Professional golf is undergoing a slow but unmistakable reinvention, and few forces have changed it as dramatically as LIV Golf. Launched in 2022 as the LIV Golf Invitational Series, it developed into a full team-based league the following year. Former world No. 1 and two-time major winner Greg Norman served as its original chief executive and public face, promising to modernize the sport through shotgun starts, no-cut tournaments, franchise teams and a global schedule. Norman led LIV through its turbulent early years before Scott O’Neil took over as chief executive in 2025.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund backs the league, giving LIV Golf the money to offer guaranteed contracts, signing bonuses, and big prize purses. Well-known players such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, and Jon Rahm joined LIV. The PGA Tour suspended these players, which led to legal fights and a split in professional golf. In 2023, there was an agreement to bring the tours and the PIF together, but it did not reunite the sport as planned.

Supporters believe LIV Golf has made tournaments more competitive, rewarding, and exciting. Critics argue that its large spending has changed the sport and helped Saudi Arabia’s image, even though there are human rights concerns. The league is changing again, planning to hold 72-hole events in 2026. However, with players leaving and the PIF ending its support after this season, the future is unclear.

After several seasons, what is LIV Golf, how does it work, and why does it still spark strong opinions?

LIV Golf was created as an alternative to the traditional PGA Tour model, borrowing heavily from arena-style sport. Shotgun starts, permanent team identities, music and live entertainment give its events a faster, festival-like atmosphere. Although tournaments expanded to 72 holes over four days in 2026, LIV retained its no-cut format.

LIV Golf also stands out for how it handles money. Unlike the PGA Tour, which usually does not pay players just for showing up, many LIV players signed contracts that guarantee money and big signing bonuses. In 2026, regular events offer a $20 million prize for individuals and $10 million for teams, and every player who finishes the tournament wins some prize money.

Former LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman argued that the league was designed to coexist with the established tours. “Our model is 100 percent built around the golf ecosystem from the ground up,” Norman told Tucker Carlson in 2022. “We are not trying to destroy the PGA Tour or the European Tour. We are there to work within the ecosystem to show that it’s a big enough space. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry.”

Several seasons later, LIV Golf is no longer simply a challenger concept. It has established teams, international events and major broadcast partners, placing it firmly within the professional golf calendar. The divide remains, but LIV has grown into an established—and still fiercely debated—part of the sport.

LIV Golf’s competitive structure has changed significantly since its launch. Beginning with the 2026 season, regular events grew from 54 to 72 holes and are now played over four rounds, making them more like the format used by traditional golf tours. The original 54-hole format was so important that the league’s name, LIV, stands for 54 in Roman numerals.

Several of its signature features remain. Shotgun starts send groups out from different holes simultaneously, while the no-cut format keeps every golfer in the competition until the final round. The field now consists of 57 players, including 13 four-player teams and five Wild Card entrants.

The scale of that growth becomes clearer when looking back at LIV Golf’s original plans. “There will be a seven-event regular season where players will compete as individuals and teams for both points and prize money,” LIV Golf explained during its launch phase. “At the end of those seven events, an Individual Champion will be crowned based on points accumulated throughout the season. The eighth and final event will be our season-ending Team Championship match play event.”

The starting season of 2022, comprised of eight tournaments, consisted of seven regular tournaments and finished up with the Team Championship. The early plans announced that the final round would include the fourth match-play knockout at Trump National Doral in Miami.

Today, the individual and team competitions continue to run alongside one another at every regular-season event. The golfer with the lowest score after 72 holes wins the individual title, while all four scores from each team count towards its combined total. Players and teams also earn points throughout the first 13 events, leading to an Individual Champion and a standalone Team Championship at the end of the 14-event season.

The modern Team Championship combines two styles of play. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches feature two individual contests and one alternate-shot foursomes contest before the surviving teams switch to stroke play for the final round. LIV’s move to 72 holes shows how far it has travelled from its experimental beginnings, even as its shotgun starts, team element and no-cut structure keep it noticeably different from a conventional professional tour.

One of the biggest differences between LIV Golf and traditional tours is the money involved. In 2026, each regular-season event offers a total purse of US$30 million, with US$20 million for individual players and US$10 million for the 13-team competition.

The winner of the individual competition gets US$4 million, while second place earns US$2.25 million and third place takes home US$1.5 million. Since there is no halfway cut, all 57 golfers receive prize money. Even those at the bottom of the leaderboard usually get at least US$50,000. These prizes are in addition to any private contracts or signing bonuses players may have with LIV Golf or its teams.

