After a turbulent week off the course, what could the future be for LIV Golf?

The 2026 LIV Golf season has been without doubt its most impactful and newsworthy ever to date, with the League receiving accreditation from the Official World Golf Rankings board, Anthony Kim winning a tournament for the first time in more than a dozen years, Bryson DeChambeau winning back-to-back events, Jon Rahm winning, and two well-supported events taking place in Adelaide and South Africa. TV and streaming viewership is up across the world, and reports indicate that LIV Golf are generating vastly increased revenues in excess of $100million from ticket sales, hospitality, merchandise, broadcast rights fees and sponsorship.

LIV Golf had momentum going into The Masters, and then on Tuesday evening the rumours began to swirl. The X Account 'Monday Q Info' @acaseofthegolf1 'broke the news' that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was preparing to withdraw funding for LIV Golf, and speculation across X was wild, even suggesting that the event in Mexico City was not going to go ahead. Quickly, momentum built across the golf media landscape, with Golf Channel reporting the story on a live segment from Harbour Town Golf Links ahead of their coverage of the RBC Heritage. Other reputable, but establishment friendly, outlets corroborated the news including the Telegraph, Sky Sports News, SportsPro, CBS and ESPN.

Of course there was the pile on from the predictable sources - Trey Wengo, Kyle Porter, Dan Rapaport and other smug American YouTube/X/New media PGA TOUR allies, along with the general LIV Golf haters on social media. It seemed entirely plausible that LIV Golf Mexico City would not go ahead, until that was the draw for the first round dropped, a moment of certainty in a period of confusion for media, players and fans alike. Since Tuesday there have been conflicting 'reports' and posts, and the speculation has been rampant, and unpacking the facts from the fluff is extremely difficult to do, and it has not been helped by the mixed messaging from LIV Golf themselves, and the complete absence of comment from the man behind LIV, the Governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al Rumayyan.

Yasir Al Rumayyan at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Photo by Matt Hooper)

The first and most clear fact of the matter is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has released its plan for the next five years. That is where the clarity ends. It does not mention sport or LIV Golf, or golf, at all.

That has been taken to mean that PIF is pivoting away from the sport and withdrawing funding from LIV Golf, but PIF has since stated that they remain committed to sports. The plan also does not mention Boxing, which they have invested in via the General Entertainment Authority, since October 2023. It has been confirmed in a now deleted interview with Oliver Wilson for TNT Sports, that LIV Golf will have to raise money from 2027 going forward, and again that has been taken to mean that PIF are withdrawing support, but it could also mean that LIV has to generate a certain amount of revenue if it is to continue getting support from PIF.

It is clear that LIV Golf has strong strategic support in Mexico through Grupo Salinas, in South Australia through the South Australian Government, in Hong Kong through the Hong Kong Tourism board, in Singapore through the Singapore Tourism Board, in New Orleans through Louisiana Economic Development, in Spain through Andalucía Tourism, and in South Africa through the South African Ministry for Tourism. They have some significant league-wide sponsorships by HSBC and Salesforce, but it seems in the immediate future they will need a significant investment to continue operating anywhere near the level they are at currently.

You may remember in the autumn of 2021 and early in 2022 there was a lot of noise around the proposed Premier Golf League, backed by the World Golf Group. This league never came to pass because they clearly did not have the ability to launch a league with the speed shown by LIV Golf, and they did not have a legendary golfer at the helm with a many decades-long vision and desire to fulfil it. Sky Sports News broke the news on Wednesday evening last week that the World Golf Group were suing LIV Golf and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia regarding the launch of LIV Golf, basically accusing them of stealing their Intellectual Property, which proposed a league featuring 12 teams, 48 golfers, 54 holes, no cuts and shotgun starts.

It remains to be seen how that case develops, but there are significant differences between the two platforms.

The Premier Golf League proposal was for 18 tournaments, with 6 to be played around the world, and 12 in the United States of America, and the shotgun start was only going to be for the first two rounds, with the event retaining the traditional tee-time draw for Sundays. Andrew Gardiner, the CEO of the Premier Golf League made a big pitch at the time of how the World Golf Group did not have Saudi money.

This was surely attempting to woo the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour, clearly not acknowledging that the issues the PGA TOUR has had with LIV Golf have never truly been about the source of the money, but the fact a rival tour exists at all. It definitely begs the question, if the World Golf Group actually believe in the project at all, why are they not joining forces with and investing in LIV Golf, rather than suing them? Saudi money has transformed Boxing and elevated Tennis, Snooker, Darts, Football and Formula 1, so Golf should definitely embrace it, just like it has from Dubai. LIV Golf's response to World Golf Group suing them should be to approach them with a proposal, offer them a significant stake in the business and evolve the product to the next phase.

