LIV Golf will only receive funding from the Saudi PIF until the end of the 2026 season, marking a significant shift in its financial strategy. The league is transitioning to a diversified investment model with new board members announced.
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Tour Confidential: Answering biggest questions about LIV Golf's futureGetty Images/GOLF
Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, our writers discuss LIV Golfâs future after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced it will cut funding for the rebel league after the 2026 season.
In a press release Thursday, LIV Golf announced new board members as it transitions from âa foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.â Hours later, its bankroller, the Saudi PIF, released its own statement saying the âPIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season. The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIFâs investment strategy.â Now that youâve had a few days to digest this bombshell â and after a rollercoaster April for LIV Golf â what thought has lingered with you?
Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): That for all the tumult, not much changed, aside from some players getting a whole lot richer. I suppose you could say LIVâs birth shook the Tour out of its complacency, which led to (ongoing) schedule changes and even fatter purses for already extravagantly paid golfers. Beyond that, though, what? Is there now an insatiable demand for team golf? There is not. Is professional golf itself a better product now for fans? I donât see a ton of evidence of that.
Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I think Sens pretty much nailed it. What will stick with me long after LIV either morphs into something else or goes away entirely is that money couldnât buy the parts of professional golf that actually resonate with fans: the tradition, the history and the meaning of the results. Billions of dollars can do a lot, but they canât speed up time. It takes decades for sports leagues to resonate with fans and to develop a connection. LIV Golf was never going to be able to achieve that goal in a short time frame. In the end, we got a watered-down professional golf product and the players on both sides got richer. As LIV Golf changed the PGA Tour, but not for the better. And I feel like a reckoning is coming now that the Tourâs great opponent has flamed out.
The Saudi PIF stated that funding LIV Golf beyond the 2026 season is no longer consistent with its current investment strategy.
LIV Golf has announced new board members as it transitions to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.
The funding cut may impact LIV Golf's operations and growth plans, as it seeks to adapt to a new financial model.
Players have seen significant financial gains, but opinions on the overall impact of LIV Golf on professional golf vary.



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James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): Good points, gents. My lingering thought was this: We never heard the âdonâ of LIV Golf, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, say a single word. Whether golf history remembers LIVâs most powerful Saudi benefactor as a hero or a coward (good arguments for both!), it will NOT remember him for saying a single word about the sport. âHis excellencyâ left golf as he entered it: Without a peep.
**At Trump Doral for this weekâs Cadillac Championship, several players were asked if LIV members should be wel**comed back to the PGA Tour, and what types of penalties they should face. If you were PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, how would you handle playersâ reintegration? Is it different for everyone? Would you not allow certain players at all?
Sens: Open a pathway for guys to play their way back on, with a point system that has some kind of reward for past performance. So that maybe the likes of Bryson and Rahm and Smith can compete in regular Tour events but not elevated events, which theyâd still have to play their way into. The washed-up LIV guys would probably just retire rather than face that grind. And the younger guys would be left to try to earn their cards, which is what theyâd probably be doing anyway.
Schrock: Itâs going to have to be a case-by-case basis. As Rolapp and Jordan Spieth have noted, the PGA Tour extended an offer to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith earlier this year and it wasnât accepted. The next deal shouldnât be as forgiving. Both Spieth and Rolapp also subtly mentioned the lawsuit that DeChambeau was a key plaintiff in after LIV launched in 2022. Thatâs a lawsuit that PGA Tour players had to pay to defend, and the road back for those who signed on to sue the Tour should be harsher than those who went to LIV quietly, like Brooks Koepka, and didnât rock the boat. Rahm will be the interesting case. His exodus came at a time when LIV was floundering, and it gave the rebel league juice and calcified the two sidesâ stances in golfâs civil conflict. That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Iâm not sure thereâs an easy way to bring either of the big names back without upsetting a big portion of Tour membership, but the Tour would certainly benefit economically from reintegrating them quickly. As for the rest of LIVâs roster, some who resigned their membership, like Patrick Reed, can try to play their way back via the DP World Tour or KFT. Many will disappear with their millions and not even knock on the door at the global home. In all honesty, weâre probably talking about 15-20 players in total that decisions need to be made on.
Colgan: Iâd give Bryson a path back. His presence would single-handedly change the PGA Tourâs economics, and heâs probably the only LIV player for whom that is true (Jon Rahm probably deserves consideration here as well). Everyone else would be subject to a lengthy (and expensive) return process through the Tourâs strategic partners at the DP World Tour and the KFT, or a short-term retirement.
Bryson DeChambeau of the Crushers GC and Jon Rahm of Legion XIII and Cameron Smith of Ripper GC walk down the 1st during day one of LIV Adelaide
Even if LIV Golf receives alternative funding, with the substantial PIF coffers no longer available, does this end any sort of competition that was remaining with the PGA Tour?
Sens: I think so. If LIV taught us anything, itâs that the world does not need more professional golf. At least not for the money these guys think they deserve to be making. Ironically, the Tourâs real competition for eyeballs these days doesnât come from a league backed by Saudi billions. It comes from a bunch of YouTube bros producing their own content.
Schrock: Yes. Without the $30 million purses and signing bonuses, LIV will cease to be any sort of threat to the PGA Tour. It sounds like itâs close to a wrap, barring an unforeseen bailout.
Colgan: No fat lady is singing. Yet. But it sounds like sheâs warming up.
Whatâs the best-case scenario for LIV Golf going forward?
Sens: Maybe pivot to crypto?
Schrock: Try to merge with the DP World Tour. Other than that, the last one to leave should turn out the lights. LIV can slink along with limited funds, but the product will be even worse than its current form, and there will almost certainly be a talent exodus once the money dries up.
Colgan: I think thereâs a vision that could exist with significantly smaller purses at LIVâs previously successful golf-crazy venues (Korea, Australia, South Africa). The problem LIV is going to run into is that every sports league needs significant TV revenue to survive, and theyâre not anywhere close to that right now.
Sundayâs golf slate featured two blowouts, as Nelly Korda won by four in Mexico and Cameron Young won by six in Florida. Both have had fantastic starts to 2026, but which one are you taking as most likely to continue this success through the summer?
Sens: I think theyâll both keep rolling, but Youngâs summer is going to stand out just a bit more boldly when he wins his first major at Shinnecock.
Schrock: Itâs Korda for multiple reasons. The first is that sheâs the unquestioned best player on her tour. Young has been fantastic but has to deal with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the blistering hot Matt Fitzpatrick. Korda changed her mentality after a winless 2025 and has been relentless to start this season. The only thing that can hold her back is a balky putter, but her new putting coach seems to have at least made that a net neutral. I expect her to win at least one more major this year and wouldnât be surprised if itâs a three-major 2026 for Nelly.
Colgan: Cam! Heâs a no-doubt top-5 player in the world right now, and a maiden voyage PGA Championship at Philly looms.
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