Will LIV Golf Actually Make It to the End of the Season?

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PIF Said They Would Fund LIV Golf Through the Season. That May No Longer Be True. Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. We told you this was coming. Back in April, right before the Mexico City event, the Wingo Network reported that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was pulling its funding from LIV Golf. State-run media denied it. Then their feed went dark for three hours. Then everything we said came true. PIF issued a statement saying they would fund LIV Golf through the remainder of the season. That was the reassurance. That was the floor. The commitment that gave LIV Golf its runway to find new investors, finish the season, and figure out what comes next. Now Front Office Sports is reporting that even that floor may be gone. David Rumsey — one of the best reporters covering the business of golf — joins Trey to break down everything Front Office Sports is hearing. The PIF funding may not last through the end of the season. The final four events are not guaranteed. And the 47-day gap in LIV's schedule — originally explained away as avoiding the summer heat and the crowded calendar — is starting to look like something much more serious. The 47-Day Silence LIV Golf canceled its late June New Orleans event back in April. At the time the explanation was scheduling and weather. Nobody believed it then and the silence since has made it harder to believe now. There are 47 days between LIV's last event in Spain and their next scheduled event. During that window — agents, players, team partners, and sponsors are all asking the same question. Is the money actually going to be there? Scott O'Neill, LIV Golf's president, went on CNBC and was asked directly — can you guarantee the final four events will be played? His answer was not yes. It was something closer to — I can guarantee a great investment opportunity if you come join us. That is not a guarantee. That is a pivot. And everyone watching understood exactly what it meant. The Funding Structure Here is the detail that changes everything. One LIV source told Front Office Sports that PIF's funding payments are on a monthly basis — not one large chunk paid upfront. If that is accurate it means the money is not sitting in an account waiting to be spent. It is coming in month by month. And if PIF decides to stop sending it — the lights go out. Three events in August alone carry thirty million dollar purses at the first two and a forty million dollar team championship at the end. That is one hundred million dollars in prize money for three events. Before operational costs. Before travel. Before anything else. The math does not work without PIF and it may not work with them if the payments stop early. What Is LIV Actually Selling? Scott O'Neill has said LIV Golf needs approximately three hundred million dollars in outside investment to survive. David Rumsey breaks down exactly what they are pitching — a LIV 2.0 model built around a ten event season, a team-based structure, reduced prize money, and player equity stakes. The idea is that players become owners. That the team concept creates long-term value that replaces the guaranteed money that lured everyone there in the first place. The problem is that the pitch to investors and the pitch to players are in direct conflict. You cannot tell investors this is a lean efficient operation while also telling players they will be paid enough to leave the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour behind. Cam Smith said it publicly — the prize money is going down. If it goes down far enough the question becomes why would any player choose LIV 2.0 over the alternatives that are available to them. Jon Rahm has already made his position clear. He will be a player if they can pay him. He will not be a business partner. Bryson DeChambeau has been held up as the face of LIV's future — the crossover creator who transcends the tour. But Bryson has now missed the cut at two straight majors and publicly said he does not know whether he wants to compete professionally anymore. That is not the pitch you want your flagship player making while you are trying to raise three hundred million dollars. The Australian Open — LIV's Best Market Under Threat One more development that did not get enough attention. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour just announced a significant investment in the Australian Open — effectively moving to reclaim the market where LIV had its greatest success. The Adelaide event where Anthony Kim came back from five shots down to beat Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau was arguably the greatest story in LIV's history. Now the establishment tours are moving in with money and player commitments of their own. LIV has said they have a contract for the Adelaide event running well into the 2030s. But contracts require funding to honor. And if the PIF money stops early everything becomes uncertain. The Rocket Mortgage Classic And one more data point from the broader golf business landscape. The Rocket Mortgage Classic — a PGA Tour event in Detroit — is not returning in 2028 under the new model. The sponsor looked at the price tag for a first track event and decided it was not worth it. It is the first sign of what could become a significant sponsor pressure problem for the PGA Tour as the new system takes shape. Brian Rolap is expected to address this at a press conference at the Travelers Championship — the Wingo Network will be there for that coverage. The 47 days of silence. The funding that may stop early. The investors who have not shown up. The players who are asking questions nobody can answer. David Rumsey of Front Office Sports on what he is hearing — and what happens next. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The New PGA Tour Is Coming. Wyndham Clark Won the US Open. And Nelly Korda Is Going for Three Straight Majors.

