Reports of LIV Golf’s demise may have been exaggerated, but the once-touted rival to the PGA Tour is definitely on life support.
After viral rumors that LIV Golf was going out of business swept across the internet earlier this week, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil revealed the true state of affairs: LIV Golf will go on, for this year. But anything beyond that is up in the air.
“The reality is that you’re funded through the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going,” O’Neil said in an interview with TNT Sports UK.
“But that’s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of mankind.”
Oddly, TNT Sports UK posted O’Neil’s comments on X and then deleted them.
Perhaps the comments were pulled because, while the substance is similar, the comments were far more dour than those shared by O’Neil in an email released to the media after rumors that LIV Golf was going out of business began swirling earlier this week.
“I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O’Neil wrote in the email shared by multiple outlets. “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.
“The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure. We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is responsible for the lion’s share of LIV’s funding. That funding is currently under review as the PIF reassesses its investments.
LIV has eight tournaments scheduled after Mexico City, with the season concluding in Michigan on Aug. 30.
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