Rusty Weiss
The potential for what’s about to happen in the golf world has some fans downright giddy.
As reported earlier this week, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is withdrawing its massive financial backing from LIV Golf after the 2026 season, casting major uncertainty over the breakaway league’s future and potentially paving the way for a reunification with the PGA Tour.
The decision ends years of heavy investment—reportedly exceeding $5-6 billion cumulatively—that funded lavish guarantees, inflated purses, and the poaching of top talent from the traditional PGA Tour.
LIV Golf announced new board appointments and plans to seek alternative investors as it transitions away from its foundational Saudi-backed phase, but the league has already postponed events and faces questions about long-term viability.
What happens next has golf fans buzzing. None more so than one of the nation’s biggest golf fans.
“I do believe that all of the golfers should be playing against each other. They were viewing something as a monopoly, but it’s swaying away. It should be the opposite of a monopoly,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday.
“I want to see Rory [McIlroy] playing Bryson DeChambeau. I want to see big Jon Rahm playing Scottie, who is so great. Scottie Scheffler is great. They have great players on LIV, but it’s almost like people want to see that,” he added. “That’s why the Masters was so good, because you saw everybody together.”
🚨 JUST NOW — Q: "Saudi Arabia is pulling the plug on LIV Golf. Once that tour is gone, do you think the PGA Tour should welcome the defectors back with open arms?"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 30, 2026
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Well, I do. In fact, if I had time, I'd love to watch television today because the PGA Tour is… pic.twitter.com/A77m18uE9b
Trump Calls for Golf Unity After Saudi Funding Cut
Reports indicate that several high-profile LIV defectors are now eyeing a return to the PGA Tour, following the paths of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed. With the funding cliff approaching, the leverage that once fueled the golf civil war has shifted dramatically toward the established tour.
Trump, who has hosted LIV events at his properties and maintains strong ties to the sport, framed the development as a positive for fans and the game overall.
But there is a very real stumbling block here — how the PGA tour decides to treat those who defected to LIV golf. Will there be punishment? The President acknowledged the potential for that, maybe a fine or something, and suggested the tour should move on.
“The tour wants to have the best players. You can’t have the best player that they’re boycotting now. They may do something, you know, a little bit, but they’ll all be back on tour, and it’ll be great,” he said.
LIV Golf launched in 2022 with a flashy, team-based, shorter-format model designed to disrupt traditional golf. While it delivered massive paydays and some memorable moments, it struggled with consistent viewership and mainstream acceptance in the U.S.
This latest shift could mark the beginning of the end of golf’s most contentious split in decades, with the potential for a unified tour featuring the world’s top players. All will be right in the golf universe once more.
