LIV Golf announces agreement with new ‘lead investor’ as PIF funding nears end

Press Association Sport staff

LIV Golf has announced it has reached an agreement with a new “lead investor”, with Saudi Arabia ending its financial backing of the breakaway circuit at the end of the 2026 season.

The news comes after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced on April 30 that it would withdraw funding, which brought the future of the tour into doubt.

PIF has put more than $5 billion US dollars into LIV Golf.

LIV issued an update ahead of this week’s tournament at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, which begins on Thursday and will see the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton battling it out.

A statement released on X read: “LIV Golf has an agreement in place with a lead investor, signed by the investor and approved by the board, to anchor the transaction and play a key role in supporting the path forward for the league’s next era, driven by and for the players.

“We’re also seeing strong interest from more than a dozen additional parties to potentially serve as minority investors, creating a multi-partner model built for long-term stability and growth.”

The league also announced that its players will become “majority equity holders” in the competition.

The deal is still to be finalised but LIV Golf expects it to be done in the “coming weeks, with the goal of entering a transaction in September”.

The statement went on to say: “Notably, our next chapter will make our players the majority equity holders in LIV Golf, a first for a major global sports league, and gives the league the foundation to keep growing the game worldwide.”