Saudi Arabia Has Spent Billions on LIV Golf — Here’s Why It Has Changed the Sport Forever

Saudi Arabia’s investment in LIV Golf has become one of the most consequential interventions in modern professional sport. Backed by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), billions of dollars have flowed into player contracts, prize money, broadcast production and global events since 2022 — reshaping professional golf’s competitive, commercial and governance structures in ways that remain unresolved.

Supporters of LIV Golf argue the project represents long-overdue disruption in a sport long dominated by entrenched institutions. Critics counter that the scale and structure of the investment have fractured golf’s ecosystem and raised fundamental questions about sustainability, regulation and control. What is no longer in dispute is that professional golf has entered a new era — one defined as much by geopolitics and capital flows as by sporting performance.

A Capital Shock to an Established Sport

The scale of Saudi Arabia’s investment into LIV Golf is unprecedented in professional golf. Industry estimates suggest that more than $2bn has been committed since the circuit’s launch, covering guaranteed player contracts, event prize money, global logistics, marketing and legal costs.

To put that figure in context, the PGA Tour’s annual revenues have historically been estimated at around $1.5bn. LIV Golf’s spending therefore exceeds what the sport’s leading incumbent generates in a typical year — a dynamic that would be unsustainable for a commercial enterprise seeking near-term profitability, but less constraining for a sovereign wealth fund operating with strategic rather than purely financial objectives.

This approach mirrors patterns increasingly visible across global markets, where state-backed capital is deployed with longer time horizons and broader strategic aims than traditional private investors.

Unlike conventional sports investors, the PIF can tolerate extended operating losses, allowing LIV Golf to compete directly with established tours without needing to build immediate audience scale or commercial returns. That capacity alone has altered the balance of power within professional golf.

A Divided Competitive Landscape

One of LIV Golf’s most visible consequences has been the fragmentation of elite competition. Many of the sport’s most recognisable players now compete primarily on separate circuits, reducing how often top athletes face one another outside the four major championships.

For fans, this division has weakened the regular elite-versus-elite match-ups that historically defined golf’s narrative appeal. For players, it has created a bifurcated system in which guaranteed contracts coexist alongside traditional merit-based progression. For organisers, it has complicated scheduling, rankings and qualification pathways.

The Player Exodus: Who Left and Why It Matters

One of LIV Golf’s most visible consequences has been the fragmentation of elite competition. Many of the sport’s most recognisable players now compete primarily on separate circuits, reducing how often top athletes face one another outside the four major championships.

Phil Mickelson became LIV Golf’s highest-profile early signing according to golf industry reports, with contracts reportedly reaching approximately $200 million. His decision to join LIV Golf at age 52 proved particularly significant given his three-decade career as one of golf’s most recognized figures. Mickelson’s public comments about the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia generated substantial controversy, with statements characterizing the tour’s business practices and defending LIV’s Saudi backing drawing criticism from fans, media commentators, and fellow professionals who argued his remarks damaged his previously positive public reputation.

Dustin Johnson, a former world number one, reportedly accepted approximately $125 million to join LIV Golf according to golf industry sources. His move removed one of the tour’s most consistent top performers from regular PGA Tour competition. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau—both major championship winners—subsequently joined LIV Golf for contracts that golf journalists reported reached nine figures, taking two prominent players and significant fan favorites to the rival circuit.

Cameron Smith, who won the 2022 British Open Championship, joined LIV Golf shortly after his major victory, creating notable situation where a reigning major champion would no longer compete regularly on the PGA Tour. Golf commentators noted his departure as particularly significant because he represented a younger generation choosing guaranteed contracts over traditional tour competition during peak competitive years.

The departures meant that regular PGA Tour events no longer featured complete fields including all of the world’s highest-ranked players. Tournaments that historically showcased many of golf’s elite competing weekly instead presented fields missing multiple top-50 ranked players according to Official World Golf Rankings data. LIV Golf events, despite offering substantial prize money, have faced questions about competitive legitimacy when fields consist primarily of contracted players rather than open qualification based on performance metrics.

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods remained with the PGA Tour, declining reported LIV Golf offers. Golf media reported McIlroy’s declined offer may have exceeded $500 million, though neither McIlroy nor LIV Golf confirmed specific figures. Their decisions to remain, alongside players including Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, and Scottie Scheffler, preserved star power for the traditional tour. However, the division of top players between competing circuits has created what golf analysts describe as fragmented competitive landscape where fans cannot watch all of the sport’s leading players compete regularly outside the four major championships held annually.

Supporters of LIV Golf argue that this disruption exposes inefficiencies in the traditional model and improves player compensation by forcing incumbent tours to evolve. Critics argue that fragmentation risks eroding the sport’s coherence, diluting competitive meaning and weakening long-term fan engagement — a challenge familiar across industries facing structural disruption, as explored in EBM’s business analysis.

Broadcasting, Sponsorship and Commercial Strain

Despite its financial firepower, LIV Golf has struggled to translate investment into mass audience engagement. Television and streaming viewership has remained modest relative to established tours, while sponsorship traction has lagged behind the scale of spending.

At the same time, the PGA Tour has also faced commercial pressure following the departure of high-profile players, contributing to softer broadcast figures and heightened competition for sponsor attention. The result has been a commercial environment in which neither side has clearly benefited from the split — while the sport as a whole absorbs the cost of fragmentation.

This disconnect between capital input and audience response raises broader questions about the limits of financial power in audience-driven industries. As EBM has explored in its coverage of the global economy, sustained investment alone cannot guarantee engagement where consumer habits, brand loyalty and cultural meaning are weakened.

For sponsors and broadcasters, uncertainty around governance, scheduling and long-term structure complicates commitments. The absence of a clear resolution has reinforced caution across commercial partners, even as spending continues at unprecedented levels.

Governance, Regulation and an Uncertain Endgame

The proposed partnership announced in 2023 between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was intended to bring unity back to professional golf. More than a year later, the agreement remains incomplete, delayed by regulatory scrutiny, player opposition and unresolved governance questions.

Regulators have raised concerns about competition, while players who declined LIV Golf offers have questioned the fairness of a settlement that appears to reward defections without compensating loyalty. Meanwhile, structural questions persist: how events would be organised, how rankings would function, and how authority would ultimately be exercised within a merged framework.

These governance challenges echo wider debates playing out across Europe about the role of state-backed capital and regulatory oversight — themes regularly examined in EBM’s European news coverage.

Whether professional golf ultimately reunifies under a single structure or remains permanently fragmented will set an important precedent for global sport.

Why This Matters Beyond Golf

Saudi Arabia’s involvement in professional golf is part of a broader pattern of strategic investment across sport, media and entertainment. From football and boxing to motorsport, state-backed capital is increasingly shaping global cultural industries, challenging traditional governance models and commercial assumptions.

LIV Golf has become a case study in how sustained financial pressure can disrupt even long-established institutions — and how regulatory frameworks struggle to adapt when competitors are willing to absorb losses indefinitely. The outcome will influence how leagues, regulators and investors respond to similar interventions elsewhere.

For a broader perspective on how power, capital and geopolitics are reshaping industries, see EBM’s ongoing reporting at European Business Magazine.