Next week, LIV Golf is sending the majority of its workforce home – a drastic move to keep the rebel tour alive next year. These layoffs come after LIV Golf lost its Saudi Arabian backers, who reportedly shelled out an unbelievable $5 billion over several years to poach top stars from the PGA Tour.
This financial injection from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) ended abruptly, right after the LIV Tour's season finale in Indianapolis last weekend. Although LIV officials assert that a “2.0” version of the tour with new investors will launch next season – with a shorter schedule and less prize money – the entire situation remains deeply uncertain.
“The funds committed by the PIF earlier this year are expiring. Therefore, we are scaling back our operations as we transition into the next chapter of LIV Golf and work to make LIV 2.0 a reality,” a LIV spokesperson explained in a statement. “This week, we informed many of our colleagues that their employment under LIV 1.0 will end in the first week of September. We are grateful to our employees for their hard work and dedication in building LIV Golf, and we remain committed to supporting those affected during this transition.”
Currently, LIV has an agreement in hand with an unnamed potential new lead investor and is offering players significant equity stakes in the tour. At the same time, it is also seeking additional minority investors, with the overarching goal of finalizing a new structure by the end of next month. A limited number of employees will be retained next month, while LIV hopes to rehire many staff members at a later date if the transaction indeed goes through, as a source familiar with the matter revealed.
However, the tour's future largely depends on whether it can retain its star players. The current LIV roster includes names like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Sergio Garcia – and none of them have publicly committed to staying. Rumors are circulating that some LIV stars might consider returning to the PGA Tour and other circuits, although the PGA clarified this week that it currently has no plans for a pathway back for LIV players.
At the LIV Tour's season finale in Indianapolis on Sunday, DeChambeau still declared he was “proud” of what the tour had achieved and that he had “great thoughts about what could happen next year.” But on Monday, a cryptic post followed on Instagram: photos of multiple LIV victories, captioned with the telling words “It was a good run.”
