He also held out hope the Official World Golf Ranking, which has been reviewing the LIV application for more than six months, will decide whether to include LIV before its season opener.
The preview week began with blockbuster news that Koepka, a five-time major champion and former No. 1 in the world, had been allowed to rejoin the PGA Tour without having access to equity in the tour for five years and by making a $5 million charitable donation.
O'Neil would not discuss any financial terms of Koepka's departure.
“I don't think this is where he wanted to be,” O'Neil said, adding that he is rooting for Koepka.
“I will tell you I’ve got 57 guys that are running towards the light, and they understand the mission,” he said. “They understand what’s expected of them, and they jump in and dive it and do it extraordinarily well.”
The tour said it was offering the path back only to three other players who have won majors or The Players Championship since 2022 — DeChambeau, Rahm and Cameron Smith. They all said they were staying put.
Rahm and DeChambeau had not given any indication of wanting to return to the PGA Tour and they affirmed that on Tuesday.
“Right now I’ve got a contract. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do at LIV Golf this year,” DeChambeau said.
“I'm not planning on going anywhere,” Rahm said.
O'Neil said prize money would increase from $25 million to $30 million, which includes the team performance. He said just over $22 million would go toward the individual result.
Changes to some of those teams include players and team names. Detry, No. 58 in the world who won his first PGA Tour title last year in the Phoenix Open, joins the 4 Aces team led by Dustin Johnson, who signed an extension to stay with LIV.
LIV also announced that Elvis Smylie, the 23-year-old Aussie who won the Australian PGA Championship a year ago and was runner-up in the French Open, joined the Australia-based Ripper team.
Two teams are changing names — the Iron Heads will now be the Korean Golf Club, though its previous captain, Kevin Na, is no longer with LIV. Stinger GC, a team composed of South African players, is now called Southern Guards. The U.K.-based Majesticks kept the name but changed the branding to include the Union Jack flag.
Trevor Immelman, the former Masters champion and now CBS Sports lead golf analyst, said in December that one of the obstacles to receiving ranking points was that the majority of LIV members were invited with contracts to join the league, different from the 24 tours that are part of the OWGR.
LIV, which began with 48 players in 2022, now has 57 players, including five wild-card players.
“The intention is to get this done before the season starts. That’s the intention. But hey — I don’t have a vote, ironically enough,” O'Neil said. “Hopefully that 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.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf