The collapse of LIV Golf’s financial backing was sudden and unexpected. After years of support from the Saudi Arabia-backed Public Investment Fund (PIF), in a matter of weeks, rumors spread, followed by confirmation that the PIF would be ending its support of the tour at the end of the 2026 season.
Plenty of questions were raised immediately afterward: what happens to the remaining events on the calendar? Will the players continue to get paid for the rest of the season? Will there be new investors who step up to keep funding the LIV business model in 2027 and beyond?
And of course, what happens to the players?
Some have already said they aren’t interested in returning to the PGA Tour. Others have said they’re not sure what happens next. On Tuesday, Jon Rahm and the DP World Tour resolved their differences, setting him up to return to European events this year.
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But there’s no question that the biggest star on LIV is Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau is a two-time major champion, won the U.S. Open for a second time in 2024 at Pinehurst, and has raised his profile substantially through his wildly popular and successful YouTube golf channel. He spoke about his future on Tuesday, with an honest assessment of where he sees himself going.
Bryson DeChambeau says he wants to grow his YouTube channel
DeChambeau told the media ahead of this weekend’s LIV Golf event at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia that he’d love to focus on YouTube more if LIV does shut down after the year.
“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau said. “I would love to. I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.”
He also implied that in conversations with the PGA Tour, potential penalties they’ve raised have been “quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them.”
“The egos need to get dropped,” he added. “Everybody needs to come in with a level-headed playing field, with an opportunistic mindset to grow the game of golf. That’s why I came over here. That’s why I do what I do on YouTube.”
DeChambeau was up front about his reaction to the news that the PIF was pulling out of the tour moving forward, saying he was “shocked” about the timeline.
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“I was completely shocked,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to happen. A couple months before that, it’s like, ‘We’re here until 2032. We’ve got financing until 2032,’ and so I told everybody, and that’s what I was told.
“And then, you know, I haven’t had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction. Obviously, they wanted to move on.”
He was also adamant that the team model LIV uses has been successful, with some of them reaching high levels of valuation. That could be beneficial if both tours pursue a potential merger.
“If we have a great business model and they’re very interested in combining forces, that’s the Kumbaya moment, right?” DeChambeau said. “So, it’s our job to come up with a better business plan on the [top company] side. The team franchises, there’s enough making profit now to where we could sell them for close to $200 million, and that’s not talking about my team either.
“I think it requires a little bit of everybody kind of just lowering their guards and all coming together and going, ‘OK, what’s best for the game of golf?'”
He also said that the PGA has plenty to learn from the LIV format, saying that despite people “on the side” who help support them, there are financial issues brewing there too.
“There’s a few different models,” he explained. “Look, the [PGA Tour] isn’t doing great either. Let’s be honest about the situation. They’ve got the media. They’ve got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they’re reducing field sizes, cutting employees and restructuring their business too.”
There’s plenty to take from this, first and foremost that getting DeChambeau back should be the PGA Tour’s top priority. He’s arguably the most popular player in golf right now, thanks in large part to his YouTube following, and having him compete against Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler consistently would be must-see TV. Like the 2024 U.S. Open was. There would need to be some form of penalty, sure, but making it too punitive and keeping him out of the PGA would be a tremendous missed opportunity. That said, there’s an argument to be made that “the game” would have been better served by all the top players staying together and pushing for reforms from the PGA Tour internally. Though the counter to that would be that changes may never have been made if not for external competition.
DeChambeau’s also unique among star players in that he does have an external outlet with YouTube. There’s little chance of him ever making as much money from his channel as he would from competitive golf, but it does give him more options. Of course, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil might find new investors and keep the tour together. Retaining Bryson would be key for him too.
If this all ends with DeChambeau focusing exclusively on YouTube, it would be a fascinating statement on where the game is headed. That seemed impossible a few weeks ago. But in a sign of how fast the modern world of golf moves, it sure doesn’t now.
