LIV GOLF HONG KONG

March 3, 2026

Scott O'Neil

Andrea de Vincentiis

Andy Kwok

Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everybody, to the executive press conference for HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong 2026. We're joined today by LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil, Andrea de Vincentiis, HSBC managing director, global head of brand partnerships and regional brand director, and Andy Kwok, captain of Hong Kong Golf Club.

Scott, we'll start with you. LIV Golf is a truly international league. As we return to Hong Kong, this is now the third year, why is Hong Kong such an important part of the league's long-term global strategy?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Thank you. First, if anybody has a sport coat I could borrow, I would love it.

It's such a pleasure and an honor to sit up here with Andrea from HSBC and Andy from Hong Kong Golf Club. Just so you know, when I speak, I speak on behalf of the LIV Golf team that I get the privilege and pleasure of working with every day.

We truly believe that we are mission driven, and we are here to grow the game of golf around the world. For way too many years, the best golf in the world has been played in the continental United States. We have this opportunity, obligation, responsibility, to be able to assemble some of the greatest stars in the world: Bryson DeChambeau, Anthony Kim, Jon Rahm, Cam Smith. The list goes on and on of incredible players and stars, and we get to bring them to the world.

When you have such an iconic golf course like the Hong Kong Golf Club, I believe, 135 years old --

ANDY KWOK: No, I believe it's 136.

SCOTT O'NEIL: Feels like yesterday it was 135. I believe the Hong Kong Open and the Masters are the only two tournaments that have played for 60 consecutive years; is that correct, as well? So you have not only a spectacular golf club, golf course, you have tremendous leadership, you have -- and thank you to the chief executive. We have tremendous government support, and also happen to have a tremendous partner, I believe our first title partner, HSBC. So you almost have all the elements.

When you match and mix that in with some of the best golf fans in the world and sprinkle a little Dom Dolla on Saturday night, we think it's a world-class experience.

THE MODERATOR: Andrea, HSBC has supported golf for more than two decades. What makes LIV Golf a natural evolution of that investment and legacy?

ANDREA de VINCENTIIS: Yeah, so we've been delighted to sponsor golf over 20 years, as you say, all around the world. When we announced the LIV Golf league partnership last year, I think the thing to remember is it's complementary. It's not instead of what we do with the Open, AIG Women's Open or Women's World Championship in Singapore. It's complementary.

I think what really works for us and working with Scott and the team has worked so far very well -- it's still early stages but it's working very well, it's international, firstly, so it goes to eight of our strategic markets around the world, so that's a big fit for us.

It also reaches a newer, younger fan base. I think that's important for us as a brand, particularly here in Hong Kong. As Scott alluded to, it's not just golf. It's beyond golf. It's a family experience. There's also entertainment in and around the event, and the feedback we've had from clients has been super positive. They have really good access to players and have really enjoyed the experience.

For us, it's international. It's innovative. It's growing. We're delighted to be title partner of the event this week.

THE MODERATOR: Captain, Hong Kong Golf Club has staged more elite level golf tournaments than any other golf club in Asia. The words "tradition" and "historic" are often used when describing this venue. Can you please speak on the new traditions that the club has begun to establish with LIV Golf and what that energy and excitement means to the members and this broader region?

ANDY KWOK: Yeah, thank you. As Scott just pointed out, I think we have been around for 136 years. Not a short time. We are a club filled with history, heritage and tradition. But we're also not afraid to try new things, as you could see from three years ago, when we first staged the first edition of the LIV Hong Kong event.

Yes, absolutely; I think we are actually establishing a new tradition of bringing truly world-class golfing events to the region in support of the government's initiatives to build a sports tourism economy and bigger events economy.

I think through the past two years, and I'm sure this year will be even bigger, the event brings to Hong Kong the positive impact to not just sports but for the whole community in general. We're really excited, especially with the new partnership with HSBC. We're expecting, I think, more people coming in to be able to learn about the game and to get to experience what a world-class sporting event is like in Hong Kong.

THE MODERATOR: Lastly, Scott, you've spoken about the importance that's been mentioned by all three of you about partnership and how that builds stability. How do these partnerships with HSBC, with the golf club, with the government, how does that strengthen the league's growth as we look towards the future of this event?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Whenever you either come into a new market or extend an existing market, and we're pleased to announce that we will be back February 18 through 21 in 2027. Whenever you look to extend into market, and that will be our fourth year, fifth season -- whenever you extend, you always look for how can we help. How can we be part of the solution.

In this case, LIV Golf has driven well over a billion dollars of economic impact throughout the world and the markets, and that continues to build.

So as we think about how can we help, well, we're hoping that we can bring tourists in from the greater Bay Area and from outside. When you look at partners, it's like, can we help the HSBC business; can we entertain the incredible partners and clients they have in their wealth management practice at a world-class level. Can we help strengthen their bonds and hopefully bring them more business.

For the golf club, we hope -- our television broadcast reaches almost a billion homes now, and so can we continue to build on the legacy and lore of the incredible Hong Kong Golf Club.

