Late Tuesday evening, a social media report put the golf world on notice: Something is brewing about the future of LIV Golf.
Immediately speculation ran rampant that the breakaway Saudi-back tour might be abruptly shutting its doors. And why not? Despite the deep pockets of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the now four-year-old tour is still struggling to find much traction. Television ratings are non-existent, the tour hasn’t signed a marquee player since Jon Rahm three years ago and the proposed union with the PGA Tour has never materialized.
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So no, a shuttering of LIV operations wouldn’t come as a complete surprise.
But Wednesday morning, as more speculation surfaced, LIV Golf itself presented a business-as-usual front, at least publicly, that included social media posts about upcoming tee times for this week’s event in Mexico City, as well as media availability ahead of the tournament, which is scheduled to begin Thursday.
Enter Sergio Garcia, fresh off his Masters meltdown, who was asked about the rumors:
“No, sincerely we haven’t heard anything,” Garcia said. “That is not what Yasir told us at the beginning of the year.” Yasir would be Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF. Garcia went on to explain that Al-Rumayyan told them prior to this season that “he is behind us with a long-term project.”
While that could have been true back in February, things have certainly changed since. The defection of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, both of whom took the PGA Tour’s offer to return (under certain provisions), certainly signaled that all is not well for those who took the bag to play for LIV.
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Still, given the PIF’s immense bank account, why now, so abruptly, in the middle of the season?
Early Wednesday, longtime golf reporter Alan Shipnuck floated a possible explanation:
Given the contracts LIV is under, including with players like Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, as well as venues and vendors and media outlets and every other entity it takes to run a professional sporting league, using the war in Iran to pull the plug on something you’ve already been considering pulling the plug on actually makes sense.
But again, as of now it’s all speculation, and not even the players themselves are fully sure of what, if anything, is happening.
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“Sincerely, you already know how this is,” Garcia said. “There are always rumors, but I can’t say more than what we already know.”
