Sign up every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in sports and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, our writers discuss the future of LIV Golf after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced it will cut funding to the rebel league after the 2026 season.
In a press release on Thursday, LIV Golf announced the new board members as it transitions from “the grassroots start-up stage to a diversified multi-partner investment model.” A few hours later, its financier, Saudi PIF, released its own statement saying that “PIF has made the decision to finance LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season. The significant investment required by LIV Golf for a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy.” Now that you’ve had a few days to digest this bombshell – and after a roller-coaster April for LIV Golf – what are your thoughts left?
Josh Sens, Senior Writer (@joshsens): That for all the turmoil, not much has changed, except that some players have become much richer. I suppose you could say the birth of LIV shook the Tour out of its complacency, which led to (constant) schedule changes and even fatter purses for already extravagantly paid golfers. Beyond that, though, what? Is there now an insatiable demand for team golf? There isn’t. Is professional golf itself a better product now for fans? I don’t see a ton of evidence for this.
Josh Schrock, news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I think the Sens have done very well. What will stick with me long after LIV either morphs into something else or goes away entirely is that money can’t buy the parts of professional golf that actually resonate with fans: the tradition, the history and the meaning of the results. Billions of dollars can do a lot, but they can’t speed up time. It takes decades for sports leagues to resonate with fans and develop a bond. LIV Golf was never going to be able to achieve that goal in a short amount of time. like Our Michael Bamberger wrote, LIV Golf changed the PGA Tour, but not for the better. And I feel like a reckoning is coming now that the Tour’s biggest rival is tiring.
James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): Good points, gentlemen. My constant thought was this: We never heard the “don” of LIV Golf, Jasir Al-Rumayyan, say a single word. Although golf history remembers LIV’s most powerful Saudi benefactor, it will NOT remember him for saying a single word about the sport. “His Excellency” left golf when he entered it: Without a glance.
At Trump Doral for this week’s Cadillac Championship, several players were asked if LIV members should be goodreturned to the PGA Tour and what types of penalties they face. If you were PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, how would you handle player reintegration? Is it different for everyone? Would you not allow certain players at all?
Meaning: Make a path for guys to play again, with a points system that has some sort of reward for past performance. So maybe Bryson and Rahm and Smith can compete in regular Tour events, but not in the top events, in which they’ll still have to play their way up. LIV’s less important guys will probably just retire rather than face that fight. And the younger guys would be left to try to earn their cards, which they probably would anyway.
Schrock: It will have to be case by case. As Rolapp and Jordan Spieth have noted, the PGA Tour extended an offer to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith earlier this year and it was not accepted. The next deal should not be so forgiving. Both Spieth and Rolapp also mentioned the lawsuit in which DeChambeau was a lead plaintiff after LIV launched in 2022. That’s a lawsuit that PGA Tour players had to pay to defend, and the road back for those who signed on to sue the tour should be tougher than those who went to LIV quietly. Rahm will be the interesting case. His exodus came at a time when LIV was floundering, and it fueled the rebel league and calcified the positions of both sides in golf’s civil conflict. This rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I’m not sure there’s an easy way to bring any of the big names back without upsetting a large portion of the Tour membership, but the Tour would certainly benefit financially from their quick reintegration. As for the rest of the LIV roster, some who resigned their membership, like Patrick Reed, may try to play their way back through the DP World Tour or KFT. Many will disappear with their millions and not even knock on the door of the global house. Honestly, we’re probably talking about 15-20 players in total that have to be decided.
Colgan: I would give Bryson a way back. His presence would single-handedly change the economics of the PGA Tour, and he’s probably the only LIV player for whom that’s true (Jon Rahm probably deserves consideration here, too). All others would undergo a lengthy (and expensive) buyback process through the Tour’s strategic partners DP World Tour and KFT, or a short-term retirement.
Even if LIV Golf gets alternative funding, with the PIF’s substantial coffers no longer available, does that end any kind of competition that was left with the PGA Tour?
sense: I think so. If LIV taught us anything, it’s that the world doesn’t need more professional golf. At least not for the money these guys think they deserve to make. Ironically, the Tour’s real competition for eyeballs these days doesn’t come from LIV. It comes from a group of YouTube bros who produce their own content.
Schrock: yes. Without the $30 million purses and signing bonuses, LIV will cease to be any kind of threat to the PGA Tour. It appears to be close to a shutdown, barring an unforeseen bailout.
Colgan: No fat woman sings. However. But it looks like she’s warming up.
What is the best case scenario for LIV Golf going forward?
Meaning: Maybe the orientation towards crypto?
Schrock: Try to join DP World Tour. LIV may shrink along with limited funds, but there will almost certainly be an exodus of talent once the money dries up.
Colgan: I think there is a vision that can exist with significantly smaller bags in LIV’s previous successful golf locations (Korea, Australia, South Africa). The problem LIV will run into is that any sports league needs significant TV revenue to survive, and they are nowhere near that at the moment.
Sunday’s golf offering featured two shots, as Nelly Korda won by four in Mexico AND Cameron Young won with six in Florida. Both have had fantastic starts to 2026, but which one are you using as the most likely to continue this success in the summer?
Meaning: I think both will continue to roll, but Young’s summer will come out a little bolder when he wins his first major at Shinnecock.
Schrock: It is Korda for many reasons. The first is that she is the undisputed best player on her tour. Young has been fantastic but has to contend with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick. Korda changed his mindset after a winless 2025 and has been relentless to start this season. The only thing holding her back is a poor shot, but her new shooting coach seems to have at least made her a neutral net. I expect her to win at least one more major this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a big three for Nelly in 2026.
Colgan: Camera! He’s definitely a top-5 player in the world right now, and a first PGA Tour Championship in Philly is coming up.
;)
