LIV Golf's survival is crucial to the future of the sport in Asia

Some of the greatest marketing tag lines, including “Just Do It” and “Impossible is Nothing,” have resonated so loudly around the sporting sphere that the brands that thoughtfully crafted them have thrived through the test of time.

And then, there is “Long LIV Golf,” a slogan launched a year ago by LIV Golf that feels mistimed as the upstart league currently finds itself stuck in thick rough and fighting to stay alive beyond this season.

The organization, which was launched in 2022, is tangled in a firestorm after its financial backers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced it would stop funding the league at the end of 2026, having splashed a reported $5 billion since 2022.

Nine-figure checks lured some top players away from the PGA Tour, and tournaments that featured a team element and were renowned for revelry, shotgun starts, loud music and $30 million prize funds eventually proved too much even for the folks with deep pockets.

While notable corporate backers joined LIV Golf over the years, balancing the books proved to be so challenging that its British arm, which oversees its international business, reported financial losses of over $1 billion in its first three years of operations, as highlighted by U.S. media.

Ultimately, the Saudis said, "Thank you, but we’re out."

“PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season. The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy,” a PIF statement said.

While a piña colada or two are probably being sipped at Ponte Vedra Beach, where the PGA Tour is headquartered, the same probably cannot be said about the folks running Asian professional golf.

At the height of golf’s turf war, a majority of the international tours around the world sided with the PGA Tour by forging strategic alliances, while LIV Golf found an ally with the Asian Tour, which was happy to sign above the dotted lines for LIV Golf to help establish the International Series on its circuit.

The 2021 announcement trumpeted that LIV Golf would make a 10-year commitment of at least $200 million to underwrite 10 new full-field Asian Tour events, to be held in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This was groundbreaking for the game’s advancement in the Far East.

“We are setting the Asian Tour up as a powerful new force on the world golf stage,” said Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf. Norman left LIV Golf after his contract ended last September.

By and large, the LIV Golf injection has been a boon for Asian golf as International Series events offer up to $2 million each in prize funds, which is significant for Asian golfers carving out their professional careers in the region.

Moreover, the top two players in the ranking also earn promotion to LIV Golf, a dream for many as it meant competing in no-cut, cash-rich and limited field tournaments.

Top Filipino talent Miguel Tabuena secured his LIV Golf playing rights at the end of 2025, and it was a massive thrill. “This is really huge for me,” he told Asiantour.com.

But as LIV Golf’s hierarchy seeks fresh investments of up to $350 million by rethinking its business model, which could include downsizing to 10 tournaments as reported in the U.S. last week, the early writing on the wall is concerning.

Bloomberg said LIV Golf was laying the groundwork for a potential bankruptcy filing if it fails to raise new funds, while it also backtracked on a $500,000 cash injection into the Korean Open prize money just weeks after announcing it would prop up the longstanding Asian event. Weeks ago, LIV Golf postponed the launch of a new tournament in New Orleans, citing peak summer heat and the FIFA World Cup.

However, there must be hope yet for LIV Golf to ride out this storm, as their product could find a suitable place in the game where, for example, playing in international markets where the PGA Tour is not present could be attractive to new investors. LIV Golf events in Adelaide and Johannesburg were a massive success with sellout crowds, while annual stops in Hong Kong and Singapore have been well received and supported domestically, too.

This week, it travels for the second time to Korea, bringing its stars, including new recruit An Byeong-hun and his Korean team, to a golf-mad nation starved of top men’s golf action after the PGA Tour stopped playing in the country following the onset of Covid-19.

For Asian golf, it is critical that LIV Golf survives as any impact on the International Series, which accounts for eight of its current 17 tournaments listed on its 2026 schedule, could be detrimental for a circuit that has been a proven career launchpad for stars like K.J. Choi, Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

That LIV tagline must hold true for Asian golf to keep thriving.

Note:The writer formerly led marketing and communications in APAC for the PGA Tour and Asian Tour for over 25 years and is now a sports PR consultant.

BY CHUAH CHOO CHIANG [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]