On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced that, with the 2026 LIV Golf season already funded, it will withdraw its financial backing after the season concludes.

According to The Wall Street Journal, PIF has invested over $5 billion in LIV Golf since its launch in 2022. Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee shared his thoughts via X on the same day.

"While there are many people celebrating the demise of LIV, for far too long there were far too many mute mouths about the cancer that LIV was and is," Brandel Chamblee wrote.

Chamblee argued the league's impact extended far beyond financial concerns.

Chamblee wrote, “It tilted the game towards greed... It muddied the meritocratic aspects of golf.” He added that it stopped or harmed the careers of future Hall of Fame players, and it split the game apart.

LIV had signed two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and two-time major winner Jon Rahm away from the PGA Tour with massive guaranteed contracts. Around 50 players joined the circuit, each secured with multi-million dollar deals regardless of on-course results.

Chamblee also warned about a financial impact that was closer to home. He said charity foundations that support grassroots golf could lose or receive less funding because the PGA Tour may use money for future player equity plans.

He wrote, “As LIV players sold their autonomy, the whole sport seemed to be in the throes of transition, from professionalism to authoritarianism.”

Chamblee saved his sharpest critique for the underlying motivations of the league.

Chamblee Argues LIV Undermines True Competition

"Sportswashing, what MBS/PIF were attempting to do with LIV by paying athletes for their celebrity to confer legitimacy," Brandel wrote.

Sport's real value, Chamblee argued, lies in genuine competition, not performance.

"It is in the striving to get better that one gets richer; that is the transformative influence of sport," he wrote. "Both the athlete and audience benefit from the norms of competition."

He accepted that one result went against Saudi Arabia’s plan. The effort to use LIV to improve its image actually backfired and brought more attention to the country’s record instead of hiding it.

Chamblee closed with four words that summed up his stance entirely. "Good riddance to the Saudi-backed LIV."

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Rudra Dubey