Several of golf’s leading names are facing career limbo at the end of 2026 amid expectation Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will withdraw backing for the LIV Tour.
While the likelihood is Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will be afforded a pathway back to the PGA Tour, the future for others who made lucrative switches to LIV is far more uncertain.
LIV’s executives, who were in bullish form over the circuit’s future at last week’s Masters, subsequently attended a summit with the PIF in New York. There the financial impact of the Middle East crisis is believed to have been cited for a sudden and dramatic change in the fund’s approach.
Insiders believe the PIF will seek to apply force majeure as a means to extricate itself from contracts beyond the end of this year. Saudi Arabia appears more generally to be shifting focus on sporting projects in the coming years. Without access to alternative funding, LIV’s outlook is bleak given each event alone carries a prize fund of $30m.
A report on Tuesday evening stated that LIV was poised to make a seismic announcement on its future. While that proved untrue, concern and uncertainty rippled through those at the breakaway tour’s stop in Mexico City this week. After an initial message to staff, which he admitted caused “confusion”, LIV’s chief executive, Scott O’Neil, followed up with a lengthy bulletin relating only to the short-term. “I want to be crystal clear; our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” it read. “While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organisation that is bigger, louder and more influential than ever before.
“The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure. We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have 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.”
O’Neil’s sentiment, which he repeated in a meeting with LIV team captains on Wednesday evening, did little to douse the noise, not least because it made no commitments into 2027. Since being founded in 2021, LIV is understood to have burned through more than $5bn of PIF money.
Ironically, under O’Neil LIV has made strides towards being more commercially viable. Sponsors such as Rolex and HSBC have been attracted while plans were afoot to sell team franchises for significant fees. LIV’s strategy was to focus on markets outside the US, targeting national open tournaments for future growth.
The PGA Tour smoothed a path for Brooks Koepka to return to that domain from LIV earlier this year. Patrick Reed will soon complete a similar journey. While any terms for DeChambeau and Rahm may well be strict – the duo’s negotiating stance is not strong with LIV in peril – both hold strong appeal to the PGA Tour given their standing in the sport. The scenario for others is far less obvious. Some, such as Phil Mickelson, essentially entered into open warfare with the PGA Tour when joining LIV.
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Saudi PIF sells 70% stake in Al-Hilal
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The Saudi Public Investment Fund, which holds a majority stake in Newcastle, has sold a 70% stake in Al-Hilal amid rumours it is preparing to withdraw its backing for the LIV Golf series.
The stake was purchased by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who had previously made private donations to the club which enabled them to sign striker Karim Benzema from Al-Ittihad in January.
The PIF, which took a majority stake in Newcastle in 2021, bought controlling interests in four Saudi clubs – Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli – in 2023.
Sources within the Kingdom have indicated the intention was always to sell the stakes in the Pro League clubs at a point when it made commercial sense to do so.
Yazeed Al Humied, deputy governor of the PIF, said: “PIF has set ambitious goals for the clubs, enabling them to become successful commercially and professionally and achieve long-term financial sustainability. Today’s announcement aligns with PIF’s strategy to maximise returns and redeploy capital within the domestic economy.”
PIF is understood to retain a 30% stake in Al Hilal.
Other players lack the pull for the PGA Tour to bring them back, potentially at the cost to others in its membership. The winners here could be the DP World, formerly European, Tour which has always looked far more willing to re-engage with LIV players. The former European Tour also had an alliance with Saudi Arabia before LIV’s creation. A complicating factor is the agreement between the DP World and PGA Tours, which is in the process of being renegotiated. The level to which the PGA Tour regards LIV as a threat or otherwise is central to how necessary it views a European tie-in. The PGA Tour is in the midst of reshaping its schedule but will also be mindful LIV’s creation distorted purses throughout golf. Nothing in this sport plays out in isolation.
Executives on the Ladies European Tour will be closely following the Saudi pivot. The PIF Saudi Ladies International is a $5m tournament on the LET schedule. The PIF London Championship takes place at the Centurion Club in early August. Aramco, the Saudi oil company, also backs a co-sanctioned event in the US plus a LET stops in Korea and China. Women’s golf in Europe could therefore be badly exposed if the kingdom opts to divert attention away from the sport entirely.
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