition so much smoother and nicer, and she obviously runs the team business.

You see that as we start building franchise values and starting to see the evolution of that. We couldn't be in better hands.

Then Chris on our far left, this is our fourth time working together, believe it or not. We met when we were 18 years old, and our paths seemed to cross. But Chris most recently was running Aston Villa. Before that was president of the 76ers and before that was president of the Red Bulls. He has extraordinary experience in managing brands, transforming brands, driving revenue, building world-class talent, building culture.

In a perfect world, I'd have hundreds of people up here answering because we're speaking on behalf of such a talented group. But for me, just first and foremost, it's quite humbling to be up here with such talented people. That's what extraordinary companies do. You set a bold vision. You set an extremely bold vision. You set priorities. You surround yourself with extraordinary people, and you create a culture where you want to pop out of bed in the morning and go to work.

I've never had much more fun in my life. I've never been so challenged. I've never been so pushed. I've never worked this hard. I've never traveled this much. Yet this morning I popped out of bed with very little sleep.

Just to start, just to anchor where we are, I hope you hear a tenor and tone that we are confident. We are excited about what's coming, and we are pushing the edge and the envelope as far and as fast as we can, and it's great to work here.

As far as 2025 goes, I spend most of my time in my life looking out the windshield and very little time looking in the rear view mirror except for this time of year. I spend a little bit of time over the break always reflecting on what we learned and where we went, and to say I was shocked might even be an understatement in terms of the progress we made in the last 364 days since I've been here.

That's a testament to the team. That's a testament to, I think, the need for world golf. LIV is clearly at the top of the pyramid of golf outside the U.S. We are the world's golf league.

With that comes quite a responsibility and quite an opportunity. I could spend time, and hopefully Chris will, I could spend time talking about the sponsorship trajectory and all the incredible brands we've brought in or the attendance that looks like a left-to-right line upwards. I could talk about our television partners and the progress we made at FOX and the increase in viewership in the U.S. and the 900 million homes we now are distributed around the world. I have 100 things to list off of positives, but I guess my general sentiment now is one of looking forward.

I am grateful for what we did in the last year, and we had to build a foundation. We had to set the blocks in place. We had to assemble the right team. We had to get the vision and mission right. Then we're going to run and we're going to run hard. This team will not be outworked. That's off the course.

On the course, this is my first foray into golf, having worked in the NFL and NBA and NHL. There's some really special people here. Our players are -- they compete. They want to win. They talk about winning a lot. When they lose, they're not happy. They work hard. I like it.

I like seeing them on the range when the lights are on. That's my happy place. That's my escape place on the road. I go to the range oftentimes late. Sometimes the lights are on, sometimes they're not, and oftentimes I'm not alone and I love that. I love how hard they work on their bodies. I love how they work on their minds. I love that commitment to greatness that they have.

So that's one thing I'm really proud of is just we have assembled a wonderful group of world-class players who want to be better, get better and do better.

They also commit. These players, the Bryson DeChambeaus and Jon Rahms and Cam Smiths and Dustin Johnsons, they commit. Boy oh boy, has it been fun. And to be around some of the legends of the game in the Bubba Watsons and Phil Mickelsons and Sergio Garcias and their wisdom, and then to see them mentor the Tom McKibbens and Caleb Surratts, Josele Ballester, David Puig. You see this young emerging core of extraordinary players getting mentored from some of the great players in the game.

On the course I think it's been spectacular. I've been blown away by the events, everywhere from Riyadh under the lights, my first event, to on our way to Adelaide and seeing nothing I've ever seen before in my life.

I look back today grateful, appreciative, but man, I'm very much looking forward to '26.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, when you reflect on the evolution and the growing acceptance of LIV Golf within the wider golf ecosystem, can you speak to your relationships with your industry peer properties, events or other governing bodies?

SCOTT O'NEIL: It's probably my biggest surprise since coming into LIV Golf. I wasn't here maybe a month, and I was sent an invitation to come to the Masters by Will Jones.

Every step of the way, every meeting I've had, every engagement I have, from -- Mark Darbon and I started about the same time, as well, at the R&A, of course, and Mike Whan with the USGA has opened his arms.

