LIV Golf's Wild Ride: Rahm Wins Big Amidst Funding Chaos
Jon Rahm, man. He just stood there, off the 18th green, looking around like he’d seen a ghost. Disbelief. Just a week after shanking it at Augusta, he goes and absolutely demolishes the field in Mexico City. Wins his second LIV title of the year. On paper, this is exactly what LIV wanted, right? A superstar winning, the league looking strong. Rahm’s won twice, DeChambeau’s cleaned up, even Anthony Kim had that fairytale comeback. This should be LIV’s dream start to 2026.
But here’s the kicker. Rahm’s win? It was almost a footnote. A sidebar. Because while he was playing, the real story was the absolute chaos swirling around LIV Golf’s future. Questions. So many damn questions, and nobody had any solid answers. A chaotic week for a league that’s barely five years old.
The Rumor Mill Went Into Overdrive
So, Wednesday hits. And the news drops, like a ton of bricks. Multiple outlets are reporting the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the PIF – you know, the guys with the seemingly endless supply of cash – are planning to pull the plug on LIV. Seriously? This fund is worth nearly a trillion bucks. But apparently, the Iran War and all that Middle East drama have messed with their budget. Reports say Saudi Arabia is already shifting focus. Less of those wild, ambitious projects like ‘The Line’ and more on things that actually make sense, things that are sustainable. And then, bam, news about LIV funding drying up hits the same day the PIF unveils this new five-year plan. It’s all about the domestic economy now. Diversify away from oil. They’re talking about shifting from ‘rapid growth’ to ‘sustained value creation.’ More impact, better efficiency, all that corporate jargon. They even said domestic investments will be like 80% of the fund now, international down to 20%. You see where this is going?
And it didn’t stop there. No announcement about LIV, obviously. But Thursday comes, and the PIF sells off a massive 70% stake in Al Hilal, a Saudi soccer team. Another signal, right? They’re backing away from these global sports plays. Meanwhile, whispers start about LIV officials being summoned to New York for some emergency meeting. Just another Tuesday for LIV, I guess.
Players Left in the Dark
While all this was going down, LIV was supposed to be getting ready for a tournament in Mexico. Tuesday rolls around, and press conferences get canceled. Power outage, they said. Right. Wednesday comes, Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs team are talking. Garcia, the 2017 Masters champ, says flat out: nobody’s been told anything. Nothing about any changes. Zilch.
He said it pretty plainly: “We haven’t heard anything other than what Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor] told us at the beginning of the year. That he’s behind us, that they have a long-term project. You know there are always a lot of rumors, and I can’t tell you anything more than what we already know.”
So, the players are clueless. Great. That same day, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil sends out an email to his staff. And guess what? It’s all about pushing forward. “Full throttle” for 2026. No mention of the funding bombshell. He wrote, and I quote: “I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”
He goes on about how the media is full of speculation. But their reality? It’s about the work on the course. They’re heading into the heart of the 2026 schedule with “full energy.” He even tossed in some stuff about being “bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”
Then he gets all philosophical about startups. “The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure,” he says. “We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”
Wow. Inspiring stuff. Especially when the whole damn house might be on fire.
The Broadcast and the Backtracking
Thursday. LIV Golf’s broadcast kicks off. Commentators Arlo White and David Feherty are on the air. And they’re basically laughing off the reports about the funding being pulled. Feherty, bless his heart, goes on about how some writers and broadcasters are just “fast typists” who think they’re experts. “Evidently, they’re not,” he says.
White chimes in, “Yeah, it must be exhausting, trying to will the LIV Golf League out of existence. Take a day off, everybody.”
And then, wouldn’t you know it, the broadcast gets hit with a two-hour blackout. Blamed on a local power outage. Of course it was. Pure coincidence, I’m sure.
Later that day, O’Neil himself jumps on the coverage. He says he’s “excited” about LIV’s future. But when asked about the PIF pulling back? Crickets. He just talks about needing to raise money. “This is business,” he says. And if they keep the trajectory and revenue growth going, it’ll be a “really good business for a really long time.”
Meanwhile, the financial reality is a bit more grim. Business filings in the UK, first dug up by The Athletic, show LIV Golf Ltd lost over $590 million in 2024 alone. Since 2022, that’s a cool $1.4 billion gone. O’Neil himself told the Financial Times back in February that he didn’t see LIV turning a profit for maybe five, even ten years. So yeah, “really good business for a really long time” sounds… optimistic.
Despite all this, LIV has been chugging along, fueled by PIF money. But that fuel line looks like it’s about to get shut off after 2026. If the PIF bails, LIV needs new investors. Pronto. They could try selling off franchises, partnering with someone else. Whatever it takes. But a different money spigot needs to be turned on, or this whole thing goes belly up.
Mixed Signals and Player Silence
So, O’Neil’s message is still “full steam ahead.” But then, in a later interview, he admits only the 2026 season is actually guaranteed. He was asked by TNT in the UK if the league was funded through 2030. His answer? “It’s just not the way the world works.” He explained that they have commitments for the season, and then they “work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.” He added, “But that’s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of mankind.”
That interview? It got yanked from the internet. A partial segment, minus that answer, was re-posted. Subtle.
And the LIV stars? No unified front here. Bryson DeChambeau? Didn’t talk to the media before withdrawing with a wrist injury. Dustin Johnson? Radio silence. Phil Mickelson? Not even in Mexico, taking a break for personal reasons. That left Rahm to field all the questions about the looming uncertainty.
Rahm, though, he played it cool. Said he didn’t pay any mind to the “rumors” while he was getting ready for the tournament. “Until the people in charge told me whether the rumors were true or not, for me, it didn’t make sense to think about it or waste time thinking about it,” he said Thursday. “We were here; we knew we were going to play, so the idea was to prepare for a tournament. And that’s it.” He figured since it all happened so fast, he wasn’t worried. Usually, he says, they get wind of things before the rumors start. But this time? It was too quick to even sweat.
A Glimmer of the Future? Or Just Smoke and Mirrors?
As Rahm was running away with it on Sunday, the LIV Golf broadcast hits us with an ad. For their return to Mexico City in 2027. Yep. 2027. Feherty, seeing this, couldn’t resist. He jabbed at the earlier reports: “That’s really amazing,” he said, “considering just a few days ago we had to announce we were returning this week.”
Just another bizarre moment in a week that was already overflowing with them. It ended with more questions than answers, as usual.
Rahm beat David Puig by six shots. He mentioned finding something at the Masters that’s improved his game. He stood on the 18th green with his Legion XIII teammates, celebrating another team victory. Rahm, Hatton, McKibbin, Surratt – they all got asked about their third straight win in Mexico. McKibbin, ever the optimist, said, “four in a row sounds even better,” with a nod to that 2027 plan.
LIV Golf is heading to Virginia next. Then, the big boys tee it up at the PGA Championship. After that, there are seven events left in the season. By then, maybe, just maybe, LIV Golf’s uncertain future will start to look a little clearer. Or it’ll just get crazier.
For now, Jon Rahm is a winner. The league is… still here. And the speculation? That’s not going anywhere anytime soon. You can find more about the world of professional golf and its ever-changing landscape at Golf Channel.