Team prize money also reaches well beyond the podium in 2026. The winning team earns US$3 million, second place receives US$1.5 million, and third place collects US$900,000, with the payout gradually falling to US$200,000 for the team finishing 13th. LIV has also introduced a separate US$2.3 million performance pool for players on the top three teams. Including regular events, season-long bonuses and the Team Championship, the league is set to distribute a staggering US$470 million during the 2026 season.

LIV Golf’s group of players has grown a lot since its first season. The 2026 lineup has 57 golfers, with 52 players on 13 teams and five full-season Wild Cards. Famous players like major champions, former world No. 1s, and Ryder Cup regulars now compete in its global events.

Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Sergio García and Joaquín Niemann remain among the league’s biggest names. They are joined by Talor Gooch, Thomas Pieters, Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen, while David Puig, Josele Ballester, Caleb Surratt, Tom McKibbin and Elvis Smylie represent a younger generation. Some of LIV’s original signings have moved on, but the arrival of emerging talent shows that the league is looking beyond the veterans who defined its launch.

Yet one player remains inseparable from LIV Golf’s controversial beginnings.

Phil Mickelson became the face of LIV’s first major signing wave when he joined in June 2022. Months earlier, biographer Alan Shipnuck had published remarks Mickelson made criticizing the PGA Tour and discussing LIV’s Saudi backers. His arrival for the inaugural London event immediately raised the league’s profile, with his contract widely reported to be worth approximately US$200 million, although that figure has never been officially confirmed.

LIV’s financing by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund led to accusations that the country was using sport to improve its international reputation, despite concerns about its human rights record. Particular attention focused on the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A declassified US intelligence assessment concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a finding the Saudi government rejected as false and unacceptable.

“I understand that many people have very strong opinions and many disagree with my decision, and I can empathise, but at this time, this is an opportunity that gives me a chance to have the most balance in my life going forward, and I think this is going to do a lot of good for the game,” Mickelson said at the time.

Several seasons later, LIV Golf’s roster continues to change, but Mickelson’s arrival remains the moment when its debates over money, player freedom, Saudi investment and the future of professional golf fully entered the spotlight.

The debate about LIV Golf has been shaped as much by who pays for it as by how it affects the sport. The league is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the country’s main government investment fund, which has caused human rights groups and critics to call it an example of “sportswashing.” These groups say the big money put into golf is part of a larger plan to improve Saudi Arabia’s image worldwide. On the other hand, supporters of LIV say the league should be judged by the chances, competition, and money it has brought to golf.

The controversy intensified in June 2022 when a group representing nearly 2,500 relatives and survivors of the September 11 attacks issued an open letter to PGA Tour players who declined to join LIV. The letter expressed gratitude for their stance, stating: “Thank you for standing up for decency. Thank you for standing up for the 9/11 Families. Thank you for resisting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to cleanse its reputation by buying off professional athletes… To those of you who have chosen what is right over blood money from a corrupt, destructive sports entity and its Saudi backers, please continue to stand strong.”

These concerns stem from long-standing allegations of Saudi involvement in the September 11 attacks. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi nationals, and victims’ families have pursued civil claims asserting that Saudi-linked individuals assisted some of the perpetrators. Nevertheless, the 9/11 Commission found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution, or senior officials individually, funded al-Qaeda, and Saudi Arabia has consistently denied any involvement. Scrutiny intensified after the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A declassified United States intelligence assessment concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a conclusion the Saudi government has rejected as false and unacceptable.

In golf, the arrival of LIV caused suspensions, fines, lawsuits, and long-lasting conflicts between players and tours. A 2023 agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and the Public Investment Fund settled their immediate legal fights but did not bring the professional game together. Although LIV got some limited world-ranking points in 2026, questions remain about its closed player list, no-cut format, and how players can compete. Recent news that the Public Investment Fund might stop funding the league after 2026 has raised doubts about LIV’s ability to keep its large prize money and worldwide schedule with other investors.

Greg Norman, who became LIV Golf’s first CEO in October 2021, said the league was created as an alternative to the PGA Tour, not a direct replacement. He explained that its original format was based on careful research about what fans wanted from professional golf, such as shorter broadcasts, shotgun starts, and more team play. LIV’s early schedule was also planned to avoid the four majors and big international team events. Norman was replaced as CEO by Scott O’Neil in 2025, but many of those original ideas are still important to the league.

Tournament

“We decided to take a step back, analyse,” Norman told Tucker Carlson. “We knew our model was where it was. We knew that it was there, it wasn’t going anywhere. The money was in the bank, so we made an adjustment, and we worked around every obstacle that’s been thrown in our path, so we came up with the invitational series.”

