LIV Golf meeting in New York fuels speculation over rebel tour’s future | LIV Golf Series
LIV Golf’s future is uncertain, with the Saudi Public Investment Fund preparing to cut funding for the rebel tour by $5 billion.
LIV executives arrived late to the tour in Mexico this week after being summoned to a meeting in New York, with uncertainty over the immediate future first emerging at the Masters at Augusta last weekend. Rumors that LIV might even be shut down had begun circulating on social media on Tuesday evening, with tour officials refusing to respond.
The sixth event of LIV’s fifth season in Mexico City will go ahead as planned, but has been overshadowed by widespread reports that the PIF is considering pulling funding from the tour. LIV has been under pressure for some time over its failure to reach agreement on a merger with the PGA Tour three years after signing a so-called “framework agreement”, with that impasse compounded by the PIF’s desire to cut costs.
The PIF yesterday released details of a new five-year economic strategy emphasizing sustainable investments that will generate financial and infrastructural returns domestically, a model at odds with the disruptive, free-spending internationalism embodied by LIV Golf.
Significantly, there is no mention of sports among the seven key investment areas mentioned in a document published by the PIF board and signed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
PIF has spent more than $5 billion on LIV since its launch in 2021, but prize money and bonuses have been significantly reduced this year. While some of golf’s biggest names, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio García and Bryson DeChambeau, left the PGA and DP World Tours for LIV, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed returned to the PGA Tour this year, while DeChambeau refused to sign a new deal.
A source who has worked with the Saudi sports ministry on several projects told the Guardian that in addition to national projects such as the 2034 World Cup, the PIF is focusing its sports budget on football and esports, with golf no longer a priority.
In another indication of its direction, the PIF is ending its relationship with the Women’s Tennis Association, and its three-year contract to host the WTA Finals in Riyadh will not be extended after it expires in November.
The LIV rumors began Tuesday evening with a post on French went further when speaking on X Spaces later Tuesday night, saying he had heard LIV was “closing down.”
LIV players and officials appear to be in the dark, with García telling Mexican media that they have not received an update. “Frankly, we haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir [al-Rumayyan] We already said it at the beginning of the year,” García said. “That is to say that it is behind us, that they have a project for several years. There are always a lot of rumors. I can’t say anything more than what we know.
No pre-tournament press conference was held on Tuesday, with LIV suffering technical difficulties due to an alleged power outage at the venue. However, things seemed to be business as usual for the players on Wednesday, with the pro-am tournament starting as scheduled at 8:30 a.m. local time.