I feel like everywhere we turn, there are more and more people that want to see some structure and framework emerge in global golf, and I think we're on the precipice of that.

THE MODERATOR: Ross, 2026 will be LIV Golf's most global season ever. We have players from 26 different countries. We have 14 events across 10 countries and five continents, our first ever event in South Africa. Can you tell us about the scale and ambition of what LIV Golf is building?

ROSS HALLETT: Sure. It's our fourth season, as Scott said. We continue to grow. We continue to be hugely ambitious in what we want to roll out, the experiences that we want to deliver around the world. LIV Golf has always stood out for its experience, its fan engagement, creating memorable moments, and we'll really push to continue to do that in '26.

Music is a huge part of our events and what we do. We'll continue other areas of culture, whether it's art, fashion, food. You'll see that coming into our events. We've embraced families through family experiences, family fairways. We have a world-class hospitality that we will continue to grow. I think we'll do over 60,000 people through our hospitality structures this year.

The family engagement and trying to get them to engage with golf we know is not just about what happens on the golf course. We've got world-class players, world-class golf courses, but it's just about as much as we can bring people into LIV so they can experience it and experience golf through other aspects of the fan experience.

If I look at some of the highlights for me going into 2026, Scott has already mentioned Riyadh. We had our first event under the lights last year, laser shows, light shows, water shows, immersive experiences, fun fairs, food festivals. It was pretty incredible what we created on the golf course than I think anything like that had ever been seen on that scale certainly within golf.

We moved very quickly to Adelaide. It's our biggest event, has been since we started. We've got amazing partners in South Australia tourism and the Premier down there. They continue to invest into us. We'll have over 33,000 per day at that event.

Then we've got new venues, South Africa, which will come on to the schedule. We expect to be probably rivaling what we have in Adelaide, in Australia, given the passion of the fans in South Africa.

Then we're back to the U.S. We had an amazing time in Michigan, in Indy, record crowds in Indianapolis. So we've got lots to look forward to. We've got some challenges that we're excited and will embrace. We have 72 holes to incorporate into our event.

But the team couldn't be more enthusiastic. We feel very lucky to be involved in something that's dynamic and growing and moving so quickly.

SCOTT O'NEIL: I just wanted to add quickly, last night we were together with the players and eventually just the captains, but we talked about what was the time they fell in love with golf. What was that moment that you absolutely fell in love. And what if LIV is here for those moments? What if a concert drives someone to golf? What if seeing a laser show or going tonight golf for the first time or walking into this wonderful cultural experience gets people to go home in the car with their dad and say, hey, dad, I want to learn how to play this game.

That's who we are. That's what we're about. That is the mission. We are out here doing this all over the world for a reason, because we believe that the game of golf, the values of golf, the more people that play this great game will make the world better.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, can you just talk to us through some of the league's strategic priorities for this coming year?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Hopefully you'll hear them from the team up here. Ross has got a really ambitious, I think, perspective in terms of how we elevate what I think is already the most incredible golf experience in the world.

We are building franchises - you'll hear from Katie - and building the value of those franchises. Commercially we're remaking the brand. You'll hear a lot from Chris. We're remaking the brand, remaking the broadcast and building this business.

Look, I think of '25 as foundation setting, and this, let's get this locomotive moving, and that's really exciting for us.

THE MODERATOR: Chris, over the last year LIV Golf and its teams have announced partnerships with HSBC, ROSHN Group, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Callaway, Maaden, Ping, just to name a few. How and why are these global brands attracted to LIV Golf right now, and can you tell us about the evolution of partnerships at LIV Golf?

CHRIS HECK: Yeah, timing is everything. I started in midsummer last year, and when Salesforce came on board and then HSBC, this is where I was like, okay, we have a real business here. If you notice what those great brands actually do, not only the excellence of their companies themselves but how they're global, and this is fitting to LIV Golf.

We talk about this is the world's golf league. It fits, and we keep adding more and more with Reebok. Later on today we are announcing a partnership specifically with the 4Aces and Under Armour.

We have an elite, if not the elite, timepiece that we are going to announce shortly. We have a number of global iconic brands that will be aligning themselves with LIV Golf, and it's super exciting. We're on a path that I don't think there's a comparable, to be honest with you, at least in my 30-plus-year career.

