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LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil insists there is funding for the remainder of 2026, but could not guarantee the support of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) into next year and beyond.
Speculation has spread this week surrounding the future of the rebel golf league, which provoked a civil war in the sport of golf since its inception in 2022, with more than $5bn spent on the product, despite limited success in the battle with the PGA Tour.
Talk centred around an imminent closure, with league executives called an “emergency meeting” in New York, according to The Telegraph, following the publication of the Public Investment Fund’s new five-year investment strategy, with an emphasis on “sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments”.
Following Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed’s exits, LIV has been left scrambling to retain its long-term value to players and fans, but O’Neil maintained there is funding for the remainder of the season, but stopped short of any further commitments, adding more uncertainty beyond this week’s event.
“The reality is that you’re funded through the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going,” O’Neil said on TNT Sports’ broadcast of this week’s event.
“But that’s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of mankind.”
LIV Golf is not funded by private equity; rather Saudi Arabia’s PIF, though O’Neil also discussed the uncertainty surrounding Bryson DeChambeau’s future, with his current deal set to expire.
“It’s Bryson, I’m with him, way more than my own family, we spend a lot of time travelling the world, there’s nobody more passionate about team golf and growing the game than Bryson, I’m confident we’ll find a solution,” he said, before elaborating on plans to expand the roster of players.
“From what you saw last year, you can get a good indication. It’s World Cup style, you’ll have international players, and you can bet on young talent, McKibbin, La Sasso, Josele [Ballester], Surratt, Puig, I like young, and then experience that represent the countries where we’re playing.”
Jon Rahm was one of LIV Golf’s biggest signings (Getty)
Despite investing billions of dollars into the league, LIV Golf remained isolated and it failed to capture wider attention, particularly in the United States and Europe. Golf, as a whole, also struggled to thrive with its best players failing to meet outside of the majors on a regular basis.
The PGA also retained the support of golf’s two biggest stars, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, and it refused to lie down quietly. That led to a proposed merger of commercial rights of LIV, PGA and European Tours in 2023, with then PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Al-Rumayyan in negotiations.
But after a deadline expired on 31 December, 2023, the PGA Tour eventually opted to pursue its own path, with investment worth $3bn for its for-profit arm, PGA Tour Enterprises, led by a Fenway Sports Group-backed consortium with major US professional sports owners.
Bryson DeChambeau in action for Crushers GC at LIV Golf Mexico City (Reuters)
While the main rivalry involved the PGA Tour, LIV Golf also engaged in a lengthy dispute with the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), which operates and organises the sport’s rankings, which largely decides entry to the majors, golf’s most prestigious tournaments.
One of the main negatives to playing in the league was an initial absence of a route into the majors, beyond existing exemptions for recent champions, though The Masters did extend invitations to some players who did not qualify.
