Was LIV Golf a bad business decision by Yasir Al-Rumayyan & the Public Investment Fund? Reports of the PIF losing $1.4 billion after four seasons of hosting the league were revealed a few weeks ago. Even though it was evident that they were losing money, the extent of it still shocked a lot of people in the golf community. Many debated about whether or not the PIF should continue with its venture. And now, the former OWGR Chairman, Peter Dawson, shared his opinion on the issues.

As revealed on Global Golf Post by John Hopkins, Dawson said, “I really don’t understand why the PIF [Public Investment Fund] and Saudi Arabia are persisting with it. They are doing wonderful things for the women’s game with the PIF Global Series, and they have terrific plans inside Saudi for expanding golf for their own people and for tourism. These initiatives deserve our applause, but LIV seems to be the odd man out.”

The PIF Global Series is one of the leading leagues in women’s golf. Outside the LPGA Tour, when stars like Charley Hull, Jeeno Thitikul, & Lydia Ko want to play big events, they often join the Ladies European Tour to feature in one of the tournaments hosted by PIF. Late last year, Hull broke her 2-year winless streak by capturing the 2024 PIF International Series Riyadh, or what was formerly known as the Aramco Team Series – Riyadh.

As successful as their women’s league has been in integrating with the Ladies European Tour, LIV Golf hasn’t found similar success. In fact, due to its association with Greg Norman, the league failed to work together with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. That has heavily impacted its popularity and ability to achieve success. In fact, LIV Golf events are not even sanctioned by the OWGR. That is not the case for the PIF Global Series, which receives Rolex World Ranking Points for its events.

The stark difference between the two products of PIF and its success in men’s and women’s golf, respectively, explains why Peter Dawson thinks PIF should drop LIV Golf. Despite that, there is someone who strongly believes that the Saudi-based promotion is still good for business. And this comes from a man who knows business.

President Donald Trump thinks PIF won’t shut LIV Golf despite the $1.4 billion losses

LIV Golf may not have been profitable. But it has been able to attract some of the biggest golf stars in the world. The likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, & Phil Mickelson all play in the league. With an array of major winners at its disposal, LIV Golf has also been able to attract many partnerships, and PIF could diversify its economy. And that is exactly what President Donald Trump thinks they will do, as per Brandel Chamblee.

After his conversation with the POTUS, Chamblee revealed what Trump said: “They have $32 trillion worth of money in oil underneath that sand. And they absolutely need to diversify their economy for very specific geostrategic and long-term political reasons. They’re not going to abandon LIV. They’re going to stick around.” The analyst admitted that Yasir Al-Rumayyan & Co. will have to make a lot of changes to make that work. But he expressed that President Trump was confident in the PIF’s ability to pull it off.