LIV Golf suffers severe power outage and loses two hours of coverage on week of chaos

Technical difficulties caused the live stream of LIV Mexico to cut out as a nightmare week for the Saudi-funded circuit continued.

LIV Golf‘s future has been thrown into major doubt this week after rumours emerged that it could be set to lose its funding from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) at the end of the season.

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On Wednesday, it was reported that executives for the breakaway league had been summoned to an ’emergency meeting’ in New York.

Further reports then claimed that PIF – which has poured around $5billion into the circuit since its inception in 2022 – was on the brink of pulling its investment.

Despite growing doubts, its latest event, LIV Mexico, got underway at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City on Thursday.

However, just minutes after the live stream of the competition began on LIV’s YouTube channel, coverage cut out.

Viewers tuning in to the broadcast saw their screens go black, before being shown the message: ‘Please stand by. Technical issues’.

‘Can’t afford the electricity bill’

In a statement, LIV Golf put the technical issues down to the impact of local power outages, with it taking several hours before coverage resumed.

Posting on X two hours after the outage began, the tour wrote: “We know many of you were tuning in, and we’re sorry for the disruption.

“We’re experiencing technical difficulties due to local power outages which is impacting our broadcast feed. We’re working on a resolution and hope to be back on air as soon as possible.”

This prompted fans online to joke that PIF had already withdrawn their funding, causing the power blackout.

Replying to LIV’s initial tweet, one wrote: “Can’t afford the electricity bill all of a sudden?

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Another chimed in: “Maybe the Saudi cheques bounced.”

Continuing the joke, a third commented: “PIF did it. They turned the lights out. Lol.”

LIV’s statement putting the feed disruption down to a power outage was made all the more suspicious by the fact music blared from speakers at the event while television screens displayed throughout the venue remained operable.

The live stream was eventually fixed, hours after the broadcast had initially cut off.

Before the start of the event in Mexico, LIV broadcasters Arlo White and David Feherty had dismissed reports that the league was on the brink of collapse, with White calling them ‘greatly exaggerated’.

A TV interview with LIV CEO Scott O’Neil conducted by the two presenters was later aired, with the league executive not addressing Saudi Arabia or the league’s funding.

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O’Neil said: “If we keep the trajectory going the way we are and the revenue growth going, this is going to be a really good business for a really long time.”

Rahm remains unfazed

A number of high-profile PGA Tour stars have defected to join the lucrative LIV since its unveiling five years ago.

They included major champions Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith.

Rahm is reported to have earned £64million since joining the series in 2023, and he has now shared his thoughts on the uncertainty surrounding the circuit’s future.

Speaking to Spanish press after the first round of the LIV event in Mexico City, the two-time major winner remained calm.

He said: “Until the people in charge told me whether the rumours were true or not, for me, it didn’t make sense to think about it or waste time thinking about it.

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“We were here – we knew we were going to play, so the idea was to prepare for a tournament. And that’s it.

“Since everything happened so suddenly and so quickly, I wasn’t very worried about it because normally, before the rumors start, we already know something.

“There’s always someone within the league who knows something. It happened so fast that I really didn’t worry about it.”