Saudi Arabia on verge of pulling LIV Golf support, say reports

LIV Golf might be losing Saudi Arabia as a key financial backer, according to a report in the Financial Times.

An announcement on Saudi Arabia’s support for LIV could come Thursday, the newspaper said in citing people familiar with the matter.

The move would likely bring an end to the breakaway league that fractured professional golf by luring top players with big paychecks, fundamentally altering the economics of the sport.

LIV’s Saudi backers have been keen for the league to continue in some form, especially after sinking so much money into it, but are unwilling to keep funding the competition indefinitely if it keeps up its rate of losses, people with direct knowledge of the strategy of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) said earlier this year.

LIV Golf executives have been called to a meeting in New York after speculation of LIV’s future had been circulating on social media on Tuesday. Officials from the tour declined to comment on the matter.

LIV’s next event in Mexico City is due to begin as planned on Thursday, although the Daily Telegraph reported earlier that the tour’s senior leadership were all absent having been diverted to New York. Many of LIV’s senior personnel, including chief executive Scott O’Neil, were at Augusta for the Masters last week and have remained in the US.

LIV has been under pressure for some time owing to its inability to agree a merger with the PGA Tour three years after signing a so-called “framework agreement”, with that stand-off compounded by the desire of the Saudi PIF to cut costs.

PIF released details of a new five-year economic strategy earlier this week with the emphasis on sustainable investment that will deliver financial and infrastructure returns domestically, a model at odds with the free-spending, disruptive internationalism epitomised by LIV.

PIF has spent over $5 billion on LIV since its 2021 launch, but prize money and bonus payments have been reduced significantly this year. While some of the biggest names in golf including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio García and Bryson DeChambeau left the PGA and DP World tours for LIV, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed returned to the PGA Tour this year, while DeChambeau has refused to sign a new deal.

A source who has worked with the Saudi Ministry of Sports on several projects said that as well as domestic projects such as the 2034 World Cup, PIF is focusing its sports budget on football and esport, with golf no longer a priority.

In another indication of its direction of travel, PIF is ending its relationship with the Women’s Tennis Association, and its three-year deal to host the WTA finals in Riyadh will not be extended after it expires in November.

The LIV rumours began on Tuesday with a post on X from the golf account Monday Q Info, run by the respected journalist Ryan French, in which he claimed that multiple sources had informed him that “a bombshell announcement on LIV’s future is imminent”. French went further when speaking on X Spaces later on Tuesday night, claiming he had heard that LIV is “shutting down”.

LIV players and officials appear to be in the dark, with García telling the media in Mexico that they have not received an update. “Frankly, we haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir [al-Rumayyan] already told us at the beginning of the year,” said García. “That is, he’s behind us, that they have a project of many years. There are always many rumours. I can’t comment on anything more than what we know.”

No pre-tournament press conferences took place on Tuesday with LIV suffering technical difficulties owing to an alleged power failure at the venue. However, it appeared to be business as usual for the players on Wednesday with the pro-am tournament teeing off as scheduled. – Bloomberg & Guardian

Click here to read article