Golf: Saudi Arabia withdraws from LIV Tour

The official confirmation of the exit followed on Thursday, which is remarkable for the PIF. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which says it manages more than $900 billion, rarely finds itself in a position to reveal anything to the public. Press inquiries tend to be rejected, and Saudi Arabia rarely participates publicly in debates, apparently preferring to settle issues in back rooms. Transparent information apparently does not fit into the self-image of this mysterious-looking sovereign wealth fund. But now a message reports about its own failure.

“The PIF has decided to only finance LIV Golf until the end of the 2026 season,” it said in a statement: “The significant investments that LIV Golf requires in the long term are no longer in line with the current phase of the PIF’s investment strategy.” That was confirmation in black and white of the reports that had been circulating in the media for several weeks. Word of the changes affecting golf had already spread from the back rooms. It now has to largely get by without massive financial participation from Saudi Arabia.

Less than four years have passed since Saudi Arabia launched its own rebellious tour that would change everything. According to its marketing brochure, LIV Golf was intended to be a wild, loud alternative to the PGA Tour in the United States. In truth, it was primarily intended to prove that a state, or rather its fund, can not only act as a sponsor, but can also take over an entire sport. According to estimates, the PIF financed an undertaking with more than five billion US dollars, which brought in losses in the high nine-figure range every year. Most people thought that Saudi Arabia wasn’t interested in money. Until they realized: everything comes to an end, including the desire to play golf on the golf course.

“LIV Golf has significantly advanced the sport of golf worldwide through its transformative and positive effects. It has forever changed the sport of golf for the better,” concludes the PIF itself in farewell. Professional golf has actually changed in recent years, but in what direction is the subject of a debate that is now underway: At one end of the spectrum are those who have always seen oil money as a morally reprehensible risk and warned that golf should not become a plaything for regimes. The majority, however, were the opportunists who willingly collected the money directly from Saudi Arabia or who in a certain way blackmailed the traditional PGA Tour in the USA with ideas of change. You are now standing there exposed and can hardly defend yourself against the accusations.

Fear of unemployment is spreading among LIV golfers

According to consistent media reports, several LIV Tour players have already instructed their agents to negotiate return options: There is currently a certain panic among LIV golfers that they will soon be unemployed. How the established tours in the USA and Europe deal with the returnees will become clear in the coming months. To make matters worse, both tours are currently involved in a legal dispute against several former players: After their departure, the players were sentenced to fines for breach of contract, especially in Europe, but refused to pay. According to insiders, the fronts had recently hardened.

Temporary unemployment for many golfers cannot actually be ruled out: the LIV Tour is currently defiant and wants to find alternative financing options. Will that be enough to fill all those pockets? Hardly, Saudi Arabia’s exit may not be a coincidence this year: the contracts of some well-known LIV players expire at the end of the season and extensions would be costly. According to consistent media reports, the American Bryson DeChambeau is said to be demanding a bonus of half a billion US dollars.

Without Saudi Arabia as a financier, such sums are hardly possible for a tour that suddenly has to function like a normal business enterprise. The LIV Golf project is now in a state of paralysis for the rest of the season, which extends until late summer. Regardless of whether a continuation in a different form succeeds by then, it will be clear to all opportunists in golf at the latest: the good years are over.