Legendary Sky Sports Golf Commentator suggested in a recent podcast that LIV Golf and the PIF should have come together with the DP World Tour to create a World Tour allied to the PGA TOUR. His view was that there was not room for three major tours, and in many ways he is correct. We know that the people behind LIV Golf approached Keith Pelley when he was CEO of the European Tour, but Pelley did not take the opportunity to meet with them.

After the launch of LIV Golf the Premier Golf League offered an alternative proposal which would give the existing tours of the world part-ownership of the PGL, but that was never taken up either. We all know why, the established tours want to control the sport, and especially the one in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. They do not see the sport at the highest level being global, they believe everyone outside of the USA should come to America to play competitively, and they believe all of us should only experience top golf through the Television. That is NEVER going to change, they will always wrongly believe that great golf events cannot take place elsewhere in the world, and that the best players in the world should not play in them.

So now we are seemingly at a crossroads, where the rumours continue to suggest some players are looking for a pathway back to the PGA TOUR, it is vital for the future of elite tournament golf worldwide that LIV Golf, the World Golf Group, and the DP World Tour put their differences aside and come together. They need to launch a genuinely innovative global league for golf, which blends great golf, history and tradition with music, the arts, food and culture, and featuring many of the superstars of the professional game.

Scott O'Neill has raised the prospect of LIV Golf working with the National Opens in some way shape or form, and the next phase of the project could very well be an exciting added dynamic to global golf.

Since 2022 LIV Golf have provided $200million investment to the Asian Tour, and the Tour has a number of National Opens as part of its schedule including the New Zealand Open, Singapore Open, Korea Open, Taiwan Open and Philippine Open. Other national Opens are played across the major tours of the world including the Canadian Open, Mexico Open and Scottish Open on the PGA TOUR, the Irish Open, French Open, Spanish Open, Italian Open, Austrian Open, Dutch Open, Belgian Open, Kenya Open, Turkish Open, China Open, Indian Open, South African Open and Australian Open on the DP World Tour, and the Argentina Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, Portuguese Open on the Hotel Planner Tour, and Brazil Open on the PGA Tour Americas.

LIV Golf has staged successful events in Singapore and Korea, as well as Australia and South Africa, and blending what LIV Golf is and where it is most popular with several of these National Opens would be success for LIV Golf, and a success for the national Opens of the world and their owners including Golf Australia, Golf RSA, New Zealand Golf etc.

Expanding the fields of LIV Golf events with the current format would be difficult if not impossible, but slightly adjusting the format might come under the 'structural changes' which Scott O'Neill has hinted at. Expanding LIV Golf fields, and adding a cut would go a long way to securing increased Official World Golf Ranking points, and making LIV Golf an even more investable proposition.

Many of the National Opens outside of the PGA TOUR will rarely, if ever, have the chance to attract the calibre of players which play on LIV Golf, and working with the other tours and associations of the world outside of the United States of America LIV Golf could deliver a true world championship schedule for golf.

So how could it work?

Firstly LIV Golf would have to establish partnerships with national governing bodies who own the National Opens, and the host tours including the DP World Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour, and Professional Golf Tour of India along with the existing partnership with the Asian Tour. These tours need to come together and create a new umbrella organisation - the Word Golf League, which consists of a tiered structure of tours of which the pinnacle is the Championship Tour.

• 20 events

• 3 events in the USA in partnership with state golf associations

• 15 National Opens in partnership with national golf associations across six continents (Mexico Open, Argentina Open, South African Open, Australian Open, New Zealand Open, Singapore Open, Korea Open, China Open, Indian Open, Open de France, Open de Espana, Irish Open, Scottish Open and Swiss Open)

• Season-opening Dubai Desert Classic

• 1 Team Championship in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia

• 96-player fields

• 2 shotgun starts Thursday to Saturday 8am and 1pm

• Cut to leading 48 and ties for Final Round on Sunday

• Shotgun start at 12pm on Sunday

• Expanded roster of teams

LIV Golf always wanted to be part of the ecosystem, they always wanted to be additive to the existing tours of the world, well now the only way it may survive it to truly fulfil that mantra. Time will tell if others want to work with them in a spirit of collaboration, for the betterment of golf.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper