Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
The 2026 season is shaping up to be a make-or-break campaign for LIV Golf. The league already lost Brooks Koepka to the PGA Tour and risks seeing other big names following suit, and they have less incentive to stick around now that it’s reduced the prize money its individual champion receives to a fraction of the $18 million that was previously up for grabs.
LIV Golf has been primarily supported by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund that has funneled billions of dollars into the venture without much to show for it. You may need to spend money to make money, but there has not been a sizeable return on that investment since it officially launched in 2022.
The organization will kick off its fifth season at Riyadh Country Club this week, and while the powers that be previously seemed happy to continue to pour money into LIV Golf, it appears the spigot has started to tighten a little bit.
The writing on the wall concerning a potential reckoning has become increasingly hard to ignore since Brooks Koepka became the first player to take advantage of the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program. Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau can also take advantage of that opportunity if they don’t decide to renew their contract, and Patrick Reed recently announced he’s decided to skip his final year in the hopes of defecting back.
LIV Golf is still an objectively lucrative venture for the players who compete on the circuit, although the golfer who’s crowned this year’s individual champion will be receiving significantly less than what they’ve been entitled to over the past few years.
LIV Golf has reduced its championship prize money from $18 million to $6 million
Prior to the start of the season, LIV Golf tried to drum up some hype for its team format by doubling the tournament pool from $5 million to $10 million and restructuring payouts to ensure every squad will walk away with something.
However, it also reduced the end-of-season purse for the best teams from $50 million to $40 million, and there is also much less up for grabs when it comes to the player who is crowned the individual champion.
That prize was previously set at $18 million, which is the sum Dustin Johnson earned during the inaugural season in 2022, Talor Gooch received for reigning supreme in 2023, and Rahm has netted in back-to-back years ($8 million was set aside for second place, while $4 million was reserved for the bronze).
That was significantly more than the PGA Tour reserved for the winner of the FedEx Cup, which boasted a top prize of $10 million last season. However, the stakes will be markedly lower in 2026, as the LIV Golf media guide notes the champion will “only” receive $6 million in 2026 (second place has also been reduced to $3 million, and third will have to settle for a measly $1 million).
You could argue LIV Golf’s best players have a better chance of winning it all compared to the stiffer competition they’d face while competing for the FedEx Cup crown, and the boost to team earnings could also give them some extra incentive to stick around.
However, a reduction of that size seems like a bit of a red flag.