In a dramatic pivot, Saudi Arabia’s $930 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), the powerhouse behind LIV Golf, is dialing back its high-stakes international investments. Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan dropped the bombshell at Riyadh’s Future Investment Initiative, signaling a major shift that will see PIF’s global reach reduced, a move poised to shake the sports and financial worlds alike.
This strategic course correction, announced to a packed audience of the world’s most influential investors, comes with staggering implications. Al-Rumayyan revealed that the fund aims to slash its foreign investment share from 30% down to just 18-20%. “This is a new chapter, focused on bolstering the national economy,” he declared in a decisive statement to the Financial Times.
For LIV Golf, a major disruption lies ahead. With PIF’s focus turning homeward, the tour’s glitzy international expansion could hit a hard pause. The timing is particularly telling as LIV undergoes a leadership shake-up, with sources suggesting that CEO Greg Norman might be out by next season. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; the recent warm interactions between Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship have fueled speculation about a softening rivalry between the PGA and LIV.
The implications are clear: this pivot could spell fewer blockbuster deals like the one that brought golf icon Jon Rahm to LIV. With Saudi Arabia steering its cash towards domestic ambitions, the future of PIF’s overseas ventures—and LIV Golf’s global ambitions—hangs in the balance.
