LIV Golf leader says the show will go on amid reports of Saudi funding uncertainty

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil sought to quell speculation about the league's financial future Wednesday evening with a memo to his staff that said the 2026 season will continue as planned without interruption and “at full throttle.” The memo, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press, followed a long day of reports suggesting Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was on the verge of cutting its financial backing of the upstart league. The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf already had spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year. “I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O'Neil said. “While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.” Left unclear was how long the funding would last for LIV Golf, which launched in June 2022 by paying roughly $1 billion in signing bonuses to some of the PGA Tour's biggest names, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. Prize money for individuals and the 13 teams was raised to $30 million this year. Koepka since has left LIV and was allowed to rejoin the PGA Tour this year with stipulations. Patrick Reed also left LIV and is playing a European tour schedule this year. He is virtually certain to be eligible to return to the PGA Tour in 2027 through the European tour points race. Questions about LIV's future funding were raised as the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia revealed a new five-year investment strategy. “The 2026-30 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence,” the PIF said in a release. The plan was developed before the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who loves golf and was behind LIV Golf, told the London-based Financial Times, “Of course the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities.” LIV players at Chapultepec Golf Club for LIV Golf Mexico that starts Thursday did not have answers as speculation ran rampant throughout the day. One player said Al-Rumayyan met with players the first week of March in Hong Kong and said funding for LIV was set through 2032. The player spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private. The player also said O’Neil arrived in Mexico City Wednesday and was to meet with the players. LIV Golf promoted the Mexico event Wednesday evening on social media with the message, “Slow news day? We are ON.” LIV has played five events this year, in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. It celebrated an inspirational victory at its biggest event in Australia when Anthony Kim won after the American had been away for 12 years while battling drug and alcohol addiction. DeChambeau won the last two events in playoffs, and this week tries to become the first LIV player to win three in a row. DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, missed the cut in the Masters last week. LIV's focus has been on a global reach, with its first U.S. tournament not scheduled until May 7-10 at Trump National in northern Virginia. “The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure,” O'Neil said. “We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.” He ended his note to the staff by saying, “We are pioneers, and while the road isn’t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.” LIV is in the second year of a Fox Sports television deal, with network putting it on various platforms like FS1. The opening round of the Mexico event has three hours on the Fox Sports app. The previous two years, its U.S. broadcast partner was the CW. \\\_ AP golf: