LIV Golf just had a truly embarrassing day

After a seven-week break, LIV Golf makes its far-from-triumphant return to action this week in England. The struggling league has been busy the past few months trying its best to raise what has to be a ridiculous amount of money to keep it in business after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia decided that it would stop funding it at the end of the season.

On Tuesday, LIV Golf had a truly embarrassing day. For a number of reasons. Instead of making a smooth jump back into the sports world, it did a belly flop into a kiddie pool.

LIV Golf’s awful day started with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour announcing a new partnership with the Asian Tour. This might not sound like much to the casual fan, but it’s a pretty big blow for LIV Golf, which had a deal with the Asian Tour dating back 2022. The PIF funded the Asian Tour so that it would give LIV Golf a deeper presence around the world. They also held a number of “International Series” that some LIV Golf stars played in. Now that their relationship is over, LIV Golf executives have less to bring to negotiation tables with possible future investors.

Next up we saw Jon Rahm, who we all know is the captain of LIV Golf team Legion XIII, speaking with the media just days after making the weekend at the British Open. Coming off a major championship and having to sit in a conference room and talk up a league that’s fighting for its life had to be quite a jarring experience for a player of Rahm’s stature. He was once one of the best golfers in the world, but since going to LIV Golf he’s rarely been a factor at major championships.

On Tuesday he was asked a very simple question: Would you expect to be playing LIV Golf in 2027?

“I'm not going to share anything that I can't share with you guys right now,” Rahm said.

That wasn’t a no, but it sure wasn’t a yes. And if you’re a LIV Golf executive, or someone who might be interested in becoming a new investor, it wasn’t the most confident message that a star player could give to the world.

Rahm also opened up a tiny bit more about his discussions with LIV Golf officials as they try to find money to keep the league afloat.

“Well, we're in contact with them,” Rahm said. “We know a lot of what's going on, yeah. Not that I can share with you guys right now.”

Again, not great.

Then on Tuesday, one of the saddest moments happened when the players who make up team Majestics took their seats to meet with the media. In case you aren’t familiar with the Majestics, they are a squad that is led by 52-year-old Lee Westwood and 50-year-old Ian Poulter. They have routinely been one of the worst teams in the league every year, which is understandable because half of its roster is comprised of two players who are well past their primes.

Westwood gave quite the answer when asked whether he’s more confident now about the the future of LIV Golf than he was a few months ago at the Mexico City when news broke about PIF ending it’s funding.

“Yeah I think so, I think I do, yeah,” Westwood said before taking a long pause. “We’ve been informed of a lot of what’s going on. Obviously there’s some stuff still in the works. There’s a process going on and maybe nobody knows how that’s going to turn out just to this very moment so there’s nothing really to relay on about that. But yeah, I don’t feel like I’m being kept in the dark. It’s very transparent.”

He sure did go from “we’ve been informed of a lot of what’s going on” to “nobody knows how that’s going to turn out” in a hurry.

Poulter then added this when asked if he has been reaching out to possible investors.

“We’ve been playing golf around the world now for 27, 28 years—and Lee a bit longer—so we have met a lot of people,” Poulter said. “We know a lot of people in private equity and obviously putting their names forward to look at this at the bigger picture. I think everyone is trying incredibly hard. The amount of hours the team are actually putting in to have a 2.0 version is pretty impressive. They’re doing everything they possibly can.”

No disrespect to Poulter here, he has had a very successful career in professional golf and will always be remembered as a Ryder Cup legend, but I can’t imagine anyone who has a boatload of money to invest in things that will make them more money being fired up to hear from Poulter in the year 2026.

LIV Golf is in the roughest of spots and it sure feels like we’re witnessing its final days. Who could have seen this coming since it was came to life in 2022?

Probably just about everyone.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LIV Golf Just Had a Truly Embarrassing Day .