It opens a wild week for LIV Golf with an uncertain future

Check in every week for the unfiltered views of our writers and editors as they analyze the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss LIV Golf’s tumultuous week and uncertain future, Matt Fitzpatrick’s win at the RBC Heritage and Rory McIlroy’s Masters career prospects.

Early last week, several news outlets reported uncertainty about the future of LIV Golf, indicating that Saudi PIF was close to leading its funding. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil told his staff in an email Wednesday: “Our season is proceeding as planned, uninterrupted and in full swing. While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the field.” But O’Neil elaborated on the situation on Thursday, when he spoke to TV, “The reality is that you are funded throughout the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan for us to continue.” (The clip has since been removed but is still streaming online.) On Sunday, Jon Rahm won the sixth LIV event of the season, in Mexico City. What’s your take on what has been a wild week for the five-year-old league?

James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): My main takeaway is simple: The Saudis seem to be getting out of the business of running a golf league, which is an essential part of the entire game. LIV is now entering a period where it will need to work hard to find a way to survive, and as its CEO, Scott O’Neil, said himself, it seems that all options are on the table.

Josh Sens (@joshsens). One takeaway is as old as capitalism: that new businesses — even the disruptive variety — are hard to grow no matter how much money you put into them. That said, in Saudi Arabia, getting out of the business of financing professional golf tours will not mean getting out of golf. A new course has just opened in Jura. Others are at work. The desire is still to increase the country’s presence in the sport, but it is possible now to host golf and travel tourism events. Which, in retrospect, seems like it would have been the better way all along.

Josh Schrock, news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): My takeaway is that if PIF exits, LIV Golf, as we know it, will need to reinvent itself. O’Neil said he will pursue all avenues to get more funding, but it is difficult to see one or more sponsors willing to bankroll the league to the extent that would allow nine-man contracts. O’Neil himself has said that LIV will not be profitable for five or 10 years without significant changes.

To Schrock’s point, LIV can continue in its current form without PIF‘s deep pockets? If so, what should be changed?

Colgan: Definitely not in its current state. The league has spent more than $5 billion in Saudi funding so far, and, as Josh noted, O’Neil has said the league is several years away from any prospect of a profit. Depends on who steps up to help LIV with funding, I’d say anywhere change is on the table.

Senses: No, the league wouldn’t work the way it is now, and I have trouble imagining what other form it could take. A limited series of world championship events with huge overseas dollar sponsorships? But is there really a bigger dollar market for golf than we already have? LIV’s tests have shown that certain markets – Australia and South Africa, for example – are hungry for golf star power, but, on a global level, building and attracting attention in a new league is an uphill climb.

Scrock: LIV can try and meet the DP World Tour or rebuild how it does most things while the PIF spigot is on. But contracts and purses will have to come down, and, at that point, how many players will want to continue when the paychecks aren’t what they were when they first signed? There are many moving parts to consider, many of which we still have limited knowledge of.

If LIV does not survive the year 2026, you can expect the PGA Tour to offer the top players of LIV – Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, etc. – a path back to the Tour in the form of the same deal accepted by Brooks Koepka?

Senses: With LIV’s big names, absolutely. If the Tour wants to showcase the best talent in the world, and it does, it will deal with Rahm and DeChambeau and maybe a few others. Others, I suspect, will have to re-enter and go through other mini-tours.

Colgan: In that theory, I think the Tour could offer a “Koepka Deal” to Bryson and Rahm … and maybe leave some LIV up-and-comers to serve their suspensions on the DP World Tour.

Scrock: From a pure cost-benefit analysis, Tour CEO Brian Rolapp would probably like to add Bryson and Rahm back like he did with Brooks. But things aren’t always that easy when you’re dealing with two players who have already turned down the opportunity to return, perhaps not as popular as Brooks, who ended up hanging his head down after he left and didn’t swipe or hire other players. The sentiment may not be the same as Bryson, who was the named plaintiff in LIV’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour and its members, or Rahm, whose post-draft travel deal treated many players unfairly. Will they add value immediately to the Tour? Yes. But for Rolapp to sell that idea, it’s going to be a tricky high-wire act.

Matt Fitzpatrick won the RBC Heritage in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler, who started the day with three goals but caught Fitzpatrick late. Is your take on Hilton Head more focused on Fitzpatrick’s second win in the last month, or Scheffler’s second consecutive top-flight finish?

Colgan: How quickly do we forget that Scottie Scheffler is still a US Open winner away from a career grand slam? I applaud Fitz for another win, and for continuing to re-establish himself as one of the best players in the sport … but my eyes are already on Shinnecock.

Senses: Like Woods before him, Scheffler twisted our expectations so suddenly that a second-place finish somehow came across as a failure. Fitzpatrick is on golf’s high street. Scheffler works in different dimensions. Whatever “struggles” he went through in the past seems to be the cause. So, as James said, eyes on Shinnecock. But also to Aronimink before that. And frankly, wherever Scheffler covers it.

Scrock: Scheffler’s “struggles” have been blown out of proportion as we often do when a top athlete dips below the level we’re used to seeing them perform. Scheffler nearly erased a 12-week deficit at the Masters with a cold putter. He is the best in the world, and I expect him to step in every time he plays. For me, this was more about Fitzpatrick. Last year, he was in a bad place. His game was “rubbish,” and he was ranked 79th in the world. A year later, he has won three times around the world and has beaten both Rory and Scottie in separate playoffs. His resurgence is amazing, and I think he’s a much better player now than we thought his ceiling was when he won the 2022 US Open. Expect him to threaten at Aronimink and the Open.

Speaking before the PGA Championship, major champion Padraig Harrington made one bold claim about how many Masters Rory McIlroy could win given his success at Augusta, the comfort there and the fact that the course allows some players to stay competitive into their 50s. “Rory can win 10 [Masters] at this stage, or five of them, anyway.” Although 10 seems high, what do you think? How many Masters degrees will Rory complete his career with?

Colgan: I think we do this a lot with famous players: we see them win a little, and we just assume they can win a lot. Of course, it is very difficult to win the Masters. I believe Rory can get to three, like fellow late Augusta-bloomer Phil Mickelson, but I’ll probably stop before adding another to the list.

Senses: When Tiger won the Masters by an amazing 12 shots, I remember the talk that he would never lose this tournament again. He came to five. Impressive. But yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Things happen. Life happens. Rory’s four blue jackets don’t seem entirely unusual. Maybe five if all the stars align? But 10 is complicated. It won’t happen.

Scrock: We quickly forget that Rory went 10 years without a major win of any kind. Golf is a fickle, strange game. I think he can win a third jacket and maybe, maybe you can talk me into a fourth at the end of his career. But the real question is how many majors does Rory win? I feel like I want to say nine, but again, we like to be prisoners of the moment about these things.