CBC Lite Sections Sports Is this the end of LIV Golf? The BuzzerJesse Campigotto | CBC Sports | Posted: April 16, 2026 9:16 PM | Last Updated: 24 hours ago The much-unloved renegade tour's days appear numbered Image | 1980594533 Caption: Two-time major winner Jon Rahm is among the dwindling group of stars remaining in LIV. (Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here. Earlier this week, reports began swirling about LIV Golf possibly going out of business. This was welcome news for most golf fans, who largely despise the Saudi-backed renegade league that has upended the sport over the past few years by luring top players away from the PGA Tour with obscene paycheques. There were even rumours that LIV would cancel this week's tournament in Mexico and close up shop immediately. That last part may have been wishful thinking. LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil, who took over for an embattled Greg Norman last year, reportedly threw cold water on the idea of the league's immediate demise by telling staff in a defiant email yesterday that the season will go on "as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle." "While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass," O'Neil wrote. "We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before." The Mexico event, which teed off this afternoon as scheduled, is the sixth stop on this year's LIV tour, with eight more to come. That includes all five U.S. tournaments, starting with a May 7-10 event at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. Another one will take place at the U.S. President's club in Bedminster, N.J., and it was hard not to notice the Trumpian notes of hyperbole in O'Neil's crisis management efforts. "We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo," he wrote to his staff. "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." That last bit is outright b.s. LIV is in fact one of the least compelling shows in sports. After a pair of its top players, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, exited the league in January, LIV is left with only two bona fide stars that are still regular contenders at the major championships: Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. These days, DeChambeau seems more interested in his side hustle as a YouTuber. And, apart from him and Rahm, LIV's best players are a bunch of rank-and-file guys like Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Detry and Joaquin Niemann, while the bigger names — like Dustin Johnson and 2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith — look washed up. Image | 1596966591 Caption: (Eakin Howard/Getty Images) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab A good league can mask a dearth of star power with appealing aesthetics or a captivating format. But LIV, ridiculously, blares music during play, "entertains" fans with cringey dance routines and only this year stopped letting players wear shorts and started making them play a full four rounds at each tournament instead of a cushy three. It also features a goofy team competition that feels forced and has never quite worked. LIV's slogan was "Golf, But Louder." But who asked for that? No one, it seems: at a time when broadcasters and streamers are throwing money at sports leagues, LIV aired on the tiny CW network, often on tape delay, before finally landing a deal with Fox Sports last year. Nevertheless, if we take O'Neil at his word (questionable, but bear with me) LIV remains alive. For how long, though? Conspicuously absent from the CEO's address to the troops was any mention of continued support from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the trillion-dollar sovereign wealth giant that has bankrolled LIV's largesse. But, after sinking an estimated $5 billion US into a league that is now in its fifth season and still showing no signs of gaining a foothold, it sounds like the royal family might be turning the faucet off. Multiple outlets, including the Athletic and Britain's Financial Times, reported yesterday that PIF was on the verge of pulling its funding for LIV. The Athletic also reported that members of LIV’s leadership team are looking for other jobs. Meanwhile, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince and the chairman of PIF, approved a five-year strategic plan that focuses on domestic objectives. This comes as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, and related conflicts in the Middle East, have cut Saudi oil exports dramatically and reportedly taken a toll on the fund. * Rory repeats: McIlroy goes back-to-back at the Masters to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods Another ominous sign for LIV's future came today as PIF sold one of the four big Saudi-league soccer teams it owned to a billionaire member of the royal family. According to a top PIF executive, this move "aligns with PIF’s strategy to maximize returns and redeploy capital within the domestic economy.” There's been no official word from PIF on its plans for LIV, and the league has also not released an official statement of any kind. But, clearly, it would have a tough time surviving in its present form without the Saudi money. Golf Digest reported that LIV's leadership is looking for alternative funding but has so far come up empty. If and when the end arrives for LIV, the next order of business will be deciding how to repatriate its remaining players to the PGA Tour. Koepka came back as part of the Tour's so-called Returning Member Program, which allowed defectors who had been away for at least two years — and who won the Players Championship or one of the four majors since 2022 — to return with financial penalties. Reed, whose only major/Players victory came in 2018 at the Masters, did not qualify for the program and is toiling on the European Tour with plans to return to the PGA Tour this fall. DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith were eligible for the program but decided to stay with LIV, and the "one-time" window for returnees expired in February. Surely, though, something can and will be worked out for them and others in the (increasingly likely) event that LIV dies. More Stories Like This The related links below are generated automatically based on the story you’ve just read. Loading... 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