LIV Golf’s return to competition this week in England came with a fresh round of awkward questions and a few answers that did the league no favors.
After a seven-week break, the circuit is back on the schedule while it continues scrambling to line up the money it needs to stay alive after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia decided it would stop funding the league at the end of the season. Tuesday, though, was the kind of day that made the whole situation look even shakier.
The first hit came off the course. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced a new partnership with the Asian Tour, a move that matters plenty for LIV Golf because it had a deal with the Asian Tour dating back 2022.
The PIF had funded the Asian Tour to help LIV Golf build a bigger global footprint, and the two sides also ran a number of “International Series” events that some LIV Golf players entered. With that relationship now gone, LIV Golf has less to sell to any potential future investors.
Then came Jon Rahm.
Rahm, the captain of Legion XIII, spoke with the media just days after making the weekend at the British Open. For a player of his stature, it had to be a strange setting: a major championship veteran sitting in a conference room trying to explain a league that is fighting to keep itself afloat. Rahm was asked a straightforward question about his future.
Would he expect to be playing LIV Golf in 2027?
“I'm not going to share anything that I can't share with you guys right now,” Rahm said.
That answer left plenty of room for interpretation, and not much comfort for anyone hoping for a ringing endorsement. Rahm was also asked about his conversations with LIV Golf officials as they work through the league’s financial uncertainty.
“Well, we're in contact with them,” Rahm said. “We know a lot of what's going on, yeah. Not that I can share with you guys right now.”
Later in the day, the Majestics took their turn in front of the cameras, and the optics were rough. The team is led by 52-year-old Lee Westwood and 50-year-old Ian Poulter, and it has been one of the league’s weakest squads year after year. That’s not exactly a mystery when half the roster is made up of two players well past their primes.
Westwood was asked whether he felt more confident now about LIV Golf’s future than he did a few months ago, when news broke in Mexico City that PIF would end its funding.
“Yeah I think so, I think I do, yeah,” Westwood said before taking a long pause. “We’ve been informed of a lot of what’s going on.
Obviously there’s some stuff still in the works. There’s a process going on and maybe nobody knows how that’s going to turn out just to this very moment so there’s nothing really to relay on about that.
But yeah, I don’t feel like I’m being kept in the dark. It’s very transparent.”
Poulter also addressed the search for investors and said the group around the league is working hard to shape a future version of the product.
“We’ve been playing golf around the world now for 27, 28 years-and Lee a bit longer-so we have met a lot of people,” Poulter said. “We know a lot of people in private equity and obviously putting their names forward to look at this at the bigger picture.
I think everyone is trying incredibly hard. The amount of hours the team are actually putting in to have a 2.0 version is pretty impressive.
They’re doing everything they possibly can.”
For a league trying to project stability, Tuesday produced the opposite. Between the Asian Tour setback, Rahm’s non-answer, and the Majestics’ public attempt to explain the state of play, LIV Golf spent its day looking like a league trying to hold the floor together rather than one ready to move forward.
In Other News...
Rory McIlroy Just Put The PGA Tour In An Awkward Spot
Rory McIlroy is making plain that his PGA Tour calendar no longer carries the same urgency it once did. With the career Grand Slam in hand and other priorities pulling at his schedule, he said this season feels different, and the Tours current structure only sharpens that feeling for one of its biggest stars.
McIlroy has played in 11 PGA Tour events so far, leaving him in position to potentially come up short of the Tours minimum event requirement. Even so, the expectation is that any fallout would be limited, which only adds to the awkwardness for a circuit trying to keep its top players engaged while one of its most recognizable names sounds increasingly selective about where he tees it up. [Read more 🡒]
Charlie Woods Faces Growing Concern At A Crucial Point In His Rise
Charlie Woods latest step in the amateur ranks came with a setback at one of the sports biggest stages, as he fell short of qualifying for the U.S. Amateur at Ohio State Universitys Scarlet Course. A final-round 76 left him six strokes outside the cut, another reminder that the climb from promising junior talent to dependable contender is rarely a straight line.
The miss adds to the scrutiny around a player whose development has been watched closely from the start, especially as he works to sharpen his consistency under pressure. Woods is now reportedly turning his attention to the U.S. Junior Amateur later this month at Saucon Valley, where the next chance to reset arrives quickly and the expectations will not be any smaller. [Read more 🡒]