There's both opportunity and for us to be together as partners, and it always starts the same way: World-class club, incredible support from the government, and incredible support from the sponsors, and that gives us the opportunity to create a world-class experience for the amazing fans of Hong Kong.

Q. Question for Scott. Do you see integrating local culture into LIV Golf becoming a new model for future participation and collaboration with other cities?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Yes, absolutely. Hopefully what you find in an experience here is, between music and food and fashion and culture, you find a tremendous full-circle experience for fans. You'll see quite a bit on the first tee. Do not miss it on Thursday because it's quite a show we're putting on.

Q. I want to have a question about the reasons for actually getting into sport from your perspective, simply because the cost of doing business, supporting lots of sporting events continues to go up. Every year we see the numbers climbing. So I was just wondering, what is it that makes sense about being involved in this space?

ANDREA de VINCENTIIS: Yeah, so look, whether it's golf, rugby or tennis, HSBC has been, and I think will be for a long time, involved in sports. There's one really obvious answer, and that's it's a passion point of our clients. We know from the data that we have that sport, particularly golf, indexes very highly against our corporate customer base and our wealth customer base, so sponsoring in that space means that we develop platforms to be able to engage them. That's the primary reason.

We do, of course, sponsor also from a brand visibility perspective, brand association perspective, and we sponsor because we have over 200,000 employees around the world. We use our sponsorship to engage our colleagues, our internal staff, as well. Primarily because of our customer fit but also for brand and internal purposes.

SCOTT O'NEIL: I'd just like to add one thing. It's an increasingly complex world we live in: Geopolitical challenges and issues, economic disparities all over the place, and yet sport is the one thing that brings us together.

I think if you really look at the values that golf drives in terms of resilience and humility and consistency, this notion of focusing on the flag, those are values the world needs more of, and to the extent we have the opportunity to entertain people at a high level and create connection -- this is a multigenerational sport. Very few sports you can play with your dad and your daughter, and this is one of them. What an opportunity it is. We're really grateful that HSBC clients find this a passion point because it is our passion, as well.

Q. Scott, this is the third consecutive year for this event. How important is Hong Kong in promoting -- as a key Asian stop for LIV Golf? What is the importance of Hong Kong in promoting golf and the sport, as well?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Hong Kong seems to be at the center of business, culture and golf in Asia. It's been a center of influence for quite some time.

Andrea said something earlier just about this notion -- in my language, I'll translate what I heard you say. We're here to complete, not compete. I think the notion of how we become part of the calendar and the infrastructure in Hong Kong, where people are planning their vacations and hotels know they're going to be more full and airlines know those seats are going to get a little tighter, that's kind of the flywheel we're trying to build.

ANDREA de VINCENTIIS: Just to build on that, a bit like Andy said earlier, I think Hong Kong is always known as a trade and finance hub but increasingly wants to be a sports and entertainment hub, and the more examples of these kind of events that come to Hong Kong and showcase Hong Kong to the world are also one of the reasons why we get involved and Andy and team get involved, as well.

Q. Andrea, I was going to ask you about how important was the fact that LIV are here in Hong Kong to HSBC getting behind that, and can you speak further about what you're seeing from the outside about the unprecedented investment in sport we're seeing and growth in sport events here in the city?

ANDREA de VINCENTIIS: Yeah, look, investment is growing in Hong Kong in the sports and entertainment world. From our perspective, what we really like -- obviously we're born and bred in Hong Kong for 161 years; our birthday is actually today. We like to partner with events that show where the growth is. So whether it's M+ Museum in West Kowloon or Kai Tak Stadium, another huge investment, and we're the premier founding partner of that, or LIV Golf Hong Kong here, we like to kind of spread our portfolio around. That shows where the growth is.

Q. Andrea, since the last time the WGC HSBC Championship held in Shanghai, it's been a long time. The golf fans there are looking for world-class golf there. Does HSBC plan to stage a flagship championship back in mainland China?

ANDREA de VINCENTIIS: Yeah, it was back in 2019 was the last men's champion's event. It's been a while. Mainland China is obviously a huge market for us and continues to be. We're working with LIV Golf at the moment to see opportunities to bring it the mainland. I think it will be a real feature of the LIV Golf league, if it does so.

Q. Scott, does LIV making a plan to sign a Chinese player? How do you see the potential of the young golf in China?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Yes, of course. There's some tremendous young golfers coming out of China, some of whom we've been in contact with and are tracking quite closely, and there's several markets that we think are really interesting. Japan is a really interesting market that LIV is not in, certainly mainland China, India is a big part. There are several markets in Europe that I think are untapped as of yet.

But the talent coming out of China, I think the golf federation is doing a remarkable job in continuing that pipeline and getting them better and better and better. It would be a boon for us in this league.

ANDY KWOK: Can I just add on something. Hong Kong is one of the most international cities in China, so I urge that you help promote this tournament in Shanghai so we get more Shanghai tourists coming to Hong Kong so also boost our local tourism economy, as well. So please.

Q. (Question in Cantonese.)

ANDY KWOK: We can see the potential of golf growing in Hong Kong and the greater Bay Area and we have put up a lot of resources. As you can see, we have the title sponsor, we have the government support. Of course, what you said is correct. We have a bigger scale that would take a longer time to deal with the challenges. But we have a very good team here in Hong Kong Golf Club to deal with all the challenges because we have experience on big events.

