LIV Golf not shutting down? CEO says 2026 season will be completed amid speculation over Saudi Arabia funding

Four years after its dramatic launch, LIV Golf's future appears to be tenuous ... just not before the end of the year

Robby Kalland

Apr 15, 2026

8:13 pm ET

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6 min read

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LIV Golf's launch in June 2022 was meant to disrupt and challenge the existing structure of professional golf, creating a rival league for the PGA Tour with a goal to steal the game's top stars to rebuild golf in a new image. Four years later, the Saudi Arabia-financed league may be on the precipice of closing its doors and leaving the future of some of the game's best players in question ... just not anytime soon.

The Saudi-financed Public Investment Fund is reportedly considering a dissolution of its multibillion-dollar investment in LIV Golf, according to The Athletic and the Wall Street Journal, amid a reevaluation of its financial commitments in the sports space and the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran. League executives have been involved in high-level meetings over the last few days in New York with members of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

However, CEO Scott O'Neil told LIV Golf staff in an email on Wednesday that the 2026 season will continue as planned, without pause, as the league is fully funded through the end of the year. LIV Golf Mexico City, beginning this Thursday, is the league's sixth of 14 tournaments scheduled this season.

"I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle," O'Neil wrote in the email, which was obtained by multiple outlets. "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."

He continued: "The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure. 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."

Many believe LIV Golf's future is tenuous after years of failed efforts to recruit players and establish a substantial audience. As the PGA Tour itself added private investments and increased purses for its signature tournaments, LIV Golf has struggled to bring in top names after an initial wave of substantial signings while bleeding money -- paying high-priced salaries and putting on events that no one was watching.

The league has reportedly received more than $5 billion from the PIF with losses estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The long-term financial element has been difficult for LIV Golf, which has not received substantial media rights or ticketing revenue during its four years of existence.

Critics have accused LIV Golf of serving as a sportswashing arm for Saudi Arabia, an operation that existed as a means of improving the country's reputation amid accusations of human rights abuses and corruption. Proponents suggested it was pushing the game of golf forward, presenting an alternative product with a different format.

However, LIV Golf failed to obtain recognition from the sport's preeminent evaluation body, the Official World Golf Rankings, due to its 54-hole, shotgun-start, no-cut tournaments, and the team competition element failed to catch on with fans. As such, LIV Golf was forced to change its format and only recently received acknowledgment from the OWGR, moves that may have been too little, too late, considering interest in the league has not grown.

What would happen to LIV Golf's best players?

Two-time U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau and two-time major champion Jon Rahm are the two biggest stars under contract with LIV Golf, though other burgeoning talents like Joaquín Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton join them on the circuit. (Five-time major champion winner Brooks Koepka and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed recently departed the league for the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, respectively.)

The PGA Tour has already shown a willingness to create paths for top stars to return; however, it did so while being mindful of the feelings and perspectives of its membership, many of whom declined the get-richer-quicker prospect of signing with LIV Golf to remain loyal and continue playing stateside.

After DeChambeau and Rahm declined the opportunity this offseason to bolt alongside Koepka, that process would need to be reevaluated should LIV Golf shutter. Koepka's deal, which included a $5 million charitable donation, ineligibility for the Player Equity Program for five years and no FedEx Cup payouts in his first year back, was billed as a one-time offer that was "not precedent-setting," per the PGA Tour.

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