{"id":610483,"date":"2026-04-17T15:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610483\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:43:17","slug":"liv-golf-ceo-confirms-saudi-funding-to-end-but-says-he-has-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610483\/","title":{"rendered":"LIV Golf CEO confirms Saudi funding to end, but says he has a plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/golf\/liv-golf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">LIV Golf<\/a> CEO Scott O&#8217;Neil confirmed reports that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund will stop giving money to the golf league after this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">However, O&#8217;Neil told TNT Sports that he has a &#8220;plan&#8221; that &#8220;might surprise some people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reality is you&#8217;re funded through the season and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going. But that&#8217;s not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of man,&#8221; O&#8217;Neil said ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/golf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">golf<\/a> tour&#8217;s next event in Mexico City on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/liv-golf-2027-return-johannesburg-fox-news-001.jpeg\" alt=\"Scott O'Neil and Gayton McKenzie attending a press conference in Johannesburg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Scott O&#8217;Neil attends a press conference in Johannesburg to announce LIV Golf&#8217;s return in 2027 on March 22, 2026. (Johan Rynners\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Despite the uncertainty, O&#8217;Neil is taking the challenge head on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How we go forward is what I&#8217;m really excited about. I talked about some structural changes &#8211; they&#8217;re coming. You can ask just about the 50 people I met at Augusta, I rolled out the plan. We have one, it might surprise some people&#8230;&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This notion of, &#8216;Do you have to raise money?&#8217; Probably. This is business. But if we keep the trajectory going the way we are and the revenue growth going, this is going to be a really good business for a really long time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sources told Fox News that the Saudis will\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/liv-golf-ending-saudi-pif-cutting-funding-report-rumor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">stop funding LIV<\/a>\u00a0after the 2026 season. The Financial Times was the first to report the news.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neil wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/liv-golf-ceo-sends-rallying-memo-staff-reports-saudi-funding-could-end-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">memo to LIV employees<\/a> obtained by Fox News Digital that confirmed that the season was going to go &#8220;exactly as planned, uninterrupted, and full throttle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/scott-oneil-og-molefe-liv-golf-fox-news-001.jpeg\" alt=\"Scott O'Neil and OG Molefe standing on a golf course at The Club at Steyn City\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Scott O&#8217;Neil during day four of LIV Golf South Africa at The Club at Steyn City in Johannesburg on March 22, 2026. (Johan Rynners\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/golf-analyst-brandel-chamblee-rips-liv-golf-reports-fuel-speculation-future-lame-brained-tour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GOLF ANALYST BRANDEL CHAMBLEE RIPS LIV GOLF AS REPORTS FUEL SPECULATION ABOUT ITS FUTURE: &#8216;LAME-BRAINED TOUR&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before,&#8221; O&#8217;Neil wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure. We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we\u2019ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The noise you hear is simply the sound of a movement that is working. Embrace it. We are pioneers, and while the road isn\u2019t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Let\u2019s go out and show the world why\u00a0LIV\u00a0Golf\u00a0is the future of the game. It matters. You mattered. Now, let\u2019s go win.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Long\u00a0LIV\u00a0Golf.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>LIV began in 2022 and has produced two major winners in Brooks Koepka, who has since rejoined the PGA Tour, at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/golf\/pga-championship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">2023 PGA Championship,<\/a>\u00a0and DeChambeau at the 2024 U.S. Open.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/LIV-Golf.jpg\" alt=\"Former U.S. President Donald Trump standing on stage with Yasir Al Rumayyan, Greg Norman, and Majed Al Sorour at LIV Golf Invitational\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>(L-R) Former U.S. President Donald Trump, his excellency Yasir Al Rumayyan, Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, and Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Saudi Golf Federation, are seen on stage during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational &#8211; Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 31, 2022, in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Charles Laberge\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>LIV Golf shifted from its 54-hole format, a draw for golfers defecting from the PGA Tour, to 72 beginning this season. Patrick Reed is also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/masters-champion-follows-brooks-koepkas-footsteps-ditching-liv-pga-return-traditionalist-heart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">set to rejoin the PGA Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>   <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! LIV Golf CEO Scott O&#8217;Neil confirmed reports that the Saudi&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,6674,3747,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-610483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-liv-golf","12":"tag-pga-tour","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}