LIV Golf plans to continue at full throttle despite doubts over future

LIV Golf has moved to stamp out fresh doubts about its future, insisting the Saudi-backed circuit will press on “uninterrupted and at full throttle” despite growing talk that its financial support could be withdrawn.

The breakaway league, launched in 2021, upended professional golf and quickly established itself as a direct challenger to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

It lured in some of the sport’s biggest stars, among them Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, before later adding leading European figures such as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.

Questions over the league’s future intensified this week after the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was close to ending its backing, while the Telegraph said senior executives had been summoned to an “emergency meeting” in New York.

“I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O’Neill said in the email, according to ESPN.

“While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”

LIV’s next event is being held over the coming days in Mexico City at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Ahead of the tournament, Sergio Garcia told a press conference: “Honestly, we haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir (Al-Rumayyan, LIV Golf chairman) told us at the beginning of the year.

“That he’s behind us, that they have a long-term project. And well, honestly, you know how these rumours are. There are always a lot of them. And I can’t tell you anything more than what we already know.”

When contacted by the Press Association, LIV repeated that its executives are concentrating on this week’s event in Mexico.

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka left LIV earlier this year to rejoin the PGA Tour, while former Masters winner Patrick Reed also departed and is now competing on the DP World Tour as he attempts to earn his way back to the PGA Tour.

LIV’s arrival created a deep rift across the sport. By signing with the Saudi-backed league, European Ryder Cup veterans Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood effectively brought their involvement in the biennial competition to an end after the PGA and DP World Tour sanctioned players who switched sides.

Hatton and Rahm were still able to feature in last year’s Ryder Cup victory in New York because their appeals had not yet been resolved. Hatton settled his dispute with the DP World Tour in February, protecting his Ryder Cup eligibility, but Rahm has still not reached an agreement and, as matters stand, cannot play in next year’s contest at Adare Manor in Limerick.

As scrutiny around LIV continues, the PIF — which owns a majority stake in Premier League club Newcastle — has sold a 70% stake in Saudi club Al Hilal.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bought the stake after previously making private donations to the club that helped finance the January signing of striker Karim Benzema from Al Ittihad.

The PIF, which acquired a majority stake in Newcastle in 2021, also took controlling interests in four Saudi clubs — Al Hilal, Al Ittihad, Al Nassr and Al Ahli — in 2023.

Sources inside the Kingdom have said the plan was always to offload those Pro League holdings once the timing made commercial sense.

Yazeed Al Humied, deputy governor of the PIF, said: “PIF has set ambitious goals for the clubs, enabling them to become successful commercially and professionally and achieve long-term financial sustainability.

“Today’s announcement aligns with PIF’s strategy to maximise returns and redeploy capital within the domestic economy.”

PIF is understood to have kept a 30% stake in Al Hilal.