LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil dismissed rumors about the league’s financial future in a staff memo Wednesday, stating that the 2026 season will continue “exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”
The memo, shared with The Associated Press, came after a day of reports suggesting Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) might be cutting financial support for the upstart league.
Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf had already spent $5.3 billion and was projected to exceed $6 billion by year’s end.
“While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass,” O’Neil wrote. “We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that’s bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”
What’s not clear is how long the funding will last. LIV launched in June 2022 by paying roughly $1 billion in signing bonuses to lure some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names, including Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm.
The league increased prize money for individuals and its 13 teams to $30 million this year.
Koepka has since returned to the PGA Tour with certain stipulations. Patrick Reed also left LIV and is now playing a European tour schedule, likely making him eligible to return to the PGA Tour in 2027 through the European tour points race.
Questions about LIV’s funding emerged as the PIF revealed a new five-year investment strategy.
“The 2026-30 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation,” the fund said in a release, emphasizing “maximizing impact” and “raising the efficiency of investments.”
This plan was developed before the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the driving force behind LIV Golf, told the Financial Times, “Of course the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities.”
Players at Chapultepec Golf Club for this week’s LIV Golf Mexico event couldn’t provide answers as speculation spread throughout Wednesday.
One player, speaking anonymously about a private meeting, said Al-Rumayyan met with players in early March in Hong Kong and assured them funding was secured through 2032. The player also mentioned O’Neil arrived in Mexico City Wednesday to meet with players.
LIV Golf’s social media responded to the day’s rumors with a defiant post: “Slow news day? We are ON.”
The league has already held five events this year across Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. Its Australian tournament delivered a compelling storyline when Anthony Kim won after the American had been away from competitive golf for 12 years while battling addiction issues.
DeChambeau has won the last two LIV events in playoffs and looks to become the first player to win three straight this week. The two-time U.S. Open champion missed the cut at last week’s Masters.
LIV’s global focus means its first U.S. tournament isn’t scheduled until May 7-10 at Trump National in northern Virginia.
Looking Forward
“The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure,” O’Neil told staff. “We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We’ve faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”
He concluded: “We are pioneers, and while the road isn’t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.”
LIV is in its second year of a Fox Sports television deal, with the network distributing content across various platforms including FS1. The opening round of the Mexico event gets three hours on the Fox Sports app. For its first two years, LIV’s U.S. broadcast partner was the CW.
