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LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil attends a media event announcing Adelaide securing the tournament until 2031, during the final day of the LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Brenton Edwards / AFP) / — IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE — (Photo by BRENTON EDWARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Getty
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil attends a media event announcing Adelaide securing the tournament until 2031, during the final day of the LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide on February 16, 2025. (Photo by Brenton Edwards / AFP) / — IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE — (Photo by BRENTON EDWARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
After nearly $5.4 billion invested in a league that has never made a profit, financial reality is setting in. LIV Golf’s UK branch reported a £461.8 million loss in 2024, its biggest annual deficit since starting in 2022. According to a Fox News report that cites two sources close to the situation, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund plans to stop funding soon.
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“Breaking tonight, within the last hour, the LIV Golf Tour is in serious trouble tonight. The Saudis want it out, eventually. Two sources who know the inner workings of the decision tell me the Saudis will fund LIV Golf events through the end of this season. That means the contracts, the television deal, and the tournament venues remaining all will be funded.”
“Other decisions about unwinding LIV or merging it with other tours will follow that. But sources say the funding will definitely come to an end at the end of this LIV season, citing a change of priorities.”
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Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported this on Wednesday night. There was no official denial from PIF or LIV Golf, but the CEO, Scott O’Neil, told staff in an internal email that the season would continue as planned, with no interruptions. The $30 million event in Mexico City is set to begin on Thursday, and the league is moving forward as if nothing has changed.
Now from Bret Baier: Says Saudi Arabia’s funding of LIV “will definitely come to an end at the end of this LIV season, citing a change of priorities.” pic.twitter.com/rv88XQqd14
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 16, 2026
The merger reference is not entirely new ground entirely. A framework agreement between PIF and the PGA Tour was announced in June 2023 and has produced nothing binding in the three years since. What is new is the timeline attached to an exit.
The emergency meeting in New York signals a shift. According to The Telegraph’s James Corrigan, LIV executives were called to Manhattan for a summit on Wednesday. No league officials were present at Club de Golf Chapultepec before the tournament. Press conferences were canceled, and the media center was closed due to a power board outage.
Golf journalist Ryan French, who runs the Monday Q Info account with nearly 200,000 followers, shared his view on the league’s future during an X Spaces session.
“I have some pretty good sources, and I’ve heard that some other people have sources that LIV is shutting down.”
No official confirmation from PIF or LIV has followed, but PIF released its 2026-2030 investment strategy this week, focused on sustainable value, domestic growth, and long-term efficiency. LIV Golf is not listed in any portfolio.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan referred to the plan as a logical progression in PIF’s growth. Earlier reports showed PIF had already cut its funding to LIV for 2025. This pattern now points to a planned exit rather than a sudden collapse.
Four years of growing losses, a stalled merger with the PGA Tour, and a new strategy that leaves out the league. The sequence is clear. Operating losses reached $394 million in 2023, up $150 million from the previous year. The 2024 deficit has pushed total UK-entity losses over $1 billion. Weak media rights, poor ticket sales, and expensive player contracts with no commercial return forced PIF to act as a guarantor rather than an investor.
For players still on tour, these decisions carry consequences that go beyond any press release.
LIV Golf stars face uncertain road back to PGA Tour
Bryson DeChambeau remains under contract with LIV until 2026. Extension discussions are underway, but there is no sign he will leave. Jon Rahm signed his deal in December 2023, reportedly worth over $300 million, and his contract is expected to last until at least 2029, though the exact end date is not public. Both DeChambeau and Rahm declined the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program in January. Only Brooks Koepka took up the offer before the window closed.
Koepka’s return came with strict conditions: a $5 million charitable payment, no FedEx Cup earnings in his first year, and a five-year block from the Player Equity Program. The PGA Tour made it clear these terms would not set a precedent. For Rahm and DeChambeau, returning without leverage or a deal means facing either a one-year suspension or starting over through requalification on the Korn Ferry Tour or DP World Tour.
Sergio Garcia, speaking from Mexico City, said he had not heard anything concerning and pointed to what he had been told at the start of the year.
“Honestly, we aren’t going to listen to anything except for what Yasir told us at the start of the year: that he is behind us and that they have had a project for many years. As you know, there are always a lot of rumors. I can’t tell you anything more than we already know.”
The 2026 season continues. The Fox News sources have spoken. PIF has not. In the space between those two facts, the most consequential question in modern golf is still waiting for an answer.
Written by
Edited by
Riya Singhal