When LIV Golf was first started, many golf fans wondered what the future of golf would look like and if LIV might be it. However, with the cut of funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, due to the league no longer ‘fitting with the Saudi’s investment strategy’, it looks like LIV golf might not have a future of its own.
LIV Golf has been controversial since its start in 2022 in part due to the league straying from traditional golf, but primarily due to the source of its funding. LIV Golf is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is unpopular for numerous reasons. Through this funding, however, the league is able to pay its players multi-year contracts up to $300 million such as the case of Jon Rahm. The funding gave LIV the ability to make more money through the season depending on how much the players won.
Despite what the player salaries might suggest, the league has lost money every one of its five seasons. In 2024, the league lost $590.1 million and since its founding, has lost $1.4 billion. It is clear that the league is not profitable and has not made a single dollar in its four years of hosting tournaments. While the exact amount of money the league pays its players is not disclosed to the public, it has been estimated that the players have been paid 11 times the revenue the league has generated. The league is a massive money pit and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will be pulling its financial support at the end of this season after pouring in anywhere from $5 billion to $8 billion for five years.
With large purses and the ‘team’ aspect that the LIV golf league brings, it is understandable how it is appealing to some. However, many have strong feelings about the league and the players that diverged from the traditional league. One player who has been particularly vocal in their dislike for the league and its players is Rory McIlroy. He was the first player to speak out against the league and has been quoted saying “I still hate LIV. I hate them. I hope it goes away and I would fully expect that it does.” and “If LIV Gold was the last place on Earth to play golf, I would retire.” McIlroy has shown his extremely strong feelings about the league and he is not the only one. Other big names in the golf world such as Tiger Woods and Tom Watson have publicly condemned the league.
For a variety of reasons, many professional golfers have joined LIV Golf. The league has 57 golfers with 52 team players on 13 teams of four and five wild card players. The league boasts many big names such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau. However A few players, such as Brooks Koepka, have made their way back, or attempted to, to the PGA tour. When LIV Golf started, PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, suspended any players who chose to join LIV Golf indefinitely but later created some paths for players to rejoin the Tour. Now that LIV Golf may be coming to an end, more pathways have been announced, such as paying steep fines, charity payments, suspensions or making their way back to the league the way first time players would through the Korn Ferry tour. In the case of Koepka, he returned through the Returning Member Program, which forced him to make a $5 million charity donation, giving up his share of the PGA Tour’s Player Equity Program, which could cost him around $50-$85 million in earnings and he was ineligible for some tournaments after his reinstatement.
One player who embodies the ‘new era’ of golf is Bryson DeChambeau. With his successful YouTube channel and participation in LIV golf, he most certainly has subscribed to ‘modern’ golf. DeChambeau joined the PGA tour in 2016 and left to join LIV golf in 2022, competing on the Crushers GC. He has a massive following on social media with 4.5 million followers on Instagram and 2.7 million on YouTube. He is famous for his unconventional swing and videos where he golfs with celebrities or tries to break public golf course records. While it might seem like golf is heading in a more modern direction, I believe there will always be traditionalists, like myself, who enjoy watching the PGA tour.