The PGA Tour saw LIV as a serious rival. In June 2022, it suspended 17 players who took part in the first London event without permission to play in a tournament that conflicted with PGA Tour events. Players who had already left were also banned from PGA Tour events and the Presidents Cup, and future LIV players were warned they would face the same penalties. LIV called the decision “vindictive,” saying golfers should be free to choose where they play. The conflict also affected business deals, with RBC ending its support of Dustin Johnson and Rocket Mortgage stopping its sponsorship of Bryson DeChambeau.

By 2026, the PGA Tour has a longer FedExCup season with bigger player groups, regular tee times, cuts halfway through, and more ways to qualify based on how players perform. LIV has a shorter global schedule with 57 players, shotgun starts, no cuts, guaranteed team contracts, and both individual and team competitions happening at the same time.

Based on a 2023 agreement that ended the legal fight between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and PIF but did not fully bring the sport back together. LIV’s limited world-ranking status means only its top 10 finishers and ties earn points. The majors stay independent, allowing players from both leagues to compete against each other.

Norman was equally critical of sponsors that ended their relationships with players after they joined the Saudi-backed league. He told Fox News that it “blows my mind” that professional golfers were being singled out while major corporations continued conducting business in Saudi Arabia. His argument reflected LIV’s broader position that players were independent contractors and that the PGA Tour was using its commercial influence to prevent a genuine competitor from gaining ground.

“The PGA Tour, I think, has about 27 sponsors who do 40-plus billion dollars worth of annual business on an annual basis in Saudi Arabia,” Norman said. “Why doesn’t the PGA Tour call the CEOs of these businesses, saying that we can’t do business with you because you are doing business with Saudi Arabia? Why are they picking on the professional golfers? The male professional golfers. It is a monopoly. They just want to shut us down in whatever way they can, so they will use whatever leverage point they can.”

His point raises a fair question about the consistency of corporate criticism, but it does not entirely answer the concerns surrounding LIV. A company conducting business in Saudi Arabia is not necessarily comparable to a sporting league financed directly by the country’s sovereign wealth fund. Even so, the attention surrounding LIV suggests that many fans were open to new formats, team golf and greater competition for the PGA Tour. The strongest resistance was often directed at the source of its funding rather than the tournament experience itself.

Norman appeared largely unmoved by the criticism, instead pointing towards a wider vision involving women’s golf, college players, younger generations and community programmes. “I really don’t care. I just love the game so much, and I want to grow the game of golf, and we at LIV see that opportunity not just for the men but for the women,” Norman said. “We at LIV see it for the NCAA and younger generations. We at LIV see it as a pathway to opportunities for the kids to experience a new out there. LIV is the future of golf…because you don’t see what we see in the future. CSR programs, education programs, all the stuff that’s out there that we want to get involved with for golf and growing the game of golf.”

Signing Tiger Woods would have transformed LIV Golf overnight, and the league was prepared to pay accordingly. Greg Norman initially described the proposed deal as “mind-blowingly enormous” before confirming that Woods was approached prior to Norman becoming CEO in October 2021. “That number was out there before I became CEO,” Norman said. “So, that number’s been out there, yes. Look, Tiger’s a needle mover, right? So, of course you are going to look at the best of the best. So they had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO. So, yes, that number is somewhere in that neighborhood.” The offer was reportedly worth between US$700 million and US$800 million, although its exact terms were never released publicly.

Woods rejected the approach and made it clear that his decision was about more than money. “I disagree with it. I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” Woods told ESPN. “I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the tour has given us, the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game.”

His concerns also extended to LIV’s guaranteed contracts, no-cut tournaments and their possible effect on competitive motivation. Rejecting such an enormous offer became a major symbolic victory for the PGA Tour and showed that LIV’s spending power still had limits. Woods later joined the PGA Tour Policy Board and became involved in discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, placing him at the centre of attempts to shape the future of the divided professional game.

LIV Golf’s future after 2026 depends on attracting outside investment, as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will stop its financial support after this season, ending a commitment of over US$5 billion since 2022. LIV is looking for US$250 million to US$350 million in new funding and is showing investors a new “LIV 2.0” plan. This plan might cut the number of international events from 14 to 10 and give players a share in the league.

In response, the league has formed an independent board led by chairman Gene Davis. The new leadership is focused on securing long-term financial partners and guiding LIV toward a sustainable commercial model. LIV states that 10 of its 13 teams are on track to become profitable and highlights increased sponsorship interest as a positive sign, though replacing the resources previously provided by the PIF remains a major challenge. The period after 2026 will determine whether LIV Golf can operate as a self-sustaining global tour or will need to scale back its tournament purses, international schedule, and ambitions.

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