Then for the growth of the game in the greater Bay Area in Hong Kong, we can see there is a demand and a potential here to accept bigger and better tournaments here. So we're looking good in the future for this even bigger events in Hong Kong and the greater Bay Area.

Q. Scott, can you rate for the past three years the development of LIV Hong Kong here? And what's your strategy in the future in China?

SCOTT O'NEIL: The first one, it's a 10 out of 10 for me. I have a bit of a history coming to Hong Kong. When I was with the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, we played a game in Shenzhen and brought the team here and spent two days here and had a wonderful experience.

Recently I was running a company called Merlin Entertainment, and they have Madame Tussauds and a smaller attraction. So to be able to come back and experience what I've seen, I'm only one year in, so I can only tell you what I experienced last year, and I can share with what the players have said to me the last couple days.

But what a spectacular experience this is here. I'll go back to the core. It always starts with the market and a world-class golf course and fans who are passionate about the game.

For those of you who haven't been to a LIV Golf experience before, there is something for everyone here. You can be a world-class, hard-core golf fan, and you will fall in love out here. You can have picked up a club, been playing for a year, and you're just starting to understand it but don't watch much of it, and come here and have a world-class experience. You can just be a little putt-putt person, maybe have never even seen the game or have your own clubs, and you'll come here and you'll thoroughly enjoy yourself. This is a really different experience.

We are created to grow the game of golf, and to do that, you'll walk up to the first tee and the players will have walk-up songs so music will be playing. You'll walk through the course and hear music. There will be an area for children. You'll be very comfortable bringing children. You'll see moms and dads with strollers walking their kids. You'll see a much younger audience than you might see at another golf event. This is exactly what we want to build and what we want to drive is what's here in Hong Kong.

I think it hits all the boxes. We have a world-class golf course. Our players love Hong Kong. They love the hotel. They love the hospitality here. They love the golf course. A lot of them have brought their families here, which is a really good indication. That does not happen everywhere. We have a world-class partner in HSBC. This is a model of what we're trying to build around the world.

Q. Question for Scott and Andy. LIV Golf has been holding in Hong Kong for a few years, so what is the tournament's biggest perspective for this year in Hong Kong? What do you want to bring to Hong Kong? Are there things that you want Hong Kong can bring to the tournament?

SCOTT O'NEIL: I would just say that what we're looking for when we come to Hong Kong is what we've had our last two years here, and that is passionate fans, new fans in terms of our opportunity to grow the game, families, putting clubs in more kids' hands, getting a chance for Bryson DeChambeau and Joaquín Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton, some of the biggest stars in golf, to be able to come and hopefully make an impact and hopefully -- when you think about when you were a kid and you think about that moment, that moment you fell in love with sports, that moment you fell in love with an athlete or a team, we hope some of those sparks and some of those moments happen today.

You'll see them on the first tee. I just encourage you, as many of you can get to the first tee any of the four days, go. Go and see it. They're usually lined with children, and you just see these icons and stars of the game walk up to these kids and you just see the look in these kids' eyes, and you know, okay, for that one, we made a difference. We're here to grow the game and grow fans. I think there's a wonderful opportunity, and I hope we do that over the next four days.

Q. Andy, I did want to ask about the course itself. We had several players come in earlier today and they talked about how much they enjoy playing the course, that it's a second-shot course. Obviously it's a traditional course that they don't see all that often. Bryson is not able to overpower the course even though it's 6,700 yards. How much do you enjoy putting this course together, offering it to world-class players, the challenges that it has that maybe not a lot of other tournaments provide?

ANDY KWOK: Yeah, well, of course I love playing this golf course. That's why I've become a member of it. But as you said, this is a very traditional golf course. It's not the longest, by far not the longest. But with the layout and the undulations and the hard greens, it requires a lot of thinking and strategies on every shot that you play to be able to score well on this golf course.

I think over the years with the tournament winning scores would attest to it, except for earlier last year with the Hong Kong Open with one of your guys, Tom McKibbin ripped this course apart because of the weather conditions which helped on scoring. But otherwise --

SCOTT O'NEIL: Not only weather. Everyone had the same weather. He's an exceptional golfer.

ANDY KWOK: Exactly. But I think with the weather becoming nicer in the later part of the week, hopefully the course will firm up a bit, and we will try to put up a challenge for the players to play on, and may the best player win this week.

SCOTT O'NEIL: Talking to a couple players today, they were saying they plan on pulling out their drivers four or five times out of their bag, so it's definitely a tactical golf course, and they seem up for the challenge.

Q. Scott, I know there are a few competitions that have not decided the venue yet. May I ask you, the Korea tournament will held this year like last year?

SCOTT O'NEIL: Was your question about where we're going to play in Korea?

Q. Yeah.

SCOTT O'NEIL: That will be announced on Friday, so I don't want to spoil the news, but we're locked in, and we'll make the announcement on Friday. Or I can whisper it to you in the back there but just not in front of everyone.