Imago
July 12, 2024, Cadiz, Cadiz, SPAIN: Jon Rahm of Legion XIII team looks on during day one of the LIV Golf Andalucia at Golf Club Royal of Valderrama on July 12, 2024 in Cadiz, Spain. Cadiz SPAIN – ZUMAa181 20240712_zaa_a181_096 Copyright: xJoaquinxCorcherox
Imago
July 12, 2024, Cadiz, Cadiz, SPAIN: Jon Rahm of Legion XIII team looks on during day one of the LIV Golf Andalucia at Golf Club Royal of Valderrama on July 12, 2024 in Cadiz, Spain. Cadiz SPAIN – ZUMAa181 20240712_zaa_a181_096 Copyright: xJoaquinxCorcherox
It’s rare for a televised interview to make headlines by vanishing. On April 16, 2026, TNT Sports posted a sit-down with LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City. Within hours, the original video disappeared and was replaced by a shorter version. The missing line was already making the rounds online.
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Golf media accounts NUCLR Golf and No Laying Up quickly pointed out the changes between the two videos. NUCLR Golf shared the deleted segment, highlighting that TNT’s new upload left out O’Neil’s comments about the league’s funding. No Laying Up summed it up simply: the admission was made, noticed, deleted, and then reposted as if nothing had happened.
TNT Sports released the interview on its X account and YouTube channel on April 17, 2026. Within hours, both uploads were pulled and replaced with a version 26 seconds shorter. The missing section was the part where O’Neil discussed the league’s financial future after this season.
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What chess move number is it when you:
-Admit you’re only funded through ‘26
-Everyone sees it
-Delete it
-Repost the interview with that part cut out and just hope nobody notices? https://t.co/0jqpiEsuIM— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) April 17, 2026
When presenter Oliver Wilson asked O’Neil whether Sergio Garcia was right to claim players had been told LIV Golf was funded through 2030, O’Neil did not confirm that timeline.
“The reality is 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. But that’s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of mankind.”
During the same broadcast, O’Neil also told Wilson:
“LIV Golf is in the best shape it’s ever been in its history, period, end of sentence.”
Both statements came from the same interview, only minutes apart. The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal had already reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was close to ending its financial support for the league. The Daily Telegraph said LIV executives were called to an emergency meeting in New York.
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported that the league was only funded through the rest of 2026, which is much shorter than the 2032 timeline O’Neil had shared with industry sources at Augusta the week before. In response, O’Neil told staff that the 2026 season “continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.” The PIF, which has invested over $5.3 billion in LIV since it began in 2022, has not made any public statement.
These funding questions became even more important after another development that week.
LIV Golf funding future: PIF’s new investment strategy leaves league unmentioned
The PIF’s board has approved a new investment strategy for 2026 to 2030, focusing on three portfolios aimed at domestic economic growth and what the fund calls “sustained value creation.” LIV Golf was not included in any of these portfolios. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said that the ongoing regional conflict “places greater pressure on the need to reposition certain priorities.”
This new direction is a clear break from the PIF’s earlier push for fast international growth in sports, entertainment, and tech. The Financial Times reports that the PIF is now weighing how long it will continue backing LIV Golf, but nothing is final yet. Since 2022, the league has taken in over $5.3 billion from the PIF, with spending running at $100 million a month through 2024 and 2025.
Following the clip’s removal and the attention it generated, O’Neil issued additional statements reaffirming that the 2026 season remains fully funded and is proceeding without interruption. TNT Sports provided no official explanation for the deletion of the original interview.
