Saudi Arabia set to scale back on sporting ambitions? LIV Golf may lose funding support, but CEO refutes claims

Saudi Arabia's ambitious sporting project, the LIV Golf, could soon become a thing of the past after two major global newspapers, The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times, reported that the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) was on the verge of cutting funding.

However, countering the reports, LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has told Reuters that there is no danger to the upcoming events. The sixth LIV event of the season tees off on Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico.

O'Neil was on site on Wednesday as the pro-am was being played.

LIV CEO refutes shut down reports

"Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle," O'Neil said. "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.

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"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."

The players, meanwhile, are unaware of the reports that LIV Golf could shut down.

Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who signed with LIV Golf in 2022, was among the players who spoke to media in Mexico and was asked to comment on the reports that financial support to the circuit was on the verge of being cut.

"No, honestly, we haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir (Al-Rumayyan, LIV Golf Chairman) told us at the beginning of the year - that he’s behind us, that they have a long-term project," said Garcia. "And well, honestly, you know how these rumours are. There are always a lot of them. And I can’t tell you anything more than what we already know."

Will LIV Golf shut down?

LIV Golf, which launched in 2022, is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf had already spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year.

But major newspapers say that Saudi Arabia doesn't want to invest money anymore in it.

One of the major reasons for Saudi backing of LIV Golf has been the country's attempt to improve its reputation in the face of criticism of its human rights record. Besides golf, they have heavily invested in Esports, football and boxing events. And if they do end up pulling out of LIV, it will be the first major U-turn for Saudi Arabia's PIF, which has consistently used sports as a medium to extend its influence.

Through big-money contracts and lucrative purses, LIV managed to lure a number of golf's biggest names, including major champions Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.

After a year of acrimony, the PGA Tour, PIF and Europe-based DP World Tour announced a framework agreement in June 2023 to house their commercial operations in a new entity and set December 31 of that year as a deadline to reach a definitive agreement.

That announcement brought an end to legal battles between the parties but raised concerns in Washington from lawmakers who are mistrustful of Saudi Arabia and critical of the country's human rights record.

The sides extended the deadline and as talks with the PIF dragged on, outside investor interest in the PGA Tour heated up by way of Strategic Sports Group, which invested an initial $1.5 billion into the for-profit entity PGA Tour Enterprises.

Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed leave LIV Golf

The divide has even captured the attention of US President Donald Trump, an avid golfer who was part of two meetings on the matter at the White House in February 2025 when there was optimism that the schism between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour would be resolved.

In recent months, LIV has lost notable names including five-time major winner Brooks Koepka and former Masters champion Patrick Reed.

Earlier this year, LIV Golf Adelaide set a record as the highest-attended golf tournament in Australian history, with more than 115,000 spectators and in March more than 100,000 fans attended the circuit’s tournament in South Africa, making it the country's highest-ever attended golf event.

With agency inputs