The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has officially pulled funding for LIV Golf after the 2026 season, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan has stepped down as chair of the board. In his place, LIV announced a new independent board led by Gene Davis and Jon Zinman.

In a statement, LIV said the new board will be “focussed on institutionalizing the league and evaluating the range of strategic opportunities that have emerged with this league’s rise.”

Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of the Louisiana government pulling out of their partnership to host LIV Golf Louisiana, causing a 6-week break in the LIV Golf schedule from June 7th to July 23rd.

LIV attempted to save face by announcing they were pulling the tournament off the schedule, rather than the Louisiana government pulling out, but it was widely reported the government was concerned LIV didn’t have funding secured to run the tournament. The LIV state-narrative is the tournament was pulled due to the hot Louisiana summer weather and a busy global sports calendar. As with many things with LIV since it’s inception, it seems to be a blatant lie — and not even a good one.

Taken together, it’s unsurprising that after all of the negative LIV news this week, Golf Digest reported on Wednesday that some players have reached out to the PGA Tour about a path to return. Unfortunately, this is where it gets difficult.

“I know olive branches were given out a couple months ago. Brooks took them up on it,” Jordan Spieth said after his round at the Cadillac Championship.

“I think there’s just too many unknowns for me to have a good gauge on what would happen there. But I think, if there’s a system for Brooks and a system for Patrick Reed, does that stay the same for guys in the same category as those two coming back, or does it change now? Does it change for guys who sued and dropped their membership?”

“I’m kind of glad I’m not in that room, and I trust the guys in the room to make the right decision.”

It should be noted that Jordan Spieth was a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, serving from 2019-21 and 2023-25. He’s one of a few players that has lived this negotiation since the beginning, and he points out an interesting problem — not every player left for LIV in the same fashion.

Of the two players who have returned or are on track to return, both resigned their membership and left for LIV relatively peacefully (Patrick Reed sued various golf media outlets for defamation, but did not join the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour).

The PGA Tour may not be willing to make concessions for players that caused problems in the past. It seems the tour and its members hold a particular grudge against the LIV players that forced the tour to pay for expensive lawyers and litigation for an anti-trust lawsuit that went nowhere.

The anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour was brought by ten players: Phil Mickelson, Taylor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Bryson Dechambeau, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Jason Kokrak, and Peter Uihlein.

Newly elected Player Advisory Council chairman, Lukas Glover, has previously stated that he is open to LIV players returning as long as they follow the proper paths to return and pay the proper fines, but it remains to be seen if these fines and pathways are consistent, or if some players will be forced to answer to a higher standard due to their involvement in the lawsuit.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said many still have scar tissue from the original departure of PGA Tour members, and the ensuing lawsuit, but, coming in as an outsider, he doesn’t hold the same grudges. Despite that, he did lay out his path forward for former LIV players in a succinct manner.

“We’re interested in having the best players who can help our tour,” Rolapp said. “Not every player can do that.”

Hit the Sweet Spot: Some LIV players are about to find out, despite their massive signing bonuses, they aren’t needed by the PGA Tour anymore.

Rolapp has consistently telegraphed his position on issues through his public comments and his latest statement to the WSJ seems to confirm the list of players the PGA Tour wants back is short.

I think talent will heal all wounds in the end and the best players will be given a path to return. The problem, however, is the list of players that match that description can be counted on one or two hands. This isn’t going to be a wholesale return from LIV.

For a lot of players that left, they’ll have a lot more money in their back accounts, but they’ll be in a worse professional position than when they joined LIV. Some left the PGA Tour thinking their departure would split another hole in the tour’s sinking ship, but they’ll find now the ship has sailed without them.