LIV Golf, the controversial golf league propped up by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, is on the brink of collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported — and it comes as Trump’s golf clubs, that have hosted their events at exorbitant sums, continue to try to promote them.
The problem, reported the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, is that the Saudi funding is going away.
“LIV plans to tell players and staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will no longer bankroll the circuit after this season, according to people familiar with the matter. The move sounds the death knell for the upstart that sowed chaos in professional golf by plowing billions into the sport and poaching A-list players,” said the report. “The writing had been on the wall for nearly a month. When PIF recently laid out its vision for the next five years, it made no mention of the league that has divided the golf world since it first teed off in 2022. The people said that while LIV has grown the sport globally, the operation was no longer consistent with the new phase of PIF’s investment strategy.”
“Even as LIV seeks outside investors to keep it afloat, it will be nearly impossible for it to exist bearing any resemblance to its current form after the Saudis lost billions on the endeavor,” said the report. “They paid exorbitant fees to put on tournaments with lucrative purses featuring elite players such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. LIV is already in talks with outside investors, a person familiar with LIV’s thinking said.”
As all of this is going on, the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. is putting out a statement on X touting a LIV Golf event.
“The excitement and anticipation are building at @trumpgolfdc as the finishing touches are being put in place for the arrival of LIV Golf next week,” said the account. “We look forward to welcoming players, guests, and fans for what promises to be an extraordinary event. The countdown is on.”
Despite LIV inking contracts worth over $100 million to steal away golf stars from the PGA tour, Forbes reported that Trump himself has made surprisingly little from his clubs hosting their events, with many of them netting him less than $1 million apiece.
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