In a memo to staff, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neill sought to quell speculation about the league’s financial future, saying the 2026 season will continue as planned at “full throttle” without interruption.
A copy of the memo was sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday night, following a series of reports suggesting Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was on the brink of cutting financial support for the emerging league.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that LIV Golf executives had been summoned to an “emergency meeting” in New York, after which the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is funding the project, was on the verge of cutting support, although no final decision had been made.
Newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf had already spent $5.3bn (£3.9bn) and was expected to exceed $6bn (£4.42bn) by the end of the year.
Sky Sports understands there was a lot of confusion among players seeking reassurance, but none of the team captains were informed of the impending announcement.
“Let me be clear: Our season will continue as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O’Neal said in the memo.
“While the media world is often full of speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on our turf. We head into the center of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder and more influential than ever before.”
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Amid speculation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may withdraw funding from LIV Golf, take a look at the organization’s rocky relationship with the rest of the golf world.
It remains unclear how long LIV Golf’s financing, which was launched in June 2022 with around $1bn (£737m) in signing bonuses paid to some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm, will last.
This year, the prize money for individuals and 13 teams has been increased to $30 million (£22.1 million).
Koepka subsequently left LIV and was conditionally allowed to return to the PGA Tour this year. Patrick Reed has also left LIV and is joining the DP World Tour schedule this year. He almost certainly qualifies to return to the PGA Tour in 2027 through the DP World Tour points race.
PIF’s unveiling of a new five-year investment strategy raises questions about LIV’s future funding.
“The 2026-30 strategy marks PIF’s natural evolution from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustainable value creation, with a focus on maximizing impact, increasing investment efficiency and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and organizational excellence,” PIF said in a release.
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Sky Sports News Chief Correspondent Kaveh Solhekor reveals that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may withdraw its funding to LIV Golf
This plan was developed before the US-Israel war against Iran. Yasir al-Rumayyan, president of PIF, who loves golf and supported LIV Golf, told the Financial Times: “Of course the war will put even more pressure on some priorities to change.”
LIV players at Mexico’s Chapultepec Golf Club, where LIV Golf opens Thursday, didn’t have answers as speculation continued throughout Wednesday.
“Honestly, I’m not going to listen to anything other than what Yasir (Al-Rumayan, LIV Golf chairman) told us at the beginning of the year, that he supports us, that they have a project for many years,” LIV’s Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia said in Spanish on Wednesday.
“As you know, there are always a lot of rumors floating around. We can’t say anything more than we already know.”
According to one player, Al Rumayyan met with players in Hong Kong in the first week of March and told them that funding for LIV was set until 2032. The player spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the public. The player also said O’Neal was scheduled to arrive in Mexico City on Wednesday and meet with players.
LIV Golf promoted the Mexico tournament on social media Wednesday night with the message: “Slow news day? We’re in action.”
LIV held five events this year in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. American Anthony Kim, who has been away for 12 years while battling drug and alcohol addiction, has won and celebrated an emotional victory at Australia’s biggest event.
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Brooks Koepka reflects on his first day back on the PGA Tour after leaving LIV Golf.
DeChambeau has won the last two playoff tournaments and this week will try to become the first LIV player to win three straight.
DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, failed to qualify for last week’s Masters. LIV is focused on global expansion, and its first U.S. tournament is not scheduled until May 7-10 at Trump National in Northern Virginia.
“The longevity of the startup movement is often determined by these moments of pressure,” O’Neill said. “We signed this because we believe in challenging the status quo.
“Since the jump, we have faced headwinds, but each time we have responded with resilience and grace. Now, we are responding by doing what we do best: putting on the most captivating show in sports.”
He concluded his note to staff by saying: “We are pioneers and the road is not always smooth, but the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.”
McGinley: Something serious is going on.
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With the future of LIV golf in doubt, Paul McGinley believes the PGA Tour needs to reward its players for their loyalty.
Sky Sports golf pundit Paul McGinley tells Golf Channel:
“Obviously it’s a rapidly evolving story. There must be a lot of truth to it. We don’t have complete confirmation yet, but reliable journalists and people in the know have a firm opinion on this. So clearly something serious is going on and it will be announced soon.
“Leverage is what players have been using over the last few years, not just LIV players, but PGA Tour players as well. Phil Mickelson said those words on his way out. For the first time ever, a pro golfer has leverage.”
“And, hey, that’s been trained, including today’s PGA Tour players. So I think it’s obvious that (PGA Tour CEO) Brian Rolup comes in. His job is to try to make more money in golf. That’s easy. It’s not that big of a deal, and he has a lot of challenges in that regard. But one way to do that is to cut down on the overhead a little bit and play for more realistic prize money. “I would love to do that.” It’s an incredible amount of money to play in this field. These signature events pay out first-place prizes of 4,000,000 and 4,500,000 in relatively short fields.
“It’s the same on the DP World Tour. We obviously have a very strong foundation on the PGA Tour, and players are playing for record prize money every year. That’s not affected by any economic downturn. So it’s a great time for the players, but it’s unrealistic and the Saudis have created this false economy, so maybe there needs to be an adjustment period.”
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Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir talks about why Brooks Koepka was allowed to return to the PGA Tour under the new Returning Member Program after leaving LIV Golf.
The story of LIV golf so far
LIV Golf launched in 2021 with funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as a rival to the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
Its emergence led to a split in professional golf, with some of the game’s biggest names, including Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson, withdrawing to breakaway tours.
The LIV began as a series of 54-hole tournaments, but was changed to 74 holes in 2026 with the aim of securing points in the Official World Golf Rankings.
LIV also announced that the total prize money for 2026 will be increased to $30 million, and team prize money will be doubled to $10 million, along with $20 million in individual prize money.
The Saudi-backed league started with 12 teams and 48 players and has since expanded to 13 teams, but has lost notable players in recent months, including five-time major champion Koepka and former Masters champion Reed.
Why is PIF withdrawing LIV support?
Sky Sports News Chief Correspondent Kaveh Solhekol:
“I think Saudi Arabia is rethinking a little bit about how much money they invest in sports.
“Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, invests the money Saudi Arabia earns from oil sales to diversify and grow the economy.
“PIF has announced a new investment strategy for the next five years and has also communicated the areas it will focus on. There are seven areas and the new strategy does not explicitly mention sports, but from speaking to people in Saudi Arabia in the past they would say that sports falls under the category of tourism and entertainment.”
“So I don’t think they’re completely ignoring the sport, but I think it’s fair to say they’re rethinking and reprioritizing.
“I think their mindset is ‘business is business’ and they want a return on their investments. For example, in something like LIV, they’ve invested $5 billion so far, but even if they continue to fund LIV, they’re expected to be in the red for the next five to 10 years.”
“So going forward Saudi Arabia and the PIF will continue to support and invest in football, F1, golf, boxing and tennis, but they will do so with more of a business rationale. The deal has to make sense for them. They don’t want to be seen as someone who is just there to throw money at every athlete and every person who wants to come to Saudi Arabia.”
“There are wars going on in the Middle East as well, and economies around the world, especially in the Gulf region, are affected by that, so I think going forward Saudi Arabia is just saying to the world, ‘Look, we’re going to continue to invest in sports, but we’re going to be very smart about how we do it.'”
Could Rory McIlroy achieve even greater success in 2026? The PGA Championship (May 14-17), US Open (June 18-21) and The Open (July 16-19) are all being broadcast live exclusively on Sky Sports. Get and stream Sky Sports without a contract.
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