LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan is reportedly set to step down from his position as it was confirmed the Saudi PIF will withdraw funding from the team golf league at the end of the season.
LIV Golf has announced a new board to help try and secure fresh funding, with no mention of Al-Rumayyan in the press release.
Al-Rumayyan was the architect of LIV Golf alongside Greg Norman, but after ploughing more than $5bn into the project, the PIF will officially cut off funding at the end of the 2026 season.
Sources with knowledge of LIV Golf Business Operations have confirmed that PIF funding will end this year, and that all players and staff have been made aware of that fact over the past two weeks.
LIV Golf leaders still believe the tour can carry on beyond 2026 though, and are set to release a "strategic path forward" which includes a new board looking to "secure long term financial partners" for the team tour.
LIV Golf postponed June's Louisiana event in New Orleans but there's no suggestion at this stage that any further 2026 tournaments will be affected.
Sources say LIV Golf is "currently engaging in constructive discussions with prospective global investors" but it's clear the current model will have to change if it is to survive.
The reported departure of Al-Rumayyan is the key move though, as it's well known his love for golf was the catalyst for the Saudi PIF getting involved in the sport.
With Norman as the face of business, Al-Rumayyan bankrolled huge outlays of cash to sign the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
The spending was always going to wind down at some point, but it will now come to a complete end later this year.
Norman himself recently said his replacement Scott O'Neil would have to get out and find new funding - and that appears to be the plan moving forward.
O'Neil had said the LIV Golf season would continue "at full throttle" during a pssionate defence of the league at LIV Golf Mexico.
The response was after reports emerged just before Mexico of the PIF withdrawing funding, leading O'Neil to appear on the TV broadcast and presenters Arlo White and David Feherty to hit out at the media for the "absolute nonsense" being written.
O'Neil did later admit to UK broadcaster TNT Sports that PIF funding was only secure until the end of 2026, comments that were later deleted from a social media video.
That has now proved to be the case though, and now the search for funding will be O'Neil's top job as the LIV Golf business looks to pivot away from Saudi billions.
Sources say there remains a "conviction around the team golf model" and funding will be sought via investments in these as franchises.
LIV Golf has already announced 2027 events in Adelaide, South Africa and Mexico, now there's a race against time to secure enough funding for those to go ahead.
It's now clear though that any LIV Golf future will be without the billions available from Saudi Arabia.
