It looks like LIV Golf is over.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has reportedly decided that this league simply isn’t worth the hole it’s burning in their pocket, and they’re pulling funds at the end of 2026.
That gives them less than a year to seek new investment. While CEO Scott O’Neil seems confident, it’s going to be extremely difficult to secure funding for a league that is operating at such eye-watering losses.
So this probably pulls the curtain closed on one of the most turbulent, frustrating, confusing, and ridiculous eras in golfing history. Hopefully, we can all return to some reality after the year is over.
But there is still so much uncertainty surrounding golf’s future thanks to this. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed saw the signs early and jumped ship, but they did that with some leverage. So what on earth is going to happen to the rest of these players who didn’t take the olive branch when it was offered to them?
Feelings will be hurt, and careers will be ended. Let’s take a look.
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour under the returning member program, which saw him pay $5 million to charity, accept that he’ll receive no FedEx Cup bonus money, and agree he cannot be a sponsor exemption for the 2026 signature events.
That same deal was offered to Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau . They didn’t accept it, but a similar offer will likely be handed out to them again.
If LIV Golf folds, Rahm will not hold the same leverage as Koepka did, but he is a bigger star at this stage of his career. Make no mistake, the PGA Tour will want him back immediately.
But Rahm does risk leaving himself without any options at all. Reed didn’t come straight back to the PGA Tour, so he’s spending a year on the DP World Tour first. You’d imagine Rahm would consider doing the same, but it might not be so easy for him.
Rahm is in a feud with the DP World Tour , as the only one of eight players to reject a deal which would have seen him retain his full-time membership. If Rahm agreed to play in six DP World Tour events this year, then he could have played on both LIV Golf and the tour. He did not agree.
For now, his membership is at risk. So, will it be possible for him to spend a season on the DP World Tour like Reed? Maybe not. That makes it all the more likely that Rahm will be back on the PGA Tour the moment LIV folds.
With DeChambeau, I don’t think it’s as much of a done deal that he returns to the PGA Tour. Not immediately anyway.
He’s been negotiating his contract with LIV, which expires at the end of this season. During these negotiations, he’s made it very clear that he is completely willing to step away from full-time competition and be a full-time YouTuber.
DeChambeau’s channel has over two million subscribers, so he could feasibly do that with all of the money he’s making there.
He was annoyed to see LIV move to a four-day format, so he could commit himself fully to being the content king. It would be a wild thing to do, but it’s also exactly the kind of move you could see the two-time major winner making.
He could qualify for The Open Championship and the US Open, and earn enough points there to play The Masters and the PGA Championship. It’s possible.
He does seem to live for competition, so maybe YouTube won’t quite scratch the itch, but it is on the table for DeChambeau. At least for a year until his suspension expires. Out of Rahm and DeChambeau, the American is absolutely the least likely to take a deal.
Now we arrive at the biggest unknown on the PGA Tour’s side of the equation. Exactly how far down the list are they willing to go when inviting players back?
Rahm and Bryson are a shoo-in. If they want back in, the tour will. But what about Cameron Smith ? The returning member program, offered to Rahm and DeChambeau, did actually include him as he won a major in 2022, but his performances have been through the floor since joining LIV Golf.
Does the PGA Tour make allowances for him? Maybe. But it’s hard to see him getting the same deal. And what about Tyrrell Hatton? He was not offered the deal, but Hatton was by far the best LIV player at The Masters , and he’s a relatively big name from his Ryder Cup play.
That’s a great barometer to see just how welcoming they can be, especially judging by how invested he’s been on the DP World Tour. Hatton would happily play a season there, so unless he gets a great deal from the PGA Tour, that’s likely what he’d do.
And Joaquin Niemann? A big name on LIV, winning a ton of events in 2025, but hasn’t really been a threat to win majors.
He has a couple of big wins on the PGA Tour, which might be enough to see him offered a deal, but again, that’s really going to depend on how generous the tour is feeling. Those are really the biggest question marks for the end of this year.
It’s been an undignified twilight to the careers of many of the stars from the late 2000s, and Phil Mickelson’s could be about to end unceremoniously.
The six-time major winner’s legacy was set when he won the PGA Championship in 2021. He could have ridden off into the sunset as a hero. But instead, he set about burning it to the ground.
Mickelson’s public perception has never been lower, and he actually hasn’t really played this year. He pulled out of The Masters because of a family health issue, and who knows when or if he’ll be back in action?
Mickelson would probably be Ryder Cup captain next year, but judging by how he’s gone about his life in the last few years, this seems unlikely now.
If this is the end of LIV, it could force Mickelson to retire from full-time competition. A sad end, but he wouldn’t be the only one.
Few have destroyed their legacies more than Europe’s Ryder Cup legends. Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, and Lee Westwood should be where Luke Donald stands.
They are some of the greatest players in Europe’s Ryder Cup history, but instead of being an integral part of the team’s recent success, they’ve been cast out.
LIV’s untimely collapse puts an end to any hope of redemption. They can’t leave the tour on their own free will to reclaim some credibility with Team Europe, so does this end any hope they have of Ryder Cup captaincy?
In the future, maybe they can still take on the role, but that seems like it’s a long, long way away. In the meantime, judging by their recent performances, they’ll be forced into retirement just like Mickelson.
What about the rest of the field? Players like NCAA champion Michael La Sasso gave up playing at The Masters to sign with LIV, a decision that looks more ridiculous by the day, so where does he go from here?
Unless the PGA Tour opens its doors completely, there’s going to be a whole host of players joining the DP World Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour hoping to earn their cards once again.
How many comes down to who the PGA is willing to let in, but you can’t imagine La Sasso, Tom McKibbin, and Anthony Kim are going to be allowed to waltz back over.
It’s great for other tours. They are about to get a lot more competitive, but for the guys who signed with LIV for a boatload of money who expected to be set for years to come, they’re about to get a big reality check.
If LIV folds this year, we’re about to get the most fiercely competitive fight for a PGA Tour card in the sport’s history in 2027, and that will be cinema in itself.
All of this is going to come down to how the PGA Tour approaches LIV’s potential collapse, and I expect them to put their pride aside and welcome a lot of players back. CEO Brian Rolapp showed his willingness to do that with Koepka.
But there are only a certain number of places to go around, so no matter how many players return to the PGA Tour, there is going to be a scrap for golfing survival.
That could cause many to jump ship early and get back on the tour quickly, so let’s pay close attention to LIV in the coming months.