THE MODERATOR: Chris and Katie, as you look ahead to 2026, can you just share the league's brand ethos with everyone here. What are the pillars to building a global brand, and how has that informed some of the changes to the LIV Golf brand that we know and some of the team brands, as well?

CHRIS HECK: Yeah, I'll start and then pass it over to Katie because hers is -- we work hand in hand. Katie and her team are incredible brand experts. On the LIV Golf point of view, we had a brand that maybe broke through the door about four years ago. We think that our changes -- it's not a rebrand, it's an evolution of this brand.

We are facing -- there's three things, three words behind me that we are focused on with global, local and teams. On the global scale of the world's golf league, it shows stability. We didn't come here on a flier. We came here to be a part of something that is absolutely extraordinary. We are here to stay.

The solid foundation of dark green and a dark blue representing the globe but also stability is our new pathway, not only in golf but in the world's game of sport.

Katie, I think, can talk a little bit more about how this is going to evolve with teams, which this slide up behind us is actually important to introduce because the teams -- our events are now integrating ourselves with our teams and those team brands and the places they represent around the world.

We have a way to customize and localize LIV Golf that you haven't seen before. That goes all the way back to what Ross said, of culture, art, music, and of course world-class golf that is unique to each stop that we visit throughout the year.

But Katie, talk a little bit about the teams and how it's evolving.

KATIE O'REILLY: Absolutely. Scott led off with we are the world's golf league, and we are so lucky that within that global golf ecosystem we have 13 teams that each represent a different corner and point of the world, and they represent different cultures and different communities.

As we were going through this process of looking at our team brands, it's so important that they are authentic and that they bring to life those different cultures, right, like Ross said, the art, the culture where they come from. We are lucky enough that we have guys and players representing who grew up in those cultures so who really live and breathe them. We wanted to make sure that our team brands really brought to life just the beauty of all of the cultures and the global identities around the world and tied up in our nice bow at LIV Golf.

You'll see behind me we rebranded, announced yesterday, the Korean Golf Club. The Majesticks announced last week their rebrand, same name, but new visuals, new colors, really representing the Union Jack and their culture and their brand. Last but not least, yesterday we announced Southern Guards, our team hailing from South Africa, their visual of the rhino, and we really bring to life through the colors and the cultures.

This was a collaborative long process where we spoke to fans who live in each of these communities and countries around the world. Our players were intimately involved because they hail from those regions and nations, and to make sure they were representing who they are. It was really an incredible process, and we're excited to bring these three to life and might have a few others up our sleeves over the next few months.

CHRIS HECK: Not to stay too far on this point, but our television broadcast, we have a complete makeover.

We think there's two stories to tell. We believe that the stories that are told may have been difficult to follow in the past, so we're going to have very much a conscious effort to focus on two stories, one on the individual golfer, two on the team golf. So you will see almost like a color-coded broadcast, and they will not be mixed on the same page at the same time to confuse.

There are two stories, because there's two champions, as well, at the end of the week. We're super excited. We think the fourth day of golf for us is giving us a platform to tell our stories a bit better and a bit cleaner. We're super focused and excited about what's to come.

THE MODERATOR: Katie, obviously the broadcast brings in our star players, and 2025 saw some incredible performances from our players and teams. Can you talk about some of those standout moments and how you think about the league's roster of players for this year.

KATIE O'REILLY: Sure. This is such a fun one. Absolutely, I think you've heard it from all of us; we are team golf. So the most, I think, fun, exciting, beautiful part of our product is our teams, and seeing these guys who historically have been independent athletes coming together. It's so fun to watch both on the course and behind the scenes. Some of your favorite moments, right, you think back, you see the podium celebration. Nothing compares to seeing Legion at the end of the year celebrating after their incredible playoff holes against Crushers, watching -- I would be remiss if I did not mention Patrick Reed's hole-in-one in Adelaide on the party hole, and the best part about that is seeing his teammates, his general manager, everyone swarm the green and celebrate with him. Actually our general manager is the one who took the video that went viral. So seeing that.

