A report in The Financial Times is reporting that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is soon to announce it is pulling its funding for LIV Golf. All of LIV Golf's executives have been called to a meeting in New York, according to UK publication The Telegraph.
Since the fund is state-owned, the article said PIF could use the ongoing Gulf conflict to activate the force majeure clause and pull the tour's funding immediately.
Reports surfaced Wednesday that players and vendors had not been paid, indicating the tour is not self-sustaining. The departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed ahead of the season decreased star power, and Phil Mickelson's indefinite absence from golf due to a family matter, leaves just Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as the only top draws.
DeChambeau was contemplating a move back to the PGA Tour, but balked when he objected to the conditions placed on Koepka under the tour's new Returning Member Program.
An announcement is expected Thursday or Friday. The tour is in Mexico City this week.
My take: This is just informed speculation at this point, with single-source reporting. However, once the PGA Tour incorporated many of the attractive elements of LIV Golf, this became inevitable. Also making a for-profit arm of the PGA Tour, including player ownership and profit sharing, it became even more vibrant. U.S. players, in particular, have complained about the international travel of LIV's global tour, with significant time being spent away from families — Koepka's main reason for returning. Whether it shutters immediately, is supported through the current season, or continues in some form (even its current form), it will never be anything more than a minor tour, whose low-level competition will cripple world-ranking points, despite wins.
THE ASYLUM
LIV Golf finished?
A report in The Financial Times is reporting that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is soon to announce it is pulling its funding for LIV Golf. All of LIV Golf's executives have been called to a meeting in New York, according to UK publication The Telegraph.
Since the fund is state-owned, the article said PIF could use the ongoing Gulf conflict to activate the force majeure clause and pull the tour's funding immediately.
Reports surfaced Wednesday that players and vendors had not been paid, indicating the tour is not self-sustaining. The departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed ahead of the season decreased star power, and Phil Mickelson's indefinite absence from golf due to a family matter, leaves just Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as the only top draws.
DeChambeau was contemplating a move back to the PGA Tour, but balked when he objected to the conditions placed on Koepka under the tour's new Returning Member Program.
An announcement is expected Thursday or Friday. The tour is in Mexico City this week.
My take: This is just informed speculation at this point, with single-source reporting. However, once the PGA Tour incorporated many of the attractive elements of LIV Golf, this became inevitable. Also making a for-profit arm of the PGA Tour, including player ownership and profit sharing, it became even more vibrant. U.S. players, in particular, have complained about the international travel of LIV's global tour, with significant time being spent away from families — Koepka's main reason for returning. Whether it shutters immediately, is supported through the current season, or continues in some form (even its current form), it will never be anything more than a minor tour, whose low-level competition will cripple world-ranking points, despite wins.
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