The numbers around LIV Golf have always jumped off the page, but one has been in the headlines more than others in recent weeks:
$6 billion.
As in, that’s how much Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was willing to pour into the rebel golf league since its inception in 2021 before officially pulling the plug this week.
It started with eye-catching paydays — more than $1.3 billion, per The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro — to lure the game’s top players to join its team-based, 54-hole tournaments:
- Spaniard Jon Rahm received a reported $300 million to jump ship from the PGA Tour.
- Phil Mickelson took an estimated $200 million to reverse course after calling the Saudis “scary motherf–kers.”
- Brooks Koepka’s deal is believed to have been in the $100 million range before he bolted for a PGA Tour return.
- Bryson DeChambeau, arguably the poster child for LIV, is in the final year of a $100 million contract.
Winning also paid out in a big way, with tournament purses starting at $25 million in 2022 and rising to $30 million in 2026 — with every participant walking away with cold, hard cash.
First place often exceeded $4 million, with last place worth $50,000.
Per Forbes, the total prize money pool for the 2026 season is expected to hit $1.59 billion and the four-year total put into golfers’ fattened pocketbooks should exceed $3.2 billion.
- Rahm has made the most of his 32 stops on tour, earning an additional $92 million in individual and team prizes, including $18 million per season for finishing atop the LIV Golf points list in 2024 and 2025.
- In 55 events, Joaquin Niemann has racked up $72 million, with two $8 million payouts for finishing second to Rahm in points in 2024 and 2025.
- Talor Gooch ($68 million over 55 events), Dustin Johnson ($64 million, 55 events), Bryson DeChambeau ($58 million, 53 events) and Cameron Smith ($51 million, 51 events) round out LIV’s top earners.
It wasn’t just the guys on top, either. Journeyman Pat Perez, over 34 events, raked in $17.5 million before splitting from LIV Golf after the 2024 season.
All the way down the list, tied for 104th in total LIV Golf tournament winnings, are Oliver Fisher and Ratchanon Chantananuwat, who each made $136,000 for their singular appearances.
The outfit lost a reported $1.1 billion between 2022-2024, with Money In Sport estimating LIV Golf’s monthly net spend at over $100 million — much of that going to prize payouts.
All that money has added up, and not in a way easy for LIV Golf’s Saudi backers to swallow.
