LIV Golf changed professional golf when it launched in 2022 with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund behind it, a team-based format, and major champions moving across from the PGA Tour.
Now the league faces its most uncertain period yet. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed have left, several players were relegated after the 2025 season, and PIF has confirmed it will fund LIV only through the end of the 2026 season.
LIV Golf’s bold entry into professional golf
LIV Golf launched in June 2022 with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund promising to completely shake up world sport. The league offered massive signing bonuses, guaranteed contracts, and a fresh new team-based format. It was a direct challenge to the PGA Tour’s long-standing global dominance, and it initially worked.
The league quickly attracted some of the sport’s very biggest names. Players like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, and eventually Jon Rahm all made the significant move across. LIV Golf featured 54-hole no-cut tournaments with team competitions, clearly setting it apart from the traditional tour format entirely.
Brooks Koepka opens the exit door
A major roster blow came in December 2025 when Brooks Koepka parted ways with LIV. Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka announced he would not return for the 2026 season despite having one full year remaining on his contract. He cited a desire to spend more time at home with his growing young family as the reason.
Koepka’s departure sent real shockwaves across all of professional golf. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil confirmed both sides had mutually agreed to part ways, with Koepka’s captaincy of Smash GC then transferring to Talor Gooch. The five-time major winner quickly applied to have his full PGA Tour membership reinstated afterward.
Little-known fact: Koepka won five individual LIV Golf titles before leaving the league, making him one of LIV’s most successful players during its first four seasons.
Patrick Reed follows close behind
Patrick Reed became the second high-profile voluntary departure of that same turbulent offseason. He revealed he had not signed a new deal with LIV Golf less than two weeks before the Riyadh opener event. The announcement was very late and surprising, coming at an already unsettled time for the league.
Reed has since been strongly linked to a PGA Tour return later in 2026. Golf Monthly reported that eleven pros departed the PIF-backed circuit before the new campaign began, including players who were relegated, replaced outright, or who simply chose to walk away from the league entirely on their own.
LIV’s relegation system became a major offseason storyline
Beyond the big names, six players were shown the door through relegation after the full 2025 season ended. Henrik Stenson, Andy Ogletree, Mito Pereira, Yubin Jang, Frederik Kjettrup, and Anthony Kim all lost their roster spots after finishing deep inside the dreaded drop zone and missing a safe position entirely.
Kevin Na, Jinichiro Kozuma, Matt Jones, and Chieh-po Lee all left under separate and different circumstances. Kozuma was dropped despite a respectable 32nd-place finish in the 2025 standings, a decision drawing wide criticism. In total, the offseason saw the most significant player turnover in the league’s entire short history.
Saudi Arabia pulls the plug on funding
The biggest news of all came in late April 2026 when Saudi Arabia’s PIF officially confirmed it would end its financial backing of LIV Golf at the close of the 2026 season. The announcement ended weeks of intense speculation and confirmed the Saudis were stepping fully away from the project.
PIF stated the investment required was no longer aligned with its current strategy going forward. LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan stepped down from his board role that same week. Saudi Arabia had pumped closer to $5 billion into the league since its very first event.
DeChambeau, Rahm, and Smith face uncertain futures
At the start of 2026, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cameron Smith each publicly committed to staying with LIV Golf. They turned down the PGA Tour’s newly created Returning Member Program, which opened a clear pathway back for major winners. All three stated at the time that they were staying.
That position has since become far more complicated for DeChambeau in particular. His representatives approached LIV Golf seeking a figure reportedly well above Rahm’s estimated $300 million deal. LIV did not engage at that level, leaving his future genuinely open-ended for the remainder of 2026.
Little-known fact: Five LIV Golf players, including DeChambeau, Koepka, Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith, each received massive money when they originally joined the league.
The PGA Tour watches and waits
The PGA Tour has not stayed silent throughout this entire fast-moving situation. CEO Brian Rolapp has publicly acknowledged that conversations about return pathways for LIV players have already begun at Tour headquarters. However, he was very careful to note that nothing is finalized and each case will be handled individually.
Rolapp confirmed the Tour is actively thinking about potential player returns when asked. He stressed that those LIV players remain under a valid contract and those agreements must be fully respected. Koepka’s return required him to make a $5 million charitable contribution as part of reinstatement.
The pressure on LIV’s remaining stars
Jon Rahm has publicly stated he has several years remaining on his LIV Golf contract despite all the uncertainty. Even with PIF funding ending after 2026, Rahm has said he remains bound by his LIV contract and does not see many ways out. The two-time defending individual champion has acknowledged the distractions while saying he remains fully focused.
DeChambeau has been far more openly noncommittal about what comes next after 2026 for him personally. Golf reported he has been exploring alternate plans in case a clear PGA Tour pathway does not open up for him. His road back is complicated by his prior antitrust lawsuit against the Tour.
TL;DR
- LIV Golf launched in 2022, backed by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, with over $5 billion invested in total.
- Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed both departed voluntarily before the 2026 season started.
- Six players, including Henrik Stenson, were relegated after the 2025 season ended.
- PIF officially confirmed it will pull all funding at the end of the 2026 season.
- LIV Golf is seeking new outside investors to survive beyond this year.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
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