A meeting at the Open Championship ended in an agreement that came as a bitter blow to LIV Golf and changed the entire landscape of the men’s professional game…

Saudi Arabia’s shock retreat from LIV Golf did not just upend one golf tour in 2026.

The Asian Tour, a key partner for LIV, was also left reeling when the Public Investment Fund announced it would be withdrawing its multi-billion dollar backing from the creaking league. The developments stunned the Asian Tour’s chief executive, Cho Minn Thant, who had been discussing a five-year renewal with LIV before snaring a dramatic deal elsewhere to salvage his circuit’s future.

The shake-up to the new world order, negotiated in private during the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, saw the Asian Tour pivot away from LIV Golf and re-align with the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. The partnership will see the Asian Tour co-sanction five tournaments with the DP World Tour, including the Hong Kong and Singapore opens, as well as earning pathways to the European circuit.

That came as a crushing blow to LIV, not only as the Asian Tour was the league’s important second tier, but also because its national opens were central to LIV’s plans to fill out a schedule in its post-PIF era.

LIV is now without a feeder circuit to provide promotion and relegation pathways to their ‘2.0’ model, which has implications for a reimagined league keeping hold of world ranking points. But after the taps ran dry and its lucrative 10-event International Series was disbanded, the Asian Tour felt they had to move fast and rejoin the traditional tours.

TG spoke with the tour’s CEO Cho Minn Thant for the inside track on how the events unfolded…

When did you find out LIV Golf was losing its funding from the Public Investment Fund?

It was the week right after the Masters when LIV Golf was in Mexico. We found out at that time. Obviously, things were still unclear. We weren’t sure if it was funding just for the LIV Golf League or the International Series as well or if it was just going to stop straight away. It was a really abrupt thing that happened and it was very surprising news because, up until the Masters, we were still talking to LIV Golf about the next few years of a partnership. We were talking about expanding the International Series and it came as a total surprise. 

How challenging was the PIF withdrawal for the Asian Tour?

It’s been devastating for the Asian Tour to start the year with 21 planned events. The start of the year, we were looking to renew our five years with LIV Golf. Everything was going pretty smoothly until April. It’s been tough after the first three International Series events. We were trying to salvage what we could for the rest of the season. But unfortunately, the planned events in China and India are not happening. The Philippine Open [November 12] is just going to be an Asian Tour event with a reduced prize purse. But the Saudi International [November 18] is staying on as a $5 million Asian tour event. Big credit to those two tournaments for keeping the prize money up and continuing.

Asian Tour chief executive Cho Minn Thant quickly pivoted to talks with the traditional tours when the Public Investment Fund withdrew its backing from LIV Golf.

When did you attempt to create a deal with the DP World and PGA Tours?

We’ve been talking since April. When the news broke, I had to pivot and start talking to the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. We were moving in all options. We had a couple of meetings in May and June. Then at the Open Championship we were able to agree to broad terms. All the while, we were still in contact with LIV Golf and monitoring what they were doing and whether funding would be present. But we just couldn’t wait any longer. We had the second half of the schedule on the Asian Tour to get on with. We already planned events in 2027. I know LIV were doing their best to secure funding. It looks like they have secured some funding for 2027 and beyond. But we had to do what we had to do just to make sure we could provide a stable schedule for our players.

What does this deal mean for the Asian Tour?

The way we look at it, it strengthens our tour having five co-sanctions, but apart from the Order of Merit winner getting a DP World Tour card, it’s five opportunities for our members to potentially win and visit the DP World Tour straight away. It adds to the pathway that’s available to us from the DP World Tour. They are going to be split fields with the DP World Tour. I imagine the Asian Tour spots for the co-sanctioned events will be in the region of 50 to 60. It really takes care of the top end of the Asian tour membership. We’ve got some work to do for medium to low-level members of the Asian Tour, where they enjoyed playing International Series events over the last five years. We’ve just got to find some replacements for those. 

How difficult was the call with LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil afterwards?

The International series meant so much to us. Obviously, he wanted us to stay with LIV Golf and present in the business pictures that he was proposing to invest as well. It was a tough decision. LIV Golf were good partners. But we haven’t really closed the door to LIV Golf because we’re including quite a few LIV players in the Hong Kong Open. We’ll have some invites available for them in the Saudi International and Philippine Open as well. A lot of them are still members of the Asian Tour as well. I expect quite a few of them to play on the Asian Tour next year.

How do you reflect back on the relationship with LIV?

It was a really good five years as a tour. We grew in terms of strength of field. We grew in terms of prize money available. We grew in terms of stature in world golf. Obviously, that investment is not there anymore. We’ve got to look at other ways to build the Asian tour full field schedule. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re going to take the rest of 2026 and 2027 as rebuilding years and hopefully back to full strength in 2028.

What has the reaction been from the players?

Obviously worried when the Asian Tour lost the PIF and LIV as a sponsor. I stood up in front of the entire membership at an AGM and let them know what the situation is, what we’ve done with the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, how we’re moving forward to fill the gaps next year and how we’re rebuilding in 2027, looking to 2028 as a full recovery. I think they understand. Obviously they’re frustrated, but they understand that the situation is very extraordinary this year.

Before the split from LIV Golf, the Asian Tour was seen as a competitor to the DP World Tour. Where does your circuit sit in the landscape now?

I just think we have to adapt to whatever the market dictates. I don’t think there’s any feeling of resentment or anything like that. It was more, this is what the market dictates, this is where we have to pivot, and let’s get it done. I still see us as the premier tour in Asia. There’s no denying that at the moment we sit below the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour as we’re given a pathway to the DP World Tour. We’ve got our own tour in Asia now that we’ve lost the International Series. It’s a matter of getting up to 25 to 28 events to become legitimately the third biggest tour in the world.