Saudi Arabia is shifting its investment strategy from some sporting projects, with the PIF entering a \u2018Value Realisation Period\u2019 and emphasising more sustainable investments. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said that the Iran war has \u201cadded more pressure to reposition some priorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
LIV CEO Scott O\u2019Neil was bullish about the short-term future during the latest stop in Mexico, insisting to staff that the season would continue \u201cat full throttle\u201d. Sources at the league have stressed<\/a> it is very much \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d, with extensive plans still being made for its 13 teams and the 2027 calendar.<\/p>\n Yet without access to alternate funding, LIV\u2019s future still appears perilous. \u201cThe reality is that you\u2019re 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,\u201d O\u2019Neil told TNT Sports<\/a> in Mexico in an interview that was soon deleted.<\/p>\n The anticipated postponement of an upcoming event in New Orleans<\/a>, which would leave a seven-week gap in the calendar this summer, has only added to the concern during a fraught period. Such uncertainty has not been lost on some of the league\u2019s players, some of whom could face career limbo if LIV did suddenly cease operations. <\/p>\n New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said last week that he would consider additional pathways to bring back players who want to return from LIV after Brooks Koepka\u2019s reinstatement<\/a> through a contrived \u2018Returning Members Program\u2019. The belief is that the DP World Tour would adopt similar considerations.<\/p>\n The circuit would likely be a very popular landing ground. TG has learned from sources close to the situation that various LIV players have asked the circuit about their options for next season and the tournaments they would be eligible for as they consider potential fallbacks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s understood that one LIV player has also asked about the viability of competing on the HotelPlanner \u2013 formerly Challenge \u2013 Tour, the second tier of European golf, should their calendar open up in 2027. <\/p>\n At this week\u2019s Turkish Airlines Open<\/a>, DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings was asked for his thoughts about LIV\u2019s potential plight \u2013 and what the implications could be for his own circuit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re reading the headlines and observing,\u201d Kinnings told TG. \u201cWe\u2019ve got members and dual members [of the DPWT and LIV) and we listen to them.\u00a0Those kind of headlines that we\u2019ve seen in the last few weeks have got to be concerning for them. But all we do is control what we can control, make sure our product is as good as it can be.\u00a0I don\u2019t think it can be easy with all of that sort of going on.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the moment, our focus is just on us doing what we can do. We listen to players, listen to their representatives all the time and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n In February, eight LIV players who are DP World Tour members agreed to a conditional deal with Wentworth HQ that enabled them to play in conflicting events without tournament releases. In return, the octet were required to settle any outstanding sanctions and to participate in additional DP World Tour events, as well as withdrawing appeals against the circuit. LIV youngsters Tom McKibbin, David Puig and Elvis Smylie all signed that deal and are among the favorites playing this week here in Antalya.<\/p>\n TG also asked Kinnings about the possibility of the DP World Tour welcoming more players from LIV. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, we\u2019re in the mode of just listening because we don\u2019t know any more than anyone else does,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll listen and we\u2019ll make sure that we\u2019re fully informed before we make the decisions that we need to do.\u00a0But for sure, there are people who are concerned and we will be having conversations with them at the right time. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll make sure we\u2019re informed. But we\u2019ve already shown that if people work within the rules \u2013 my only job is to make sure we benefit the tour as a whole, every member, all the loyal members have stuck with it.\u00a0We worked out what is something that worked well on those conditional releases.<\/p>\n \u201cPlayers coming and supporting at events where it improves the quality of the event and helps the tour as a whole.\u00a0So we will wait and see how things evolve, but we\u2019re obviously listening\u00a0and we\u2019re listening to players and agents and others who have questions about what the future may hold\u00a0and we\u2019ll handle it as we go forward.\u00a0But for sure, I think there\u2019s opportunity for us to continue to grow the strength of the tour,\u00a0which is my only job really.\u201d<\/p>\n This week\u2019s field at the National Golf Club is headed by 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari. Alex Fitzpatrick was also due to compete, but has withdrawn after sealing his PGA Tour card and entry into this week\u2019s $20 million Cadillac Championship<\/a> with his life-changing victory alongside brother Matt at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia is shifting its investment strategy from some sporting projects, with the PIF entering a \u2018Value Realisation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-611493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}