LIV Golf Faces Collapse as PIF Withdraws Funding, Al-Rumayyan Steps Down

Key facts

• Yasir Al-Rumayyan has stepped down as LIV Golf board chairman.
• PIF will cease funding LIV Golf after the 2026 season.
• PIF has committed over $5 billion to LIV since 2022.
• LIV CEO Scott O'Neil informed players and staff of the funding withdrawal.
• The PGA Tour's Returning Member Program, which allowed four LIV players to return, has closed and will not be renewed.
• Bryson DeChambeau sought a contract exceeding Jon Rahm's $300 million, but LIV did not engage.
• Eleven LIV players who joined an antitrust suit against the PGA Tour face additional scrutiny upon return.
• LIV's revenue grew by $100 million in 2026 through sponsorships with HSBC and Salesforce.

The End of Saudi Backing

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is pulling its financial backing from LIV Golf after the 2026 season, a decision that has triggered the resignation of Yasir Al-Rumayyan as chairman of the LIV board. Al-Rumayyan, who founded the league alongside Greg Norman nearly five years ago, stepped down according to three people briefed on the matter. Wednesday that LIV would inform staff and players on Thursday of the PIF's withdrawal, and the London Telegraph added that CEO Scott O'Neil had already communicated the move to some players and staff. Al-Rumayyan's departure marks a symbolic end to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund's aggressive push into professional golf. He was instrumental in negotiating the 2023 framework agreement with the PGA Tour and attended a White House meeting in early 2025 with President Trump, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Tiger Woods, and Adam Scott. His exit comes as O'Neil actively seeks outside investment to keep the league afloat beyond 2027.

Players Seek a Path Back to the PGA Tour

Representatives for multiple LIV players have contacted the PGA Tour to discuss a potential return.that a path back exists but will be considerably more restrictive than the one granted to Brooks Koepka. Koepka returned to the tour in January via the 'Returning Member Program,' a performance-based pathway for players who had been away for at least two years and had won a major between 2022 and 2025. Only three other LIV players qualified: Cam Smith, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau. All three passed on the opportunity, and the window closed on February 2 with no guarantee of a second offer. With LIV's collapse imminent, the Returning Member Program will not be renewed. 'The situation is different now,' the PGA Tour source said. Even the path that Patrick Reed faced—a one-year ban from his last LIV appearance—may not be available. The PGA Tour will sort returning LIV players into categories based on their membership status when they left, with those who resigned facing different terms than those who never officially resigned.

The Antitrust Litigation Complicates Returns

The 11 players who joined the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, including Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch, and Ian Poulter, are expected to face additional scrutiny. Resentment over the litigation persists within the tour's membership. 'I don’t necessarily have scar tissue, but there are plenty of people around our tour who do,' PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp told the Wall Street Journal. 'It has to be accounted for in some shape or form.' DeChambeau's situation is particularly complex. In the weeks before the Masters, his representatives approached LIV about a new deal, seeking a figure well above $300 million contract. LIV did not engage at that level. DeChambeau has since become noncommittal about his future, saying his current deal runs through year's end and noting, 'as long as LIV is here, I would figure out a way for it to make sense.' Sources say his view has shifted, and he now regards LIV as having underdelivered on its initial vision. A return to the PGA Tour is complicated by the antitrust litigation and his own past discomfort with the tour's regulations, though he is reportedly open to changes Rolapp has introduced.

Rahm's Ryder Cup Eligibility Hangs in the Balance

Jon Rahm's return is complicated by an ongoing dispute over membership reinstatement on the DP World Tour, which affects his eligibility for the 2027 Ryder Cup. The DP World Tour has been working to find him a path back, but Rahm has not made that easy. At the Masters, he was unapologetic and gave no indication of softening his position. The PGA Tour's view is consistent: Rahm's exit at the end of 2023 may have prolonged the conflict by a full year, providing LIV with validation when it was on the ropes. Should LIV collapse in 2027, Rahm's only option may be a humbled return to the DP World Tour—if a door remains open. Both Rahm and DeChambeau were offered a defined pathway back through the Returning Member Program and declined. Readmitting them now, not because they have reconsidered the benefits of the tour but because LIV's collapse has eliminated their alternatives, would carry a different meaning. It would amount to the tour absorbing players on terms set by circumstance rather than by the program Rolapp put in place earlier this year.

LIV's Financial Future and the Search for New Investors

With PIF withdrawing its funding, LIV's ability to secure replacement capital is an open question. PIF has committed over $5 billion to LIV since its 2022 launch, with limited evidence of a path to profitability and no meaningful television rights deal in a major market. Any prospective investor would inherit a venture that the world's most aggressive sovereign wealth fund concluded was no longer worth sustaining. In the current sports media environment, where valuations have softened, negotiations will be difficult. LIV CEO Scott O'Neil has been touting the league's growth in revenue by $100 million in 2026 through sponsorships with companies like HSBC and Salesforce. However, even in a best-case scenario involving new ownership, the process of identifying a buyer, conducting due diligence, and restructuring financial commitments would likely extend beyond the current funding runway. O'Neil has already signaled that a future LIV may not look like the present. In the interim, LIV contracts may go unfulfilled, more events may be reduced or canceled, and players weighing a return to the PGA Tour or DP World Tour will face a closing window.

Precedent and the PGA Tour's Authority

The PGA Tour is undergoing significant structural changes to its schedule, governance, and competitive model. Internally, there is concern that readmitting LIV players on terms dictated by circumstance rather than by the Returning Member Program would signal that the tour is willing to revise its own framework under pressure. That impression is one that Rolapp can ill afford as he attempts to consolidate authority and credibility early in his tenure. The path off the LIV roster may not move as quickly as the path onto it once did. The tour's rules and regulations include different categories of membership, and some LIV players violated those regulations on their way out. The tour will sort returning players into categories such as former members and those who never held status on the tour at all. The antitrust litigants face additional hurdles. The coming months will determine whether the PGA Tour can absorb the defectors without undermining its own governance—and whether LIV's players can find a way back at all.

The bottom line

• PIF will end its funding of LIV Golf after the 2026 season, and Al-Rumayyan has stepped down as chairman.
• The PGA Tour's Returning Member Program, which allowed four LIV players to return, has closed and will not be renewed.
• LIV players face a more restrictive path back to the PGA Tour, with antitrust litigants under extra scrutiny.
• Jon Rahm's Ryder Cup eligibility is at risk due to his DP World Tour dispute, and Bryson DeChambeau's return is complicated by his past and pending litigation.
• LIV's search for new investors faces a difficult market, with over $5 billion already spent and no path to profitability.
• The PGA Tour's willingness to bend its rules for returning LIV players could set a precedent that undermines its authority.