LIV Golf at the limit: CEO cannot guarantee remaining 2026 season

When Scott O'Neil took his seat on the American business channel CNBC on Tuesday, the expectation was clear: the CEO of LIV Golf should exude confidence. What he delivered instead was a Set that has reverberated through the golf world ever since.

When asked directly whether he could guarantee that the four remaining tournaments of the 2026 season would actually take place, O'Neil replied: "What I can guarantee is a damn good return if you invest in this company." (CNBC, June 9, 2026)

That's not a guarantee. And that says it all.

A Tour on a drip - and the barrel gets emptier

LIV Golf is in the worst crisis since it was founded in June 2022. The Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has financed the Tour from the start with an estimated six billion US dollars and injected around 100 million dollars a month, announced in April 2026 that it would stop making payments after the end of the season. Shortly afterwards, co-founder and PIF representative Yasir Al-Rumayyan resigned as Chairman on April 29. The very next day, the Board of Directors was reorganized - and the search for external long-term investors was officially launched.

However, the situation could be even more threatening than already feared. The US sports media outlet Front Office Sports reported last weekend that PIF funding could possibly dry up before the last tournament of the season. An unnamed high-ranking representative of a Tour partner was quoted with frighteningly clear words: "Every remaining tournament is on the brink." (Front Office Sports, June 7, 2026)

The reason lies in the payment structure of the PIF: the fund distributes its funds on a monthly basis. This means that each of the outstanding tournaments is de facto dependent on a funding decision that can be revised at short notice.

Four tournaments, many question marks

The current LIV schedule includes four more events:

• 23.-July 26 - LIV Golf United Kingdom, JCB Golf & Country Club, Rocester, England
• 6.-August 9 - Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey
• 20.-August 23 - The Club at Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indiana
• 27.-August 30 - Team Championship, The Cardinal at Saint John's, Plymouth, Michigan

The bad news: there is already a 47-day gap in the calendar. A tournament planned for June in New Orleans has been postponed at short notice - officially due to the summer heat, but no new date has been set. The piquant thing is that the US state of Louisiana had already paid out 3.2 of a total of 7 million dollars in funding to host the event.

According to Front Office Sports, the tournament in Bedminster is the most likely to be secured - US President Donald Trump's close ties to Saudi Arabia are seen as a stabilizing factor here. In contrast, the team championship in Plymouth, Michigan, at the end of August is considered to be the most at risk.

O'Neil in investor mode - optimism with an expiration date

O'Neil left no doubt that he considers LIV Golf to be a lucrative investment opportunity. On CNBC, he painted a picture of great potential: star players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Young, growing revenues - up 100 million dollars on the previous year - and a sports industry that has been growing in value for decades. He cited Formula 1, MotoGP and planned NBA expansion franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas as comparisons.

"I think we have a very, very special opportunity to create tremendous value," O'Neil said on CNBC. He added: "There's a lot of disposable capital knocking on the door looking to acquire ownership stakes in leagues and teams."

Specifically, LIV Golf is looking for between 250 and 350 million US dollars from external investors - just to secure operations until 2027. O'Neil stated that he had already held five formal talks with interested parties, with a further 18 in the week of June 9 alone. It remains to be seen whether a single large investor - such as a private equity fund - will step in or whether the capital will be divided among ten to twelve smaller shareholders.

LIV has engaged renowned partners to support the process: the management consultancy AlixPartners, the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and the investment bank Ducera Partners. Two new independent board members - Gene Davis and Jon Zinman - are intended to create additional trust.

But O'Neil himself admits that time is of the essence: "What we don't have is a lot of time. So we are in very urgent talks with those who are interested. We like the field, but we need to get this done by the summer."

Players between loyalty and helplessness

For the LIV pros, the situation is a double burden: they are expected to perform on the court - and at the same time are confronted with questions about the future of their Tour.

Bryson DeChambeau is said to have already taken part in internal meetings and signaled his willingness to help in the search for investors. Jon Rahm, on the other hand, openly admits that he lacks the means to do so: "I don't know anything about business. I will never claim to know anything about it. My job is to play golf - and that's hard enough."

Players who have already switched to LIV in the past are also in a legal dilemma: neither the PGA Tour nor LIV have yet commented on a possible return - the contracts are still running. Jon Rahm is the most sought-after potential returnee. The fact that Brooks Koepka has already left the Tour and returned to the PGA Tour is unlikely to boost confidence in LIV.

"LIV 2.0" - a new start or wishful thinking?

O'Neil speaks openly of a fundamental reboot: "LIV 2.0" is to become a financially disciplined model in which costs are drastically reduced and players are integrated as genuine equity partners. Profitability, he predicts, is achievable in three years - provided the financing is secured.

This is in stark contrast to the reality so far: more than six billion dollars invested, no sustainable profit achieved. Saudi Arabia also presented a new five-year strategy for domestic investment in April 2026 - which does not include LIV Golf.

O'Neil himself had previously admitted that profitability in the current model was possibly a decade away. The optimism he projects to the outside world is based on a fragile foundation.

Conclusion: A summer of decisions

LIV Golf has 46 days - between the tournament in Spain and the next event in England - to secure its future. During this break, it will be decided whether the remaining tournaments of the season will take place, whether investors will step in and whether the project of an alternative golf tour will even exist beyond 2026.

Scott O'Neil is combative and confident. However, the question of whether the four remaining LIV tournaments will be played in 2026 remains unanswered - and this from the mouth of the CEO himself.

That probably says enough.