Crowds lining the Watering Hole during the LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide. Photo / Photosport
LIV Golf executives have been called to a meeting in New York as speculation mounts over a “seismic” announcement being made by the Saudi-funded circuit.
Rumours began to circulate on social media overnight, with @acaseofthegolf1, a well-respected user with almost 200,000 followers on X, even claiming LIV was on the brink of being shut down.
For the first time in the four-year history of LIV Golf, the media centre was closed on Tuesday as journalists began to assemble for the £22m ($50.52m) event in Mexico that is due to start on Thursday (local time). It is understood that journalists were told as they waited to board shuttle buses to the press HQ, although claims later surfaced of a power board not working.
Telegraph Sport has since learnt there was not a single executive present on the same day at the Club de Golf Chapultepec, the Mexico City venue where the sixth tournament of the league is taking place, and that they were all summoned to what was described as “an emergency summit” in Manhattan. The reason for the meeting remains unclear.
Telegraph Sport contacted several LIV players on Wednesday morning (local time) and they all insisted it was business as usual as they went about their preparations. Tee times were announced on Wednesday evening. One of these golfers said: “I’ll be honest. None of the players have heard anything. It’s hopefully a merger. Everyone gathers at Augusta, don’t they?”
“We have not heard a thing,” Sergio Garcia said at a press conference in Mexico. “This is not what Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, the LIV chairman and PIF governor] told us at the beginning of the year. He said that he is behind us and that they have a project of many years.”
Indeed, LIV chief executive Scott O’Neil was seen at the Masters last week, as were other executives. In 2023, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the PGA Tour famously signed “a framework agreement”. However, since then negotiations were believed to have all but broken down and there has seemed to be no prospect of a deal.
There has been mounting talk of LIV and the DP World Tour entering discussions, but sources from the latter were adamant on Wednesday that this latest upheaval has nothing to do with Wentworth.
Theories have emerged that the effects of the Iran war are causing the Kingdom to shore up its economy and that LIV could be the first high-profile victim of the Gulf pulling money from “soft power” ventures in sport. One player agent even suggested to Telegraph Sport that it could be an easy way out for a money-bleeding undertaking that, by even the most optimistic analysis, will take years, if not decades, to bear fruit.
The development comes as the PIF approved funds for its strategy for the next four years. A statement read: “The 2026-2030 strategy represents a natural progression from a phase of growth and expansion to a new phase of achieving sustainable value, maximising impact, increasing investment efficiency, and implementing the highest standards of governance, transparency, and institutional excellence.”
Last month, LIV enjoyed one of its most successful events when it staged its first tournament in South Africa. The Johannesburg 72-holer attracted huge crowds and on the back of LIV finally gaining recognition with the Official World Golf Ranking boards, everything appeared to be on the right track.
However, TV audiences continue to disappoint and with Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed both leaving to return to the main tours in the close season, there have been negative murmurings. At the Masters, England’s Tyrrell Hatton (tied third) was the only LIV player in the top 10, with Bryson DeChambeau, perhaps LIV’s biggest draw, missing the cut.
Rory McIlroy became just the fourth major champion to retain the title and his success pulled in average TV figures of more than 14 million in America, peaking at more than 20 million. This made it the largest Masters audience in the US since 2013.
The PIF has invested up to US$6b into LIV, after signing Jon Rahm in a £400m deal in 2023 and handing out huge signing-on bonuses to DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
Since O’Neil replaced Greg Norman last year, LIV has announced a “multi-year” deal with FOX TV in America, as well as TNT Sports in the UK. Alongside signing contracts with venues all over the world, LIV has also confirmed lucrative sponsorship deals, including with HSBC, Rolex, Salesforce and Qualcomm. Only last week, it unveiled a new deal with Novig, a sports prediction platform.