With LIV Golf not yet responding to the BBC’s requests for comment, and senior golfing officials telling us they are also trying to clarify what the situation is, uncertainly surrounds the circuit’s future.
One Saudi source told us that the speculation could be linked to the publication on Thursday of a new four-year strategy for the country’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, which bankrolls LIV.
Even before the recent conflict in the Middle East, there had been a sense that the PIF was placing a new emphasis on more sustainable investments, and that its plans for LIV were under renewed scrutiny, especially with the 2034 World Cup being seen as a bigger sporting priority.
That uncertainty ramped up after top LIV star Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour early this year.
And then in February, amid billions of dollars of investment and major financial losses, LIV’s chief executive admitted it could take a further decade for it to return a profit.
Nonetheless, if Saudi Arabia did seriously reduce or even end its commitment to the breakaway series, it would still be a seismic development for the sport.
LIV has driven a wedge through golf for the past five years, and given the scale of the stated ambition and amounts of money already invested, any such development would raise major questions about the rest of the kingdom’s vast sporting enterprises.
