Rory McIlroy has spent years as one of LIV Golf’s loudest critics, and this week he said he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” as rumors spread that the Saudi-backed tour’s money could be drying up. The latest round of uncertainty comes while the league’s Mexico City event runs through Sunday, keeping players on the course even as the business behind them comes under fresh scrutiny.
The concern is not coming out of nowhere. LIV was launched in 2021 with the slogan “Golf, But Louder,” and it has been bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to the tune of nearly $6 billion. Yet financial analysts at Money In Sport say LIV’s monthly net spend now exceeds $100 million, while The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro reported that more than $1.3 billion has gone to contracts alone. Those costs helped lure stars such as Jon Rahm, whose LIV deal was reportedly worth $300 million, and Phil Mickelson, who was paid around $200 million.
McIlroy’s opposition has been blunt from the start. He has said he “hate[s]” LIV Golf and once declared that if it was the last place to play golf on Earth, he would retire. That stance has made him a central figure in the sport’s civil war, but it also leaves him speaking from a place of principle rather than salary, which is why his latest remark carried extra weight. When LIV’s critics argue that the tour is about influence as much as golf, McIlroy has been the face of that argument for years.
The broader backdrop is harsher than the usual fight over prize money. LIV’s critics have tied the tour to Saudi Arabia’s effort to sportswash its image, pointing to issues including the 2018 assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The money trail has also grown more alarming: LIV reportedly lost more than $1.1 billion between 2022 and 2024, and rumors this week that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to end its investment have fueled the latest wave of doubt. Even so, players were told as recently as last month that funding was secure through 2032, a promise that now sits uneasily beside the emergency meeting LIV executives reportedly held in New York City midweek.
That clash between reassurances and rumor is the real story. LIV still has enough cash behind it to keep paying, and Tiger Woods was reportedly offered $800 million to join, a reminder of just how aggressively the tour has chased star power. But if the PIF is indeed reassessing its commitment, the question is no longer whether LIV can sign players. It is how long a league built on limitless spending can survive when the people footing the bill decide the price has become too high.