Everything That Just Happened in Golf — Live From the Travelers Championship Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/WINGO #squarepod #sponsored Head to cozyearth.com and use code WINGO for an exclusive 20% off. Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. This is Golf Live coming to you live from TPC River Highlands at the Travelers Championship — one of the best weeks on the PGA Tour calendar, and this year it happened to fall in the middle of the biggest week in professional golf in years. Trey Wingo is on-site at the Travelers. Justin Ray, the Tiger Woods of golf researchers, is at Hazeltine National for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Between the two of them, every major story in golf this week is covered. Here is everything that happened. The PGA Tour Revealed Its Future Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour CEO and soon-to-be commissioner as Jay Monahan officially retires, held his much-anticipated press conference at the Travelers Championship this morning. The broad outlines of what the PGA Tour will look like beginning in 2028 are now public, and the reaction from Trey and Justin is genuinely positive. Here is the structure. There will be a Championship Tour — the best players in the world competing in 120-man fields with mandatory cuts, no sponsors exemptions, and minimum purses of $20 million per event. And there will be a Challenger Tour — a legitimate developmental circuit with minimum purses of $4 million per event and a clear pathway to the Championship Tour with two wins. The season runs February through August, with a regular season champion crowned at the end of that stretch — mirroring the MVP model in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Then a separate playoff format, played in match play at some of the most hallowed courses in the country. The two things that generated the most excitement in the press conference room and on this show — no sponsors exemptions, period. And the possibility of championship events at Pine Valley, Cypress Point, and Seminole. When Rolapp mentioned those names, Trey says, every person in that room leaned forward at the same time. Trey had a chance to speak with Rolapp briefly after the press conference and asked directly about the pushback on sponsors exemptions. Rolapp's response — do sponsors decide who plays in the NFL playoffs or the NBA Finals? No. The PGA Tour will decide who the best players are. Nobody else. Trey describes it as one of the clearest and most compelling answers he has heard from tour leadership in years. There is also a Last Chance Series coming in the fall — a handful of events between September and January where players fight to keep their spot on the Championship Tour. Built-in drama. Built-in stakes. Built-in television. And in the fall, a series of international events working in partnership with the DP World Tour — national opens, marquee global venues, the strongest fields those events have ever seen. Trey notes that this announcement was clearly pointed at LIV Golf, which has been pitching international opens to investors as its primary selling point. The PGA Tour just said — we are going there too. Brian's closing line from the press conference may be the best summary of how he has approached this entire process: we want to be rigid on the vision and flexible on the details. And 2027 is essentially a runway year to get ready for 2028 when everything really changes. Jim Furyk, the US Ryder Cup captain, also stopped by the Golf Live set at the Travelers — a reminder of why being on-site matters. Some moments you cannot plan. Wyndham Clark Wins the US Open — The Data Breakdown Wyndham Clark is a two-time US Open champion. Wire to wire at Shinnecock Hills, holding a lead for essentially 72 hours, holding off Scottie Scheffler on his 30th birthday with the entire gallery rooting against him. Justin Ray puts the performance in full statistical context. Since Wyndham Clark won at LACC in 2023, only Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy have more PGA Tour wins than Wyndham Clark. He is the only player in PGA Tour history to win twice with a final round score of 60 or better. He beat the field average on Thursday by more than nine strokes — something you see maybe once a season in major championship golf. And he did all of this