LIV Golf is still reeling from a fraught week in Mexico when it emerged that Saudi Arabia was about to end its multi-billion dollar backing from the breakaway league.
The Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund finally confirmed the widely reported news last Thursday that it would pull funding at the end of the season, leaving the league in a perilous position.
This week at LIV Golf Virginia, the latest stop on the circuit, players will gather for a meeting at Trump National in Washington to learn about the league’s “strategic evolution” in which they will scramble for outside investment to secure the league’s future without their Saudi benefactors.
In the meantime, many LIV players have been left considering their options in the event the league does not continue as planned beyond the 2026 season.
One of those is Thomas Pieters.
The Belgian, who won four matches as a Ryder Cup rookie a decade ago, has never hidden the fact that his LIV move in 2023 was driven by both finances and the chance to see more of his two young children.
Speaking on the Dan on Golf Show, Pieters details how he was ready to walk away entirely in Mexico as rumors swirled that the league could come to an abrupt end.
“It wasn’t pleasant,” Pieters said of the news. “The atmosphere was very grim. I had enough of it after three or four hours. Everybody talking about it, everybody’s checking Twitter every two seconds. On Tuesday evening I called home and I was like, ‘I’m ready to retire on Monday if they really pull the plug that quick.’ That was OK with me – kind of. We’re going to keep going.”
Pieters was the world No.35 when he joined LIV three seasons ago. He has not played a major since the 2023 Open Championship, but has earned north of $15 million on the league and now plays alongside Dustin Johnson, Anthony Kim and his childhood friend Thomas Detry on the 4Aces.
“I was ready to retire two years ago and ever since everything’s a bonus for me,” he said. “I’m good at golf and I love it but it’s going to end at some point. I feel like I was on the right side of the wave. People look at it a different way but I felt I was on the right side of the wave. I feel like I’ve got a lot out of it.”
Pieters says he is in the dark about LIV’s future, revealing that “whatever comes out officially from LIV is what we’re getting half a day before it goes out. Scott [O’Neil] is telling us that he’s going to a broader market and trying to fund this for next year. I guess it’s a massive challenge. But we just have to wait and see.”
Whether Pieters would indeed retire if LIV folds remains to be seen. Just don’t expect to see the 34-year-old competing again Stateside.
“I’m definitely never going back to the PGA Tour,” he said. “I’ve never liked that life. And that’s not me having a go at the PGA Tour, it’s not for me. I tried it and I just wasn’t happy there. If [LIV] goes away, I’ll probably try and play some on the European Tour or I don’t know. I really don’t know actually.
“I’m not fussed about it at this point because I feel like I still have a duty to focus on these next six, seven tournaments on LIV and then we’ll see. They’re obviously trying to get it together for next year. We’ll see.”
The consensus is that LIV would need to dramatically adapt its product to survive. Gone, it seems, are the $30 million purses that the PIF have been putting up for its events this season.
“We are just guessing right now,” Pieters speculated, “but if we’re playing for $5 million next year or I could play on the DP World Tour for $3 million but be close to home, that’s something I’d have to look at it when it comes.
“Possibly there’s guys going. But I think that’s up to Scott and his team to get this thing together and we’ll just have to find out.”