LIV Golf on the brink as Saudis pull funding to leave Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm in limbo

LIV Golf will not be funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund [PIF] beyond this season, plunging its future into doubt.

The breakaway project now faces an existential crisis which could leave Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and all of its players stranded.

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After weeks of speculation about Saudi Arabia withdrawing its financial support, the Wall Street Journal reports the decision will be made official on Thursday, with players and staff set to be informed.

It is understood LIV Golf are already in talks with new investors after CEO Scott O’Neil promised to keep the organisation alive.

“The reality is that you’re funded through the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going,” O’Neil said at LIV Golf Mexico, in an interview which was then removed by TNT Sports.

“But that’s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of mankind.”

It is difficult to see how LIV Golf can continue in its current guise, given the PIF lost billions on the league.

LIV Golf will need to find an investor willing to put up hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money – while funding some of the most lucrative player contracts in sport – with little prospect of a return.

The news comes after four years of disruption in the world of golf and surely marks a significant victory for those who remained loyal to the PGA Tour.

LIV Golf launched in 2022 and attracted a number of high-profile names with lucrative signing bonuses and huge tournament purses, bankrolled by the PIF.

Packaged as ‘golf but louder’, it has tried to reimagine the professional game with 54-hole events, shotgun starts, team elements – and even allowed its players to wear shorts.

Defecting members of the PGA Tour were immediately suspended and the DP World Tour issued sanctions which were later upheld in court.

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LIV Golf was initially unable to qualify for Official World Golf Ranking points and subsequently struggled to establish itself as a serious product.

At the height of its influence, the PGA Tour came close to striking a peace deal in 2023, but instead found new big-money investors and left LIV Golf behind.

Since then, the league has become increasingly irrelevant, and players started to jump ship at the end of 2025.

Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner, re-joined the PGA Tour as part of a deal that was also offered to DeChambeau, Rahm and Cameron Smith – although they declined.

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has made it clear they will not be welcomed back with open arms.

“There were rules, and they were broken,” PGA Tour chief executive Rolapp said via the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “With rules comes accountability.”

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He added: “I don’t necessarily have scar tissue, but there are plenty of people around our tour who do.

“It has to be accounted for in some shape or form.”

Ex-Masters champion Patrick Reed also left LIV Golf and began his bid to regain PGA Tour status through the DP World Tour.

OWGR points were eventually awarded to LIV Golf events, and they changed from 54-hole events to the traditional 72, but the departures of Koepka and Reed significantly weakened the strength of field.

DeChambeau, the most influential golfer on LIV, has repeatedly refused to fully commit his future to the league beyond the expiration of his contract at the end of this season.

Ultimately, the league finds itself in a situation where it seemingly lacks any purpose other than to line the pockets of Rahm and co.

LIV Golf’s UK arm reported losses of more than $1billion between 2022 and 2024, while the true figure is thought to be significantly higher once the US operation is factored in.

By the end of 2026, the Public Investment Fund will have injected more than $6bn into the project, and CEO O’Neil publicly admitted it would remain in the red for five to ten years.