while hitting only 20 of 36 greens in regulation over the weekend, leaning almost entirely on his short game and his putter, making nine par putts between four and fourteen feet when they absolutely had to fall. Justin's honest assessment of Wyndham going forward — high ceiling, lower floor than a Scotty Scheffler or a Rory McIlroy. He does not consistently contend. He either wins or disappears. But the ceiling is real, he is not yet 30 years old, and Justin would not be surprised to see him on more Ryder Cup teams and more major leaderboards before his career is over. The Andy North comparison does not hold up. Wyndham Clark's ceiling is significantly higher than a two-time US Open champion who wins and then fades. On the crowd behavior — both Trey and Justin address it directly. It was ugly. It was over the line. And the fact that Wyndham Clark responded the way he did — joking with his caddy about it, saying things like "hey, someone likes us" every time a single person clapped — made both of them bigger fans of him as a person and as a competitor. You add 72 hours of leading plus a hostile gallery plus Scotty Scheffler in your group chasing history, and Wyndham Clark handled all of it. That tells you something real about who this guy is. On Sam Burns — two straight years of being right there at the US Open and coming up just short. Justin believes he gets in the winner's circle before the end of this season. He is built for major championships and the scar tissue of these near-misses is going to make him better. Nelly Korda Goes for Three in a Row at the KPMG Justin Ray is on the ground at Hazeltine National for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship — and the story starts and ends with Nelly Korda going for her third consecutive major championship of the season. If she wins, she would become just the fifth woman in history to win three majors in the same season. She has already been beaten by a combined ten players across eight stroke play events this year. She is gaining nearly four strokes per round on the field, which Justin describes as peak Tiger territory in terms of dominance over your peers. The purse this week is $13 million — the largest in the history of women's golf, up from just under $4 million the last time the KPMG was held at Hazeltine in 2019. Credit to KPMG for that investment. Players to watch beyond Nelly — Gino Titicaka, who Justin compares to Xander Schauffele on the men's side, is one of the most intriguing athletes in professional sports right now. She has achieved almost everything without breaking through in a major. Charlie Hull feels inevitable. Hannah Green has already won at Hazeltine and has four worldwide wins this season. And Minjee Lee is the defending champion. The Travelers Championship Preview TPC River Highlands is a different animal from Shinnecock Hills. This is a birdie fest. A party. A week where the load lightens after the brutality of the US Open and players remember what it feels like to make a putt that actually goes in. Jim Furyk shot a 58 here — one of only two sub-60 rounds in PGA Tour history. Patrick Cantlay has averaged more than five birdies per round here over the last five years, the most of any player. Putting tends to be the separator here in recent years. Trey also notes something he genuinely appreciates about the Travelers — this event has leaned into its identity as the week after the US Open rather than fighting it. It's a party. The crowds are great. Something wild always seems to happen on Sunday at TPC River Highlands. And the Travelers has also become the place where big-name amateurs tend to make their professional debuts, which gives the week its own kind of energy and relevance. Your Questions Seven questions from the Golf Live community — covering what Trey and Justin are most excited about from the Rolapp announcement, which courses they would love to see the tour visit beyond Pine Valley and Cypress Point, the return of match play in the playoffs, what questions still do not have answers from today's press conference, Gino Titicaka's game heading into the KPMG, how Wyndham Clark was treated at Shinnecock and how he handled it, and the USGA's course setup debate at Shinnecock — did they get it right or did they mismanage it? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gisteren1 h 2 min

