PIF perform yet another major U-turn on LIV Golf funding

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The Saudi Public Investment Fund may have altered their approach towards pulling their financial support for LIV Golf.

Tyrrell Hatton pipped Legion XII teammate Jon Rahm, one of the superstars recruited by PIF on a $300m contract to promote their breakaway league, in LIV Golf Andalucia at Real Club Valderrama on Sunday.

He takes home a $20m bounty as a result. And that is the kind of purse that has made the PIF-backed competition at large so wildly unsustainable.

When the Saudis were content to underwrite LIV’s annual losses of around $500m, the prize money was no issue, nor were the mind-bending player contracts, the league’s legal fees or other operational expenses.

But that changed when, at the end of April, PIF announced that they were withdrawing funding for LIV at the end of the 2026 season.

However, it appears that the doomsday clock has just ticked forward.

Front Office Sports – a respected industry publication specialising in sports business and finance – reports that PIF’s petrodollars could dry up much sooner, with all four of the tour’s four remaining events on the line.

It is said that LIV receives funding from its Saudi paymasters on a monthly basis, as opposed to quarterly or annually. That means that, should PIF turn off the tap, the events programme would be unable to continue. At least, not without another source of funding.

On that note, LIV’s bosses are seeking up to $350m in fresh capital to keep the lights on, though any bailout from would-be backers – who are currently being courted by the investment bank Ducera Partners – would come with conditions attached.

Next season’s schedule would be scaled back to 10 events, down from 14, for example. Some of LIV’s players could also take equity in the league in exchange for waiving certain fees or even providing their own capital to jumpstart the otherwise-doomed tournament.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is also a material possibility, with LIV reportedly considering re-headquartering in the United States, where the insolvency process could give them some grace and time to restructure as they are chased by creditors.