LIV CEO dismisses ‘speculation,’ confirms ’26 season remains unchanged.

In light of reports suggesting that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may be close to withdrawing its financial support for the league, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil informed staff via email on Wednesday that the season will proceed “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”

The email, which ESPN acquired, did not specifically address the claims regarding PIF potentially ceasing its investments in the breakaway league after contributing over $5 billion since its launch in 2022.

“I want to be perfectly clear: Our season continues precisely as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O’Neil stated in the email. “Although the media landscape is frequently filled with speculation, our reality is shaped by the efforts we make on the course. We are entering the core of our 2026 schedule with the full vigor of an organization that is larger, louder, and more influential than ever.”

LIV Golf is set to commence its sixth tournament of the season on Thursday at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico. Its inaugural tournament in the U.S. is slated for May 7-10 at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

“The journey of a startup movement is often characterized by these moments of pressure,” O’Neil noted. “We embarked on this path because we believe in challenging the status quo. We have encountered obstacles from the outset, and we have responded each time with resilience and composure. Now, we respond by doing what we excel at: delivering the most captivating show in sports.”

A source familiar with the matter informed ESPN that the LIV Golf season is “continuing as planned” and that the league’s executives were present in Mexico City on Wednesday.

The Financial Times and other media outlets reported on Wednesday that the PIF was nearing a decision to withdraw its funding for LIV Golf.

The league had pledged to offer a more entertaining version of professional golf, featuring shotgun starts, 54-hole events, and simultaneous team and individual competitions.

While LIV Golf has attracted large audiences to its tournaments in Australia, South Africa, and other international locations, it has faced challenges in establishing a presence in the U.S. It has experienced low television ratings and limited commercial revenue from its broadcasting agreements with The CW and Fox Sports.

Additionally, it has struggled to secure contracts for hosting its events at top-rated golf courses in the U.S., which has disappointed many of its prominent players, who felt they were not adequately preparing for major championships.

The PIF has invested over $5 billion in LIV Golf since 2022, reportedly spending around $100 million per month over the past three years. A significant portion of that funding was allocated to golfers’ contracts and tournament purses, which increased from $25 million to $30 million this season, with the additional $5 million directed toward team purses.

With guaranteed contracts reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars, LIV Golf successfully attracted former major champions such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and others away from the PGA Tour.

Former world No. 1 Greg Norman, aided by six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, recruited numerous former PGA Tour members to the new breakaway league, which held its inaugural tournament at The Centurion Club in England in June 2022.

Norman was the first CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf; O’Neil, the CEO of Merlin Entertainments, succeeded Norman in January 2025.

Norman characterized LIV Golf as a “disruptor” and an advocate for players’ rights, asserting that golfers should have the freedom to compete anywhere in the world rather than being restricted to a single tour.

The then-PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspended over 30 golfers for participating in LIV Golf tournaments without conflicting-events releases.

Eleven LIV Golf players, including DeChambeau, initiated a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August 2022, alleging that it used its monopoly power to suppress competition and influenced vendors, media companies, and others to avoid collaborating with LIV Golf. The PGA Tour subsequently countersued LIV Golf, accusing it of interfering with its contracts with players.

The legal situation took a surprising turn in June 2023 when the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the DP World Tour signed a framework agreement to form an alliance and advance a larger commercial enterprise. The parties stated that the agreement resolved all pending litigation between them. LIV Golf was prepared to invest as much as $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the tour’s new for-profit entity.

Monahan faced significant criticism for secretly negotiating the agreement and keeping PGA Tour members uninformed. The deal was also examined by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee, which conducted a three-hour hearing in July 2023 to investigate the proposed merger. Senators expressed concerns regarding “sportswashing,” antitrust matters, and Saudi influence in the U.S.

The PGA Tour and the PIF collaborated for over a year to finalize the agreement, including meetings at the White House with President Donald Trump, but a merger was never completed. The parties did not reach an agreement, and the PGA Tour instead struck a deal with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire sports team owners, to inject up to $3 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises.

LIV Golf faced several setbacks before this season when Koepka, a five-time major champion, requested to be released from his contract to return to the PGA Tour. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, also chose not to renew his contract and intends to return to the PGA Tour this fall.

Koepka returned to the PGA Tour as part of its new Returning Member Program, which allowed LIV golfers who had been away from the tour for at least two years—and who had won the Players Championship or one of the four majors (the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship) since 2022—to return under specific conditions and with substantial financial penalties.

DeChambeau, Rahm, and Smith were also eligible to return but opted to remain with LIV Golf. The window for their return closed on February 2. At that time, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, who succeeded Monahan, described the program as a “one-time, defined window and is not a precedent for future situations.”

In February, O’Neil successfully secured LIV Golf’s inclusion in the Official World Golf Ranking, which is now awarding world-ranking points to the top 10 finishers and ties in its events.