Amid reports that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may withdraw its sponsorship of the league, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told employees in an email Wednesday that its season will continue “as planned, uninterrupted and full of energy.”
The email, obtained by ESPN, did not directly address reports that the PIF may stop investing in the next round after spending more than $5 billion since its inception in 2022, or whether the league will continue to play this season.
“I want to be clear: Our season is proceeding as planned, uninterrupted and full of energy,” O’Neil wrote in an email. “While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are moving into the heart of our 2026 agenda with the full force of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”
LIV Golf is scheduled to play its sixth tournament of the season beginning Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City. Its first tournament in the US is scheduled for May 7-10 at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
“The life of a start-up is often defined by these stressful times,” O’Neil wrote. “We signed up for this because we believe in disruption. We’ve faced tough situations since we jumped in, and we’ve always responded with strength and grace. Now, we’re responding by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”
The Financial Times and other outlets reported on Wednesday that PIF is about to withdraw its funding from LIV Golf. A source familiar with the situation told ESPN that league officials were in Mexico City on Wednesday.
The league promised to be the most exciting form of professional golf with shotgun starts, 54-hole events and team and singles tournaments.
Although LIV Golf has drawn large crowds to its tournaments in Australia, South Africa and other international venues, it has struggled to gain traction in the US with low TV ratings and limited commercial revenue from its broadcast deals with The CW and Fox Sports.
It also struggled to get contracts to perform its events at high-quality courses in the US, which frustrated many of its players who felt they were not well prepared to compete in major tournaments.
PIF has invested more than $5 billion in LIV Golf since 2022, reportedly spending $100 million a month over the next three years. Much of that money was spent on golfer contracts and tournament purses, which rose from $25 million to $30 million this season. An additional $5 million went into the team’s coffers.
With guaranteed contracts said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, LIV Golf — led by former CEO Greg Norman, with the help of six-time major champion Phil Mickelson — has been able to lure former majors such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and others away from the PGA Tour.
The tour played its first tournament at the Centurion Club in England in June 2022.
Norman had described LIV Golf as “disruptive” and is a champion of players’ rights, arguing golfers should be allowed to play anywhere in the world and not just on one tour.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has suspended more than 30 golfers from competing in LIV Golf tournaments without the exclusion of conflicting events.
Eleven LIV Golf players, including DeChambeau, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August 2022, accusing it of using its power to eliminate competition and influence retailers, media companies and others to avoid doing business with LIV Golf. The PGA Tour sued LIV Golf, accusing it of tampering with its contracts with players.
The legal drama took a dramatic turn in June 2023 when the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour signed a framework agreement to form an alliance and move forward into a larger commercial venture. Circuits said the settlement ended all pending litigation between the parties. LIV Golf was poised to invest up to $1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises, a new for-profit tour company.
Monahan was heavily criticized for negotiating the deal in secret and leaving PGA Tour members in the dark. The deal was also scrutinized by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee, which held a three-hour hearing in July 2023 to consider the proposed merger. The chiefs have expressed concern about “sport tampering,” issues of infidelity and Saudi influence in the US
The PGA Tour and PIF worked for more than a year to finalize the deal, including meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, but the merger was never completed. The PGA Tour then reached an agreement with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire sports team owners, to invest up to $3 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises.
LIV Golf was hit several times earlier this season when Koepka, a five-time major champion, requested a release from his contract to return to the PGA Tour. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, also did not renew his contract and plans to return to the PGA Tour this fall.
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour as part of the new Returning Members Program, which allowed LIV golfers who have been away from the tour for at least two years — and who have won the Players Championship or one of the four majors (Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship) since 2022 — to return under certain conditions and with heavy financial penalties.
DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith were also eligible to return but chose to stay with LIV Golf. The window for their return expired on Feb. 2. At the time, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, who replaced Monahan, described the program as “a one-time, defined window and not a precedent for future situations.”
In February, O’Neil — who replaced Norman in January 2025 — was able to secure LIV Golf’s inclusion in the Official World Golf Ranking, awarding world-class points to the top 10 finishers and affiliates in its events.
