LIV Golf to announce new board members, strategic plan amid funding issues: Source

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, helped found LIV Golf back in 2021. Jan Kruger / Getty Images Share articleLIV Golf is set to announce new members to its board on Thursday, a source briefed on discussions told The Athletic, after the reported departure of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund who founded LIV Golf alongside Greg Norman in 2021, is stepping down as the chairman of the tour’s board, the Sports Business Journal reported Wednesday night. Al-Rumayyan’s exit comes two weeks after it was revealed that the PIF is expected to withdraw its multibillion-dollar investment from the upstart golf tour. That expectation will be cemented Thursday, as LIV Golf plans to release a new “strategic plan” to solicit new long-term investors. It would be the first formal acknowledgement by LIV as it attempts to move forward with new leadership and without funding from the PIF beyond 2026. Sources with knowledge of LIV Golf business operations tell The Athletic the company remains committed to a global tour and team golf model, and went over the plan with its 13 team captains in a call on Tuesday.  Multiple golf industry sources revealed the PIF’s intention to pull funding two weeks ago. That development created an environment in which high-level LIV Golf executives were in meetings about the league’s next steps while also beginning their own job searches. Only a couple of days before that, following the final round of the Masters Tournament, executives were told that they would soon lose their positions. LIV didn’t receive its final round of funding to finish the season until the days leading up to its event in Mexico City on April 16-19, sources said. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil pushed back against reports from The Athletic and other publications, saying LIV’s season would continue “exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.” On Monday, however, LIV postponed an event scheduled for New Orleans in June, though there was hope for a plan to have a “re-envisioned event in the fall.” Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development Susan Bourgeois told The Athletic that O’Neil proposed the fall event be a weekend-only invitational or an all-star event. As part of O’Neil and company’s attempts to raise funds, the league plans to sell equity in its 13 teams and pull in other outside investments. O’Neil also told the in-house broadcast team the league is looking at new ways to change and improve, including partnering with national opens. The loss of Al-Rumayyan, though, would be a sizable shift from one of golf’s main characters in recent years. While Norman was the primary face of LIV’s ascent, Al-Rumayyan was the somewhat mysterious force in the background, providing funding and making deals. He was the core figure in the June 2023 “framework agreement” with the PGA Tour to end pending litigation and discuss a potential deal between the two sides. Documents released during a July 2023 U.S. Senate subcommittee showed Al-Rumayyan requested an Augusta National Golf Club membership and a PGA Tour Enterprises board seat if that agreement came to fruition. He and former PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met multiple times a year and played a round together at the Dunhill Links Championship. Insiders long believed that Al-Rumayyan, a devoted golfer, championed LIV, which has lost a reported $5 billion since 2022, within the PIF. He particularly emphasized the team model that introduced the world to the Crushers, Cleeks and 4 Aces, among others. As recently as February 2025, Al-Rumayyan, Monahan, Tiger Woods and other power players met in the White House’s Oval Office in hopes that President Donald Trump could help broker an agreement. Instead, talks went cold immediately after that meeting. Fourteen months later, PIF and LIV Golf have separated. LIV Golf Virginia at Trump National Golf Club is scheduled to begin May 7, just outside of Washington, D.C. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms