LIV Golf's end may be imminent after report signals Saudi Arabia is preparing to cut off funding

It appears Saudi Arabia has reached its spending limit on LIV Golf.

The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sole funding source of the breakaway golf circuit, announced a new five-year investment strategy Wednesday with a focus on reprioritizing spending, and spending hundreds of millions more dollars on LIV Golf doesn't seem to be part of the plan.

The Financial Times has reported that the PIF is "on the verge of cutting its support" for LIV Golf. An announcement regarding Saudi involvement — or lack thereof — with LIV could come as soon as Thursday, according to the report.

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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 look to use the ongoing war in Iran as a "force majeure" to cut off LIV's funding.

LIV Golf's immediate future would be 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 the great unknown, as is what the future of its many players may look like.

The potentially sport-shifting news comes after many months of speculation that operationally – both front-facing and behind the scenes – things had reached a tipping point in terms of spending, big-name players leaving the circuit and overall interest in LIV Golf hitting a standstill.

In late February, it was reported that LIV Golf's net spending per month averaged $100 million in 2024 and 2025. For the 2026 season, LIV's fifth, Saudi PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan reportedly approved a fresh $266.6 million capital injection into the circuit, bringing the Saudi PIF's cumulative investment in LIV Golf to $5.3 billion since 2021.

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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 funds for the season, and the net spend of $100 million per month. The Saudi PIF's cumulative investment was set to blow past $6 billion by the end of 2026.

While minor details compared to billions in spending, LIV shifted 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 receiving OWGR points made their paths into golf's major championships more accessible. 

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka and former Masters champion Patrick Reed delivered a significant blow to LIV with surprising exits from the circuit in January 2026. Koepka has already returned to the Tour via its Returning Members Program, while Reed is set to earn his Tour card back ahead of the 2027 PGA Tour season. 

Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton were the headline players for the circuit this season.

LIV is set to host a tournament in Mexico City beginning Thursday. As rumors of a bombshell announcement regarding the circuit's future began to gain traction, a report Wednesday from The Telegraph explained that LIV Golf executives had been called to a meeting in New York, and none of the execs were on site in Mexico on Tuesday.

LIV Golf held its inaugural event in England in June 2022. After the PGA Tour spent the better part of a year distancing itself from the circuit in every conceivable way, the Tour announced a merger with LIV Golf three days ahead of the circuit's one-year anniversary. 

The 2023 announcement signaled the start of a partnership that combined the tour's own business with the Saudi Public Investment Fund's commercial businesses 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 said LIV Golf would technically be dissolved, with the PIF picking up a seat at the table that operates the PGA Tour and professional golf.

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