What's next for LIV Golf? For starters, this week's event in Mexico

With questions about its immediate future addressed, LIV Golf is turning its focus to the task at hand: this week's 72-hole event in Mexico City.

Golfers are set to tee off at 3:15 p.m. ET today at Club de Golf Chapultepec.

This after rumors about the circuit possibly shutting down swirled over the past couple of days. Then on Wednesday, sources close to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund – which has poured an estimated $5.3 billion into LIV Golf since its founding in 2022 – told Reuters that funding for the remaining nine tournaments of the 2026 season would go ahead as planned.

Slow news day? We are ON. #LongLIVGolfpic.twitter.com/uwqEo9N68f

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) April 15, 2026

LIV Golf CEO says 2026 season will go on 'as planned'

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil, in a Wednesday email to LIV Golf staff, said that the tour's 2026 season will continue "exactly as planned."

ESPN obtained the email from O'Neil. It says, in part:

"I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle. While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before."

"The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure," O'Neil added, per ESPN. "We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we've answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports."

O'Neil did not commit to anything beyond the 2026 in his email.

Can LIV Golf stars return to PGA Tour?

LIV Golf disrupted professional golf's status quo when it began poaching players and holding its own tournaments in 2022, backed by the hefty wallet of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). It created division within the sport as several notable former major tournament winners elected to take historic pay days to defect from the PGA Tour. 

Now that it appears the Saudis are backing away from supporting LIV Golf beyond the 2026 season, the question turns to what happens with its biggest stars, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.

The process won't be straightforward, and not simply because PGA Tour officials and existing PGA Tour golfers don't necessarily want them to return. Circumstances and initial status awarded by the Tour will depend on the golfer, and on what terms they left. — Mark Gionnotto

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf future still murky, but Mexico City tournament presses on