LIV Golf future in doubt after Saudis pull funding

What happened

LIV Golf, the PGA Tour rival launched in 2021 with financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will lose that funding at the end of this season, The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations reported Wednesday. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi PIF, is stepping down as LIV chair, according to the Sports Business Journal.

Who said what

LIV Golf “will announce details of its strategic path forward” on Thursday, including new leadership and “a push to secure new, long-term financial partners,” CNBC said. LIV chief executive Scott O’Neil told TNT two weeks ago that if PIF funding ended, he would “work like crazy to create a business plan to keep us going.” But most likely, the Saudi withdrawal “sounds the death knell for the upstart that sowed chaos in professional golf,” the Journal said. It will be “nearly impossible” for LIV to carry on in “any resemblance to its current form after the Saudis lost billions on the endeavor.”

What next?

Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and other pro golfers who “abandoned the PGA Tour for nine-figure guaranteed contracts are now facing an uncertain future,” USA Today said. The “mainstream golf world” has already made clear it “isn’t ready to simply welcome them back,” the Journal said.

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