Then on the other side of it, Scott mentioned this earlier, but really the beauty of our product is having these incredible legends of the game that are now teammates with some of our young guys. One of my favorite moments is with the Fireballs, Sergio Garcia at the end of a round, for Abe Ancer, former teammate, who was his teammate, is now on Torque, but he basically played the best 17 holes of golf of his life and fell apart on 18. What I remember most is not the celebration that was happening over here but seeing Sergio put his arms around Abe and talk to him and tell him it's okay and that he's never going to forget this moment, and that is what is going to drive him in the future.

So to have these legends, our young guns, the Puiges, the Joseles, the Calebs, the Toms, right next to our superstars, Jon, Bryson. They are teammates. They are working out together in the gym probably right now. They are eating together. They are, by the way, also traveling with their families, who are all together at the lounge and are in the clubhouse.

I think the team aspect of our product is the most fun part to watch and seeing it come to life actually on the court.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, over the last few months, LIV Golf has introduced a series of meaningful evolutions, the move to 72-hole events, to expanded International Series qualification, to new competitive pathways into the league. Can you walk us through the genesis of some of those changes, what informed the decisions, and how did you pressure test them internally with some of your stakeholders? And finally, how have players, fans and partners responded?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Sure, I'll give a shot. I'd just encourage Ross to jump in and clean up what I miss or what needs to be edited.

We have several changes coming this year. I'm sure there will be a more formal release as we get closer to the season. But the move to 72 holes was much talked about. For us, that was relatively simple. We want to make sure that our players are best prepared for the majors, that it's not as much of a sprint, that our teams have a chance to recover after a tough day one. And with the overwhelming support we have seen in several of our markets, quite frankly, more content is better. More fans come in, more broadcast content social hospitality checks check.

So it was good for business, great for golf, and I think resoundingly supported by everyone in the ecosystem and certainly at LIV.

You'll see an expanded Lock Zone, an expanded Drop Zone this year, which as we're working towards world ranking points, we think there's some things, some shifts you'll see in '26 that I think help our case and continue to give us more hope that that comes through.

We increased our prize money a couple million dollars, so the guys will be playing for just over $22 million an event. There's several other rules changes. Fortunately, to our partners at the USGA and the R&A, they come together and lay out some rules, so there will be some rule changes that we'll enact and announce.

I think that's about it.

In terms of the ecosystem, I can tell you this is different. It's different from other leagues I've been a part of. I sat on the board of directors or the Board of Governors for the NBA and NHL for, dare I say, 20 years or so. So I've seen quite a bit about governance of leagues. Several of us worked for a league for several years.

This is different in that this is a true partnership. We don't operate in a vacuum. We don't lead in a vacuum. We don't manage in a vacuum. We don't enact rules in a vacuum. We have a competition committee. We have a team advisory committee. We have captains' meetings regularly. We are very active with all of our players to make sure that they are part of this journey with us, as we continue to create what global golf will look like in the future. How is it actually going to sort itself out.

Some of that is rules and competition. Some of it is how we build value in teams, and some of it is what the execution looks like. We remade our rules committee this year, and several rules officials will be new. Some of this stuff just comes directly from feedback from our players.

I think it's a great place to be. I hear it from the players. This is the loneliest sport in the world. It's not so lonely here. I think this is the most important sport in the world. You know who else is important to players? Their wives. You know what else is important? Their children, their lifestyle. Knowing there are 14 stops on a calendar that they can put in ink and get themselves mentally and physically and emotionally prepared, that they can be dads and husbands, as well.

So that kind of conversation about how these things happen are done very collaboratively, and I think at least today, very effectively.

ROSS HALLETT: Can I just add, we go into a market, we embrace that market and we embrace the golf federation, the local golf tour, and we're collaborative. We know that going into a new market and reaching a new audience, we can't do that alone. So whether we go to Australia and we work with Golf Australia, whether we go to Korea and we work with the KPGA, whether we go to Nashville and work with the Tennessee Golf Association, those relationships are really, really important for us, and they allow us to deliver on our goals, our ambitions of putting more clubs in the hands of the next generation of golfers and reaching new audiences. We'll continue to act like that and to be collaborative and inclusive as we move around the world.

