Saudi funding for LIV Gold dries up

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LIV Golf looks set to become the latest victim of Saudi Arabia’s cost-cutting drive. The rebel tournament was set up in 2022, bankrolled by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund to the tune of £4bn. It managed to draw some of the sport’s biggest names away from the PGA Tour by dangling huge sums of cash in front of them, but failed to make any money. Now this largesse is expected to finish at the end of the 2026 season after the PIF approved a new five-year strategy focusing on projects that bring an economic return, such as the 2034 football World Cup. The fund recently sold the Al Hilal football club. Saudi Arabia has also abandoned a plan to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup and is scaling down its ambitions for Neom, a futuristic new city on the Red Sea intended to attract tourists. Newcastle United fans will be worried.