Long LIV or will PIF pull the plug and let it die?
LIV CEO calls swelling reports of breakway league's demise 'false;' Stray Shots: Masters
LIV Golf says it will go on with the show this week in Mexico City (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
LIV Golf’s shotgun start in Mexico City is set to go this afternoon. But if the reports are true they could be “dead men walking” to their respective tees — assuming they show up for work.
What started as a rumble when Ryan French, the journalist behind Monday Q Info, began tweeting about a “bombshell” annoucement from the Saudi-backed league has swelled into a full-blown tsunami of reports that the deep-pocketed Public Investment Fund might be pulling its funding of the breakaway league.
It is by no means business as usual at LIV despite the show presumably going on in Mexico City this week.
LIV staffers are in the dark about the league’s future after an unconfirmed reports started circulating Tuesday about the league’s possible demise.
None of the league’s executives were in Mexico City on Tuesday and The Telegraph’s (London) Jamie Corrigan reported that they were summoned to New York for a meeting with PIF representatives, although the reason for the meeting was not announced.
The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the PIF was on the verge of cutting its support for the league. While the Wall Street Journal reported the the league faces “imminent closure” if the PIF pulls out.
In a release on Wednesday, PIF’s board of directors announced that due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East it approved a new five-year investment strategy that will refocus its priorities domestically. LIV was not mentioned in the release.
ESPN reported that LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told staff in an email Wednesday that its season will go on “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported that O’Neil flew to Mexico City Wednesday and communicated to players and personnel that the league is “fully funded through the rest of the year” and said reports of its imminent shutdown are “false.” Later Wednesday, however, the Golf Channel also reported that some LIV golfers are threatening to not play in today’s first round in Mexico City after not being paid for their first-quarter performances.
LIV officials are not commenting publicly. The on-site media center in Mexico City was closed days ahead of the tournament due to reported power outage and some player interviews were cancelled. Sports Illustrated reported the players have not been given any information and that Wednesday’s pro-am continued as scheduled.
Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs team did have a pre-tournament press conference Wednesday.
“We have not heard anything,” Garcia said. “That is not what [LIV Golf chairman] Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] told us at the beginning of the year, that he is behind us, that they have a project of many years.”
LIV Golf executives, including CEO Scott O’Neil, and several communications team members were in Augusta last week for the Masters, which had 10 players in the field including Tyrrell Hatton, who tied for third.
The PIF has invested and spent billions of dollars since its 2022 launch. A year later, the PIF and the PGA Tour struck a “framework agreement” to drop litigation and negotiate a way to reunite golf. Nearly three years later, nothing has happened.
The Mexico City tournament is the sixth of LIV’s 14-event schedule, which is schedule to play its first domestic event in Virginia the week prior to the PGA Championship.
LIV events in Australia and the recent debut in South Africa enjoyed immense success, though it has struggled to gain any traction with viewers in the U.S. market. It’s last major signing was Jon Rahm in 2024.
Stay tuned. This turbulance isn’t going away soon.