SCOTT O'NEIL: I did want to add, as well, as you were talking, I was thinking about -- most of you know that we have the 14 LIV events and then we have a wonderful relationship with the Asian Tour and we created an International Series. Hopefully you read about or saw the Promotions event which was on FS1 in the U.S. and allowed three players to come into LIV, which is really exciting.

We're also kind of looking -- what you'll see over the next several years is the remaking and reshaping of the International Series and working with the incredible relationships, some of the gifted and talented people at the golf federations around the world into a national open strategy. Again, more to come over time. You'll likely see four or five or six coming in this year, but if you fast forward out two, three years, you'll have 10 to 12 of the biggest national opens will become the International Series.

The reason is because we believe that national opens will drive more fans, drive more viewership and drive more people to this great game.

THE MODERATOR: Ross, on the back of what you said about engaging with our local partners, LIV Golf has driven over a billion dollars in economic impact globally. It's delivered over $81 million in economic impact to South Australia alone, breaking records for Adelaide. Can you talk about the growing impact that LIV Golf brings to some of the cities and governments that host our events?

ROSS HALLETT: Yeah, I think if you look at our schedule, we're increasingly global. Scott has talked about that. We are gravitating towards the biggest markets in the world. If you look at where we play, Adelaide, Hong Kong, Singapore, we want to go to the major markets internationally and in the U.S.

Where we've really found the success of our events happening is where we have a partnership with local government, with local organizations, with local golf federations who support our vision and support our ambition. So we will continue to look at that strategy as we go forward, and we're very fortunate that incoming inquiries from governments, from golf courses looking to partner with LIV Golf is increasing every month, but it's really important for us that we find the right partner that we can turn that billion into 2 billion.

We have to draw -- as we go around the world, drawing in people from outside the local market is what drives that economic value. So going to Adelaide and drawing people from all over Australia, which we do, going to South Africa, drawing people from all over South Africa and beyond, from countries all over Africa is what drives that revenue.

As we go forward, as Chris was talking about new partners, we need to make sure that economic impact expands to our partners and our sponsors as we go into those markets, as well. We know that we need to return value, both to our destination partners and our corporate partners.

THE MODERATOR: I think at this point we'll open it up to some members of the media. Raise your hand if you've got a question for any of the panelists.

Q. Quickly, can you clarify with the increased prize money, is it going up to 30 million total split between individual and team?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Yes.

Q. You said it's like 22 for individual and then the rest is team?

SCOTT O'NEIL: That's right.

Q. Quick question on teams: I've been asking players this week if they could bring on a celebrity investor, who would it be, and they've been having fun with that. When will we be able to see teams sell stakes in their own franchises?

SCOTT O'NEIL: We're doing a lot of groundwork right now to prepare ourselves for that.

KATIE O'REILLY: I can add a little color. Our goal is to build 13 billion-dollar franchises. That is our goal. Are we there yet? No. But right now we are building the foundation for that. So we are focused -- by the way, we get to do this with these anchors of global superstars in each one of our 13 franchises who also happen to be our business partners, right. How lucky are we.

So right now we are focused on things like driving sponsorship revenue. Each of our 13 teams are heading into the 2026 season with a marquee partner, whether it's on their chest, on the hat, the Pings, the Callaways of the world. Chris named all of these incredible blue chip global brands. We are now also bringing in the more traditional golf brands and OEM partners at the team level.

Additionally, we are building new businesses under the teams and we are leveraging and using our NIL rights. So right now we are foundation building. But certainly we are headed that way.

CHRIS HECK: I want to chime in. I think it's fair to say that we have a very heavy interest coming our way, all of us, of getting a lot of calls and real interest. But we are trying to do this wisely and also responsible for what we think is something that's going to keep building and building in value. So that's exciting.

Q. Scott, I've got two different topics, if I can throw them at you. The first is you referenced OWGR pursuit. It seems as if you and Trevor Immelman have been fairly collaborative on this process. He actually spoke to the media last month for the first time about it. Where do you see it? Is there a chance it'll be in place by the first event? And if not, have you been given any indication they could give it to you by the third event or the sixth? Could it happen during the year?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Yeah, I certainly don't want to speak for Trevor. We speak relatively regularly. I think I spoke with him Monday or Tuesday this week. We texted a bunch over the break. I've said publicly 100 times but I'll just repeat it. I think he has the toughest job in the world. Think about his board. As a CEO for a long time, I've had different boards, and they all come with their own complexities. His is made up of the PGA TOUR, the DP World Tour and the four majors, and there's some people on that board that don't have a lot to gain by us getting world ranking points.

