EDITORIAL – LIV GOLF FACES CHALLENGING SURVIVAL SCENARIO FOR 2027

When LIV Golf first came upon the scene, it wasn’t received warmly in the realm of professional golf. The PGA Tour reacted by banning LIV players from playing in PGA Tour events, and soon some of the players became afterthoughts as television ratings were poor. Yet, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) supplied the cash to keep the new tour running, handing out astronomical sums of money to players.

However, that gravy train is ending after 2026, and maybe even sooner. LIV Golf’s main model of making money – selling team franchises to investors – was always a questionable one, and the PIF has now agreed as it will no longer provide funding to the tour after this year. Whether LIV Golf survives in 2027 remains to be seen, but if it does, it certainly won’t have the prize money and contracts with players it does now. There is plenty of room for another tour in the golf landscape, and LIV golf events have always been well-attended, but competing against the PGA Tour has always been a tall task, one that LIV failed to succeed at.