PIF gives new cash injection to sports project just weeks after pulling funds for LIV Golf

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LIV Golf is on the brink.

At the end of April, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced that they would only fund LIV for the remainder of the season.

With four events of 2026 remaining, starting with the England leg of the swing in July, reports suggest that PIF could even pull funding before the season’s end.

For PIF, the breakaway league has been a monumentally expensive failure.

They have plunged more than $5bn into LIV with a view to supplanting the PGA Tour as the most glamorous, commercially lucrative property in golf.

Even in the context of a portfolio of assets worth over $900bn, that is a lot of money, especially at a time when so-called giga-projects are being scaled back and Saudi Arabia’s cultural and financial credibility is waning. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has now instructed PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan to focus on domestic investments, as opposed to expensive moonshots abroad.

LIV – who gave the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau hundreds of millions of dollars in contract money and even more in prize purses to join their team-based, 14-event league – have been one of the victims of PIF’s subsequent recalibration.

But the sovereign wealth fund have not given up on sport. Far from it. They will stage the 2034 FIFA World Cup, continue to play sugar daddy for the Premier League’s Newcastle United and are investing in media rights within sport’s global ecosystem.

Sponsorship, too, is one easy win for PIF.

Today, the Lawn Tennis Association announced that the Public Investment Fund would sponsor the HSBC Championship at Queen’s Club in London.

They have sprawling influence in tennis, partnering with the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as sponsoring the world rankings and playing host to a Masters 1000, the highest honour in tennis after the four slams.

The deal comes days after Serena Williams, the 44-year-old all-time great, announced she would make her return to tennis at Queen’s.

So, even if PIF are retreating from sports at large, expect them to retain at least some presence in golf, just as they are tennis.