LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil has told players that the 2026 season will continue “as planned and uninterrupted” amid rumours that the tour is on the verge of collapse.
The Financial Times, external is among the publications to report that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is set to end its support for the breakaway tour, which would jeopardise its future.
However, in an email to LIV staff seen by the BBC, O’Neil said: “I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”
He told staff to “lean into this moment” adding: “The noise you hear is simply the sound of a movement that is working. Embrace it. We are pioneers.
“The life of a start-up movement is often defined by these moments of pressure.
“While the road isn’t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.”
Spaniard Sergio Garcia, captain of the Fireballs team, said before Thursday’s opening round of the LIV Mexico event that players were told this year that the tour will run for “many years”.
O’Neil’s email did not say whether LIV Golf will continue beyond this season, although players were told at the previous event that funding is in place until at least 2032.
A senior source in European golf said they believed LIV would not be viable if PIF withdrew funding and that the tour’s leadership may be trying to salvage the series by finding other revenue.
On speculation of PIF withdrawing its support, Garcia said: “That is not what Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF] told us at the beginning of the year.
“[He told us] that he is behind us, that they have a project of many years. There are always rumours.”