LIV Golf

What it is

LIV Golf is a Saudi Arabia-funded professional men's golf league that operates a team-based, 54-hole stroke-play format. Each event fields 13 teams of four players, using shotgun starts, no cuts, and prize purses far above conventional tour standards. The league is incorporated as LIV Golf Inc. (United States) and LIV Golf Ltd. (United Kingdom). Its majority owner is Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Yasir Al-Rumayyan and directed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Critics call it "sportswashing," using sport to launder Saudi Arabia's global image. Sponsors as of 2026 include Saudi Aramco, HSBC, MaAden, and Riyadh Air, all with Saudi government ties.

History

The idea of a rival professional golf circuit circulated for years before PIF committed capital in 2021. Greg Norman, the two-time British Open champion from Australia, was appointed founding CEO of LIV Golf Investments. The inaugural event ran in June 2022 at the Centurion Club near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, with a US$25 million prize purse. Within months, it had signed Phil Mickelson (reportedly for around US$200 million), Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau, among other top-ranked players. The US PGA Tour and the European DP World Tour suspended every member who joined. LIV Golf responded by filing a US federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August 2022.

In June 2023, in a surprise joint announcement, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour declared a framework agreement to negotiate a full merger, dropping the litigation. The deal stalled on governance terms: the PGA Tour's membership balked at ceding control to a Saudi government entity, and the US Department of Justice opened an antitrust review. A US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations launched a probe in June 2023 into the PIF's role in US golf. In April 2025, the subcommittee's minority staff report alleged the PIF had entered merger negotiations primarily to forestall antitrust discovery, noting that serious talks began on April 14, 2023, just one week after a California federal judge ruled the PIF and Al-Rumayyan were subject to deposition. In early 2025, PIF presented a fresh offer of US$1.5 billion to the PGA Tour; the PGA Tour rejected it, citing governance concerns.

Greg Norman's contract expired in August 2025. Scott O'Neil, a former CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils parent company, was appointed LIV Golf CEO in early 2025.

Current state

As of mid-2026, LIV Golf is running its fourth competitive season. In April 2026, PIF announced it would end funding of the league after the 2026 season, having poured an estimated US$5 billion into the venture with no financial return. O'Neil is actively seeking alternative investors and exploring structural options to sustain the circuit. Events continue across the United States, Europe, and Asia, with the corporate sponsorship base anchored by Saudi government-linked entities. The proposed PGA Tour merger remains unresolved.

Relationships

PIF's ownership links LIV Golf to Saudi Arabia's wider sports-investment strategy, which spans a stake in Newcastle United in the English Premier League, rights to Formula 1 races at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and heavyweight boxing world-title promotions. The PGA Tour's relationship with LIV Golf shifted from litigation adversaries (2022 to mid-2023) to merger partners in principle (June 2023 onward) to an unresolved stalemate. The DP World Tour backed the PGA Tour against LIV Golf. US regulatory and legislative attention, from the Department of Justice and two Senate subcommittees, has made LIV Golf one of the more politically scrutinized sports organizations in the United States.

What to watch

The central question for late 2026 is whether LIV Golf can secure a buyer or alternative funding structure before PIF withdraws, or whether the circuit effectively winds down. A collapse would leave top players without a tour and push reinstatement talks with the PGA Tour from a weaker position. Any fresh PGA Tour-PIF framework would still require US Department of Justice antitrust clearance, which remains uncertain. Watch also for PGA Tour membership votes on reinstatement terms for LIV players, and for whether Saudi Arabia redirects its sports capital toward other properties, such as men's tennis or the 2034 FIFA World Cup that Saudi Arabia is scheduled to host.