Wyndham Clark Is Running Away With the US Open at Shinnecock — Day Two Recap

Wyndham Clark Is Running Away With the US Open at Shinnecock — Day Two Recap Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/WINGO #squarepod #sponsored Head to cozyearth.com and use code WINGO for an exclusive 20% off. Through two rounds at the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, one man is separating himself from the field in a way nobody saw coming. Wyndham Clark is seven under par — the best 36-hole score ever recorded at a US Open at Shinnecock Hills. The previous best was six under, shared by Shingo Mariyama and Phil Mickelson in 2004. Neither of them won that week. Retief Goosen did. That history matters. Because Shinnecock has a way of finding you over the weekend. Wyndham Clark Is on Another Level The numbers from Wyndham Clark's last four tournaments before this week are almost impossible to believe. A scoring average of 66.6. Fifty-nine under par. Birdie or better on 31 percent of holes played. And the best strokes gained putting average on the PGA Tour since the Masters — by a wide margin. He stormed back at the CJ Byron Nelson with an 11-under 60 in the final round to win, beating Scotty Scheffler in the process, and then added a third place and an 11th place in his next two starts before arriving at Shinnecock on the hottest putting streak in professional golf. His four-stroke lead heading into the weekend is significant in one direction and slightly fragile in another. Twenty-eight of the last 30 US Open champions were within three strokes of the lead after 36 holes. Nobody is currently within three strokes of Wyndham Clark. The one exception in recent memory — Brooks Koepka in 2018, starting five over and winning at Shinnecock. And the last time someone held a four-stroke 36-hole lead at Shinnecock, it was Dustin Johnson in 2018, who promptly shot 77 on Saturday and lost. So the lead is real. And Shinnecock is real. Both things are true at the same time. The Redemption Arc What makes Wyndham Clark's position even more compelling is the context surrounding it. A year ago at Oakmont, Clark destroyed a locker after a bad round — was photographed doing it, and was subsequently banned from Oakmont. It was a moment that defined his public perception for the worst possible reasons. Since then, he has openly acknowledged it, apologized in his victory speech at the Byron Nelson, and talked about trying to win back fans who wrote him off after that incident. Now he is standing at seven under par at Shinnecock, four strokes clear of the field, holding the best 36-hole score in US Open history at this venue. If Wyndham Clark wins this weekend, the locker room story becomes a footnote. Two US Open wins in four years changes how everyone looks at him as a player and as a person. The Chasers Right behind Clark at three under par sits Xander Schauffele. This is his 10th US Open. In the previous nine he has never finished outside the top 15 — a streak only Jack Nicklaus has exceeded in the history of this championship. On Friday alone, Schauffele hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. It was the 13th time he has hit 16 or more greens in a single major championship round since 2020. The next closest player in that category since 2019 is Jon Rahm — with six. Schauffele has more than doubled that total. Matt Fitzpatrick is also right there at three under — one of Trey's pre-tournament picks alongside Xander Schauffele. Three wins already this season, a US Open title at Brookline in 2022, and a track record of playing his best on old-school classic golf courses. Shinnecock fits that profile perfectly and Fitzpatrick has positioned himself exactly where he needs to be heading into the weekend. Colin Morikawa sits alone at two under. A two-time major champion who won the PGA Championship in 2020 and the Open Championship in 2021, Morikawa is one of the finest iron players in the game — a skill set that maps perfectly onto Shinnecock's demands. He is quietly right in this tournament. Rory McIlroy had a bizarre back nine on Friday — three straight bogeys, a couple of birdies, then a double to limp in. He is still in contention, still capable of making a charge over the weekend. And should Rory find a way to win, it would be his seventh major championship — tying Harry Vardon's all-time record for most majors won by a European player. It would also put him three-quarters of the way to completing a second career grand slam, having already won back-to-back Masters titles in 2025 and 2026. Scotty Scheffler sits at even par — not the position he wanted, but not a fatal one at this course on this weekend. This is his first opportunity to become the seventh man to complete the career grand slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. Of the previous six, three completed it on their first attempt. Two took three tries. Rory took 11. Scotty is still in it — but he is going to need to find something over the weekend that has been missing from his game for much of this season. The LIV Report Card And then there is the story that the thumbnail tells directly. Every LIV Golf player missed the cut at the 2026 US Open. Every single one. Jon Rahm — destroyer of worlds, 2021 US Open champion at Torrey Pines, 2023 Masters champion — played a brilliant first round and then fell apart with a six-over second round to miss the cut. The competitive fire that showed up at the PGA Championship at Aronimink, the glimpses of the old Rahm, all of it disappeared on Friday. Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open Champion, was never a factor. And then there is Bryson DeChambeau. Bryson has now missed the cut in all three majors this year. It is the first time in his career that has happened across three straight majors. For a two-time US Open champion — 2020 at Winged Foot and 2024 at Pinehurst with that incredible bunker shot on 18 to beat Rory by a stroke — this is a stunning stretch of results at the biggest events of the year. The timing could not be worse for LIV Golf. Scott O'Neill is out trying to raise money and attract investors to a league whose two marquee stars — Rahm and Bryson — just missed the cut at the US Open. And the news coming out simultaneously is that PIF, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, may be shifting from investment to loan structure for their continued LIV funding, which means they want their money back. When your calling cards are struggling this visibly on the biggest stage in golf, that is a very difficult pitch to make. The Harry Higgs Story One more story worth celebrating before the weekend begins. Harry Higgs — cult hero, shirt-ripper at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, beloved by everyone who follows this sport — entered this week having made zero cuts and earned zero dollars in six PGA Tour starts this season. He had lost his tour status, gone back to the Corn Ferry Tour to fight his way back, and arrived at Shinnecock as one of the biggest long shots in the field. He made the cut. He is playing the weekend at the US Open. Whatever happens from here, that alone is worth rooting for. What to Watch This Weekend Can Wyndham Clark hold off a golf course that has swallowed four-stroke leaders before? Will Xander Schauffele finally win the one major his game was built for? Can Fitzpatrick add a second US Open title? Does Rory make a charge toward history? Can Scotty find the gear he needs to join six legends? And will Harry Higgs somehow make this weekend even more memorable? Shinnecock is about to bare its teeth. The weekend starts now. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

20 jun 202630 min

Will LIV Golf Actually Make It to the End of the Season?

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