The Saudis used LIV Golf to try and win over Trump. The players were just rich pawns

May 1, 2026 — 10:55am

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The rumours turned out to be true and LIV Golf has lost its Saudi overdraft. If you care about a reunited professional golf world, you’ll say good riddance.

LIV was a political act. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud, decided to pump billions into football, tennis, motor racing, golf and other sports to achieve several ends, among them the reputational repair for human rights violations including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Sports were to be multi-purposed to signal Saudi modernity and diversification. Golfers, receiving billions of dirty petrodollars, were wilfully naive tools in this political play.

Those same political factors have caused the withdrawal of Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, not because LIV isn’t working, but because the Crown Prince (MBS) has fallen out with US President, Donald Trump, and is realigning Saudi-US relations and its spending.

MBS’s hopes to use this sport to ingratiate himself with the golf-loving Trump have failed. So he’s taking his sticks and balls and going home. LIV is losing its backing because two autarchs have fallen out of love. Boohoo.

LIV has not folded yet, it just has no money beyond 2026. Its chief executive, Scott O’Neil, is working on a business plan. The pro-LIV chief of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan, betrayed by his boss, has quit in embarrassment.

Assuming it dies, we can draft LIV’s obituary. It did not attract big US audiences, though this was never one of its KPIs. Like all breakaway leagues going........

© Brisbane Times