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.