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It seems that Saudi Arabia has reached its spending limit on LIV Golf.
The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sole financier of the breakaway golf course, announced on Wednesday a new five-year investment strategy focused on reprioritizing spending, and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on LIV Golf does not appear to be part of the plan.
The Financial Times has reported that the PIF is “on the brink of cutting support” to LIV Golf. An announcement about Saudi involvement – or lack thereof – with LIV could come as soon as Thursday, according to the report.
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Bryson DeChambeau of Crushers GC plays during day four of LIV Golf South Africa at The Club at Steyn City in Johannesburg, South Africa on March 22, 2026. (Johan Rynners/Getty Images)
Author and longtime golf reporter Alan Shipnuck also relayed a message on X from a player’s agent that Mohammed bin Salman, the ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, could be looking at using the ongoing war in Iran as a “force majeure” to cut off LIV’s funding.
LIV Golf’s immediate future would be completely up in the air if the Saudi PIF were to cut off funding. How or if the league will continue to operate, and in what capacity, is largely unknown, as is the future of its many players.
The potentially sport-changing news comes after months of speculation that operationally – both in front and behind the scenes – things had reached a tipping point in terms of spending, big name players leaving the course and general interest in LIV Golf coming to a standstill.
At the end of February, it was reported that LIV Golf’s net consumption per month average was $100 million in 2024 and 2025. For the 2026 season, LIV’s fifth Saudi PIF Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan reportedly approved a new capital injection of $266.6 million into the circuit, bringing LIV cu PIF investment to $5 billion in the Gulf. 2021.
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A general view of the LIV GOLF logo during Round 1 of the LIV Golf Invitational Series on July 29, 2022 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Saudi PIF reportedly injected north of $1 billion into LIV Golf in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025. The $266 million injection to begin 2026, an increase in prize money for the season, and the net spend of $100 million per month, was the Saudi PIF’s cumulative $26 billion investment at the end of $6 billion.
While minor details compared to billions in spending, LIV switched from its original tournament format of playing 54-hole events to 72-hole events beginning in 2026, resulting in the league being recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system for the first time since its inception. Players who received OWGR points made their paths to golf’s major championships more accessible.
Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, along with former Masters champion Patrick Reed, delivered a significant blow to LIV with surprise exits from the circuit in January 2026. Kopepka has already returned to the Tour via its Returning Members program, while Reed is poised to earn back his Tour card ahead of the 2027 PGA Tour season.
Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton headlined the circuit this season.
Brooks Koepka on the 11th hole at The Old White at the Greenbrier on August 18, 2024. (Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports)
LIV will host a tournament in Mexico City beginning on Thursday. As rumors of a bombshell announcement regarding the circuit’s future began to gain traction, a Wednesday report from The Telegraph explained that LIV Golf executives had been called to a meeting in New York and none of the executives were on site in Mexico on Tuesday.
LIV Golf held its inaugural event in England in June 2022. After the PGA Tour spent most of a year distancing itself from the course in every way imaginable, the Tour announced a merger with LIV Golf three days before the course’s one-year anniversary. The 2023 announcement signaled the start of a partnership combining the Tour’s own business with the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s commercial business and rights (including LIV Golf) as well as the DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.
Aside from the announcement of the merger, there had been few updates on what the next steps would look like for the partnership. The Tour’s official statement announcing the merger stated that LIV Golf would technically be disbanded, with PIF picking up a very large seat at the table running the PGA Tour and professional golf.