Trevor has to put together -- he has that complexity. He has the complexity of where the rankings are today, where some of the greatest golfers in the world are on that ranking system, and they happen to play in LIV. We are trying to lean in -- we are all trying to lean in as quickly as we can and as far as we can, while keeping the integrity of the league, to make sure we're doing everything possible to make the decision easy and quick.

But the intention is to get this done before the season starts. That's the intention. But hey, it's not -- I don't have a vote, ironically enough.

Hopefully that news comes through and true, and I'm still going to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize if we get this thing done.

Q. The other thing is obviously it's a big story this week with Brooks. There's two facets to this I wanted to ask you about. One is did he have to repay or do any monetary thing with LIV to get let out of his contract? The other thing is either way, why did you let him out?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Even if I could legally tell you about the separation agreement, I probably wouldn't, to be honest. I would stay up here and I would talk for three minutes and not say much. But just to be direct, we agreed consensually that we were not going to release any terms of the separation agreement.

You know, I believe in free agency. Call me old fashioned. I believe in open pathways. I believe that people should be where they want to be. And I believe that our players right now, our 57 players, actually have the opportunity to play PGA TOUR events. They're not restricted by us. Like if they said tomorrow, hey, THE PLAYERS is open, our guys can go play, because that's what we've believed since day one, and we continue to believe that.

The DP World Tour, we've had some friction with them a bit, and it's been a bit costly financially for us, and yet our players, they're not restricted from playing DP World Tour events. We encourage them to play. We do everything we can to make sure that the game of golf is growing from our players and their experience around the world. I've actually cherished that.

I don't think this was where he wanted to be. He talked about some of the challenges publicly, as did his wife, and I want people in the room that are going to wrap their arms around us and say, this is what I want. You know what, because when you choose LIV, you're not choosing easy. There's not one person who chose this -- Will, I think you said players from 26 countries? How about that? Think about that being even possible 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, that there would be players from 26 countries good enough to play at an elite level globally, and there is no elite platform outside the U.S.

So if you do not want to play 20 of 43 events or going down to 20 or whatever the rumors are, if you do not want to play your 20 events in the U.S. and you are a global citizen and you believe in growing the game, that means getting on a plane and flying 20 hours -- how far is Riyadh, 14 hours, 15 hours? 14 hours. Or 22 hours to Korea or flying for a day and going to Australia. That's not for everybody. It isn't.

You know what's not for everybody? Delivering on social and making sure fans know you. You know what's not for everybody? Making sure that at the event when we see these little kids, those same little kids that were our players 20, 30 years ago, okay, touching them, taking photos with them, taking selfies, signing autographs, engaging, this time with the media. It's not for everybody. Our expectations are higher. What our players are asked to do is a lot, and I don't apologize for it to you or to them. I will tell you I've got 57 guys that are running towards the light, and they understand the mission. They understand what's expected of them, and they jump in and dive it and do it extraordinarily well.

But if guys don't want to be here, that's okay with me. I want guys who are going to do it differently, engage sponsors differently, want to build businesses. When we talk about building billion-dollar franchises, it's not going to be from sponsors. Sponsors will help and they'll build a great baseline, but this is work. Do you have a home golf course? Do you want to build a line of equipment? Do you want to build a clothing business? Do you want to have sim businesses all over your market? This is real work.

You're starting to see some of that from Bryson and Jon and some of these guys are embracing it and leaning it and saying, huh, there's actually something here. But is that for everybody? No, it's not, and it has to be okay. It has to be. And it certainly is with me.

Brooks and I -- I talked to Brooks Friday just to put things in perspective. There is no holy war, at least from our side. It's like, we are about LIV Golf and growing the game globally. Actually I love Brooks. I root for Brooks. I am hoping the best for him and his family.

