Head of LIV Golf Yasir Al-Rumayyan is stepping down as league restructures in search for future funding

LIV Golf announced on Thursday that it is creating an independent board of directors to help focus on securing long-term financial partners in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulling support of the league at the end of the 2026 season. The news comes after a Sports Business Journal report that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF and architect of LIV Golf, who had held the position of chairman of LIV’s board, is stepping down.

In a press release, LIV Golf named Gene Davis and Jon Zinman to lead the new board, citing them as “seasoned experts with proven track records for navigating complex situations and unlocking value for global organizations." Al-Rumayyan is not named in the release, but multiple outlets have confirmed Al-Rumayyan is out and a source familiar with the matter confirmed the same to Golf Digest.

The release noted that LIV was in the midst of a transition “from a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.” It did not specifically mention PIF’s decision to no longer support the golf endeavor that it has financed since the league’s inception, which PIF separately announced on Thursday.

Al-Rumayyan’s departure closes a nearly five-year run atop a league he originated. LIV Golf was an offshoot of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030—a blueprint to diminish the country’s reliance on oil by diversifying the economy and modernizing its public services. Al-Rumayyan, part of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's inner circle, wanted to grow golf participation in Saudi Arabia and develop a national team and elite players, along with big-picture items, such as developing courses to aid tourism and hosting professional competitions.

He began hosting the Saudi International on the DP World Tour in 2019, but Golf Saudi's larger attempts to enter the golf’s ecosystem were rebuffed. The DP World Tour turned down a larger sponsorship proposal, and the PGA Tour refused to listen to various business overtures. After initially providing backing to the proposed Premier Golf League, Golf Saudi spun out its own league, LIV Golf, a breakaway tour built on shotgun starts, team franchises, music on the course and nine-figure signing bonuses.

The first LIV event was held at Centurion Club in England in June 2022. By the end of that summer, the league had signed Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio García, Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith. At the opening event, Al-Rumayyan made news when he said he would pay a $54 million bonus to any player who shot a 54 at a LIV event.

Al-Rumayyan's most consequential move came on June 6, 2023, when PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour announced a framework agreement to merge under a new commercial entity. Al-Rumayyan was to be installed as chairman of that entity, with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan as CEO. It later came out, during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., that Al-Rumayyan was pushing for a membership at Augusta National as part of the agreement.

However, the deal never closed in the form announced. Negotiations stalled, restarted and were eventually sidelined for good after a White House meeting in the spring of 2025 with Al-Rumayyan, PGA Tour officials and President Donald Trump went sideways. Brian Rolapp, who became PGA Tour CEO last summer, has publicly stated the tour is not pursuing a deal with LIV.

PIF invested more than $5 billion into the LIV property. Prior to LIV's third season, Al-Rymayyan was able to pry away reigning Masters champ Jon Rahm to give LIV a shot of formidability. However, the on-course product never found a sustained American audience. Television ratings remained low across LIV's broadcast partnerships, first on the CW and later on Fox Sports. Attendance at domestic events was uneven outside of a handful of stops. The league drew larger crowds in Adelaide and in markets such as South Africa and Mexico City, but failed to convert star power into the cultural foothold in the U.S. that PIF's spending was designed to purchase. O'Neil has acknowledged that LIV may not reach profitability for another decade.

Al-Rumayyan rarely spoke on the record and almost never held press conferences, becoming a kind of shadow presence in the sport—the man on the other end of every rumored deal, the one whose checkbook everyone was waiting on. The checkbook is now closing. In April, PIF announced a new 2026-2030 strategy that signaled a reevaluation of its priorities, with the fund refocused on domestic efforts while facing mounting commitments to World Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The Iran War has compounded the pressure, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz cutting Saudi oil exports nearly in half. LIV Golf was noticeably absent from the PIF's future endeavors during the announcement.

Al-Rumayyan remains governor of PIF, where he oversees a portfolio worth more than $925 billion, and continues to chair Saudi Aramco, Ma'aden, Newcastle United and Riyadh Air. His position within Saudi Arabia's economic apparatus is unchanged.

Davis is the head of PIRINATE Consulting Group, a firm specializing in restructuring/governance issues, turn-around management, liquidation and sale management, merger and acquisition consulting, hostile and friendly takeovers, proxy contests and strategic planning advisory services for public and private business entities. Zinman is the founder and managing member of JZ Advisors, an independent strategic advisory firm serving companies across industry and life cycle, typically engaging at a time of transformation with a focus on maximizing the company's go-forward growth potential.

According to LIV’s release, the league’s “conviction in the Team Golf model has never been stronger.” The league from its inception has thought its path to profitability was through the sale of its 13-team franchises and that appears to be a fundamental platform of any new business model moving forward.

LIV Golf Virginia is set for May 7-10 at Trump National in Washington, D.C., followed by stops in South Korea and Spain before the U.S. Open. On Tuesday, however, the league postponed its inaugural New Orleans event, originally scheduled for June 25-28 at Bayou Oaks at City Park, after O'Neil informed Louisiana officials that LIV intended to push the date back amid what the state described as a changing business model.

O'Neil had previously said LIV is fully funded through the current season and has described the 2026 calendar as proceeding "full throttle." A source told Golf Digest that the league is expected announced new board members on Thursday. On Wednesday, Golf Digest reported that several agents for LIV players have reached out to the tour regarding a return.

Whether the league outlasts that timeline, and whether it does so in any form recognizable to the one Al-Rumayyan built, are now questions for the executives he is leaving behind.