LIV Golf's New Orleans event cancelled weeks after CEO vowed season would go on 'full throttle'

PGA Tour announcer Doug Bell discusses reports that the Saudi Public Investment Fund will cease funding the LIV Golf league after the current season, jeopardizing its future. LIV Golf has incurred reported losses between $6 and $9 billion since its 2021 launch, surprising many agents and players. This significant financial shift underscores a broader reevaluation of investment priorities by Saudi Arabia.

The LIV Golf Tour seems to be at a major turning point. 

Rumors swirled about the breakaway golf format over the last few weeks, when reports broke that an announcement was imminent about the future of the Tour and its relationship with the Saudi Arabia-backed Public Investment Fund. 

Then, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil confirmed that the Saudis would be pulling their financial support for LIV after the end of the 2026 season. While most have assumed that would mean the end of the league entirely, O’Neil told TNT Sports that he had a "business plan" to keep the league going. 

"The reality is 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. But that's not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of man," O'Neil said.

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Whether the league can secure funding from other sources after the season remains to be seen, but O’Neil was adamant in an internal memo that the remainder of the 2026 season would go on "exactly as planned, uninterrupted, and full throttle."

Well, that’s officially no longer the case.

Bryson DeChambeau reacts on the second green during day one of LIV Golf Mexico City at Club de Golf