If this is what he wants, there will be no better cheerleader for him than me. I'll tell you what, good for him if he's getting what he wants and we get what we want. I'm absolutely -- I couldn't be happier for him and for us.

Q. Last thing real quick on that, and thank you. Are you surprised how fast the whole thing went on the other side with him being reinstated? Were you expecting that to be a longer process?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Yeah, I'd be really hard-pressed to get in the mind of an organization that's so different than we are. I don't want to comment on what they think, what they do, what their process is, the pace, the creative rule making or any of that stuff. That is what it is.

I think I'd have done the same thing, if it's any consolation.

Q. Scott, first of all, their release specifically mentioned three our players on your tour. I was wondering your reaction to that and how did you view that. Secondly, Brooks being the first elite player to do this, is there a concern others can see this, see what he did, if there's anything going on in their mind to maybe push them or move them to trying to do the same thing?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Well, our players were pretty clear yesterday, I think. I don't know how many of you were here, but I was here.

I will tell you that when I spent time with these players, when I've spent time with their families, when I'm with their caddies, when we're on the road together, you get a pretty good sense of who's in and who's embracing what we're doing and where we're heading.

There's not a shadow of a doubt in my mind, hasn't been yesterday, won't be today, and certainly won't be tomorrow, that the players have put their chips in and are all in, and I love that.

Was your first question was I surprised? Bryson DeChambeau, that's a good one. I think he's the biggest star in the game of golf. He's an elite human being. He's talented. He's wonderful. He's a social media darling. You go from Augusta to Adelaide and people are -- fans are losing their minds. He is a guy who kids absolutely adore and love. He gets the vision. He gets the mission. He's a true businessman.

Who in their right mind wouldn't put him on the list? This is a generational talent, and I don't mean golfer. He's a generational talent in terms of an athlete. I've told him that privately, and I'll say it publicly. He is a really, really special human being and talent. Everything he stands for is good about the game and good about this next generation of golf, and I expect him to be at LIV for a very long time.

Having him stand up and say, check, I'm in, was really nice. Not a surprise to me at all.

Jon Rahm, boy, is he a talent. Cam Smith, elite talent and kind of the face of what we're doing in Australia, which is one of the great events in all of sport. I don't know, I tend not to be -- very few things surprise me. Golf is a really small business, and so we tend to have 72 hours of heads up or so on things that are coming out of the PGA TOUR, and we had that here, so it wasn't a surprise when it was announced.

Naming the players, me personally, I would have named a lot more of them. I think we are loaded with talent.

Look, Bryson and Jon and Cam are not only wonderful leaders and extraordinary golfers and great people and understand their role in growing the game of golf. They have all that down. But DJ, that would have been one I would have added. Dean Burmester, Carlos Ortiz, Seb Muñoz? I could spend 10, 15 minutes and go down this roster of guys that I think are elite human beings, elite talent, understand the growth of the game, understand the power of the world of golf.

So I love where we are, who we are --

CHRIS HECK: Let's stop giving them names, Scott. I think we're good with our 57.

SCOTT O'NEIL: It's just fun because I -- it's good. We're in really good shape as we walk into 2026. I appreciate the question, but we're really happy with where we are.

Q. You touched just briefly there on your relationship with the DP World Tour. There's obviously been a lot of talk over here in Europe about Jon and Tyrrell's Ryder Cup fate with the fine situation. I know you touched on it briefly in the Promotions commentary last week, but I wondered if you could expand on what the situation is there and if you hope there's a resolution so guys can go play in Europe without facing those punishments?

SCOTT O'NEIL: I would just say there's an active dialogue going on, so I'd rather not provide any more further comments.

THE MODERATOR: Scott, do you have any final remarks for the room today? Otherwise we can wrap up.

SCOTT O'NEIL: Sure. I'd just like to say, first off, thanks for coming. Hopefully you have been to an event. If you haven't, I strongly suggest you go, those of you in person or those of you watching online or digitally. It's really special.

To our players, I just want to say thank you. I appreciate everything you do, how hard you work, how much you commit, how focused you are on growing this game.

To my colleagues around the world, nobody better. So thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Once again, thank you to Ross Hallett, Scott O'Neil, Katie O'Reilly and Chris Heck.