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The final results of the LIV Golf experiment may not yet be known, but most industry experts agree that the once-richly funded competitor to the PGA Tour has almost no chance of survival after the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund managers confirmed in early 2026 that they would no longer fund the organization. While the result may ultimately be a failure, it cannot be said that a valiant, if foolhardy, attempt was not made to give the startup a chance at success. In the end, the group spent over $5.3 billion dollars to upset the established PGA Tour, and came up with a whiff.
The Beginning
The challenge from LIV Golf to the throne of the golfing world started over a grudge, essentially. Greg Norman was a once-prominent PGA Tour golfer who felt like the PGA Tour took too much of the spoils and did not share enough of the financial gains with the players. He had been involved with another fledgling professional golf tour in the 1990’s, the World Golf Tour. The PGA Tour had crushed it before it could find success, and that stuck with Norman over the years. When the Saudi Arabian government began seeking ways to buy goodwill through positive promotion in popular organizations, it had the money to fund a new golf tour and give it a real chance to establish itself. Greg Norman had the reason to take the fight to the PGA Tour. Together, the LIV Golf tour was formed to bring fun back to golf for players and fans, who had found it stuffy.
The Rise
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia made an initial $2 billion cash injection into LIV Golf. The money was intended to address start-up costs, including the important task of luring away top-name professionals from the PGA Tour. Sign-on bonuses to some of the top names in golf were in the range of 9 figures, and it immediately got the sporting world’s attention, including the attention of the PGA Tour. There was also a focus on grabbing the attention of the key demographics for golf spend, leaning towards making events shorter and more participatory for the crowds, and pumping in music and concert-style atmospheres. Events held at some of the most beautiful and noteworthy courses around the globe were getting the fans out in droves. LIV Golf was disrupting professional golf on a global scale, and it was starting to look like there were now two professional golf tours competing for supremacy.
The Fall
The PGA Tour knew it could not compete with the massive funding provided by the Saudis, but it could still fight back in other ways. One of their first actions was to issue a statement that all PGA Tour members who left to join or participate in LIV Golf-created or backed events would be banned from playing in PGA Tour events. This would result in the prominent players of the LIV Golf Tour losing the ability to earn the points necessary to maintain or improve their standing in the World Golf Rankings, a ranking that is critical for players to qualify for open events and championships, which are typically needed to secure lucrative endorsement deals. With this beginning salvo, the PGA Tour was starting a war of attrition with LIV Golf. This drove the product’s value for the PGA Tour, resulting in $700 million per year in established television rights alone. Meanwhile, LIV was starting to lose attendees, and they had to air their tournaments for free on the CW network just to get the new league some much-needed visibility and retain fans.
Due to the Iran War starting in early 2026 and shrinking revenues, Saudi Arabia decided to stop funding LIV Golf, leaving the tour’s future in doubt. Over four years of funding, Saudi Arabia invested more than $5.3 billion, with more than $1 billion spent on bonuses alone to lure away PGA Tour professionals.
The Results
LIV Golf is still in existence, but just barely. The attempt to bring more fun to golf for fans and players alike taught the PGA Tour a lesson. The new customer base is drawn to more online content, livelier atmospheres, and shorter, more unpredictable game formats, and keeping them entertained will provide more income potential. The introduction of a Signature Events series, consisting of eight limited-field, no-cut tournaments with $20 million purses, is one way the PGA is trying to increase excitement in professional golf.
The added competition drew attention to the PGA’s poor treatment of players, which was one reason so many top players left to join LIV Golf (although the bonuses definitely helped). This competition has resulted in an increase in purse size and the ability to earn more money on tour than ever before. The higher stakes have led to greater audience engagement, too, as seen in the success of Signature Events. Competition prompted the PGA Tour to reevaluate how it treated its players, altering the relationship between the players and the organization. Healing will be needed, and the potential re-admittance of players who defected to LIV Golf will help determine how that healing stage goes.
Optics are important, especially in today’s world of social media and constant online sharing. The audience has more power today than before, and they will punish any entity they feel is not a worthy provider of entertainment. Saudi Arabia was made painfully aware that its actions at home and abroad as a government will affect its ability to diversify beyond oil revenue. While Saudi Arabia may be invested in other sports leagues, by taking on an institution with a storied history, they thrust themselves into a public eye that has been contentious due to past misdeeds or missteps.
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