LIV Golf’s first New Orleans event likely postponed amid funding crunch

LIV Golf’s first New Orleans event is headed for postponement before a tee shot is struck, a sharp reminder that the league’s U.S. growth has been built on precarious financing. The tournament was scheduled for June 25-28 at Bayou Oaks at City Park, but sources said LIV was trying to secure additional funding after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulled back part of its commitment. A statement was expected Tuesday.

The timing matters in Louisiana, where the state had been preparing to spend about $7 million to host the event, including $5 million tied to LIV’s own hosting fees. Susan Bourgeois, Louisiana’s economic development secretary, and LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil spoke last week and agreed to push the date back, with a smaller venue in the fall now under discussion. That turns a high-profile debut into a moving target and raises the possibility that the league’s first New Orleans stop will arrive in a scaled-down form.

The gap between LIV’s public messaging and the new uncertainty is striking. O’Neil recently told staff the season would continue “exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” yet LIV’s own schedule page still listed Louisiana at Bayou Oaks at City Park for June 25-28 even as the postponement reports surfaced. The mismatch is more than a scheduling problem: it suggests the league may be finding it harder than advertised to secure venues, local buy-in and outside money in the United States when Saudi support is no longer assumed to be limitless.

LIV still has a packed 2026 calendar, with tournaments in South Korea in May, Spain in June and England in July, followed by U.S. stops in August at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey, Indianapolis and Michigan. New Orleans was supposed to be part of that expansion push, but the retreat from City Park shows how fragile the operation can look when the financing behind it starts to wobble.