LIV Golf meeting in New York fuels speculation over rebel tour’s future

LIV Golf executives have been called to a meeting in New York amid growing speculation over the future of the Saudi Arabia-funded rebel tour.

Rumours that LIV could soon be shut down had begun to circulate on social media on Tuesday evening with officials from the tour declining to respond. LIV’s next event in Mexico City will begin as planned on Thursday, although as first reported by the Daily Telegraph, the tour’s senior leadership were all absent having been diverted to New York.

Many of LIV’s senior personnel, including the chief executive, Scott O’Neil, were at Augusta for the Masters last week and have stayed in the US.

LIV has been under pressure for some time due to its inability to agree a merger with the PGA Tour three years after signing a so-called “framework agreement”, with that stand-off compounded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s desire to cut costs.

PIF released details of a new five-year economic strategy earlier this week with the emphasis on sustainable investment that will deliver financial and infrastructure returns domestically, a model at odds with the free-spending, disruptive internationalism epitomised by LIV Golf.

PIF has spent over $5bn on LIV since its 2021 launch, but prize money and bonus payments have been reduced significantly this year. While some of the biggest names in golf including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García and Bryson DeChambeau left the PGA and DP World tours for LIV, both Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed returned to the PGA Tour this year, while DeChambeau has refused to sign a new deal.

A source who has worked with the Saudi Ministry of Sports on several projects told the Guardian that as well as domestic projects such as the 2034 World Cup, PIF is focusing its sports budget on football and e-sports, with golf no longer a priority.

In another indication of their direction of travel, PIF is ending its relationship with the Women’s Tennis Association, and its three-year deal to host the WTA finals in Riyadh will not be extended after it expires in November.

The LIV rumours began on Tuesday evening with a post on X from golf account Monday Q Info, run by respected journalist Ryan French, in which he claimed that multiple sources had informed him that “a bombshell announcement on LIV’s future is imminent”.

French went further when speaking on X Spaces later on Tuesday night, claiming he had heard that LIV Golf is “shutting down”.

LIV players and officials appear to be in the dark, with García telling the media in Mexico that they have not received an update. “Frankly, we haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] already told us at the beginning of the year,” García said. “That is, he’s behind us, that they have a project of many years. There are always many rumours. I can’t comment on anything more than what we know.”

No pre-tournament press conferences took place on Tuesday with LIV Golf suffering technical difficulties due to an alleged power failure at the venue. However, it appeared to be business as usual for the players on Wednesday with the pro-am tournament teeing off as scheduled at 8.30am local time.