LIV Golf as it's existed for the last five years — loud, brash, funded by billions from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund — reached its final conclusion at the end of its 2026 season last weekend. Now the organization is attempting to move on without Saudi funding, and the first effects of that transition are coming clear, starting with a substantial layoff of the majority of LIV Golf's workforce in the first week of September.
"The funding commitment announced by PIF earlier this year will reach its conclusion. As a result, we are scaling back operations as we transition to the next chapter of LIV Golf and work toward making LIV 2.0 a reality," a LIV Golf source said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. "This week, we informed many of our colleagues that their employment under LIV 1.0 will end in the first week of September. We are grateful to our employees for their hard work and dedication in building LIV Golf, and we remain committed to supporting those affected through this transition."
The PIF announced in April that it would be ending the funding of LIV Golf at the end of the 2026 season. LIV is now in the process of securing funding for future operations, though that is by no means certain. The proposed LIV Golf 2.0 would include 10 events for the 2027 season, five in the United States and five at international locations. LIV has already seen substantial success in international markets such as South Africa and Australia, drawing six-figure galleries.
The news that LIV will need to make substantial infrastructure changes comes as no surprise; the Saudi billions will be impossible to replace. LIV CEO Scott O'Neil has hinted at this reality in recent press conferences.
"This group has been under enormous pressure. We don't often control our destiny, and we are trying to do and be the best kind and type of people and partners that we built our careers on, our reputations on and our character on," he said. "We don't run, we don't hide. We just do what we can with what we have, and we're doing the best we can with that."
The transition to a LIV 2.0 model is expected to take months to finalize. While LIV officials are projecting optimism, and have hinted at the possibility of reinstating many of the employees affected by this layoff, substantial challenges to the league's future still exist.
