Colin Montgomerie - Lots of LIV Golf emails have been bouncing around

After lots of speculation, it was confirmed a few weeks ago that the Public Investment Fund, which has bankrolled the tour since it was launched in 2022, had decided to pull its funding at the end of the current campaign.

A search has been launched by LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil for new investors, with Bryson DeChambeau, one of the breakaway circuit’s star players, vowing to do everything he can to keep the tour alive beyond this season.

“Christ,” replied Montgomerie, winner of a record eight DP World Tour Order of Merit titles and now a member of the European Tour Group board, to being asked about what he has made of the LIV Golf developments in recent weeks.

“Put it this way, I’ve got a more private email now than I’ve ever had before and it’s been bouncing around, believe me, with the LIV situation.”

Jon Rahm staying out of LIV Golf’s investor search

Earlier this week, Jon Rahm, another of LIV Golf’s big-money signings, said he wasn’t involved in LIV’s investor search, admitting that was down to him “knowing nothing about business”.

Reflecting on where the circuit now stands, Montgomerie added: “It’s all hypothetical at this stage. We are talking about the possibility of LIV folding at the end of this year at the end of the Saudi investment.

“But are there other investors coming? We don’t know yet. Possibly not. If it hasn’t worked with the Saudi money, then it might not work with other investors. But that hasn’t been set yet. So we’ll see what happens.”

Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka is back playing on the PGA Tour after ending his spell with LIV Golf earlier this year, with former Masters champion Patrick Reed also set for a return to the US circuit later in the summer after he did likewise.

DeChambeau, Rahm and Cameron Smith all turned down the same lifeline offered to Koepka, with lots of questions needing to be answered if the end is indeed night for LIV Golf.

“It could be the case, of course, that all these LIV guys will need somewhere to play and, if so, where do they play?” mused Montgomerie. “And how do they play if they’re not exempt?

“If you are bringing 50-60 guys back on to the tours, how do we manage that at a board level? It’s been very busy. There have been ideas flying around, but no-one is sure that LIV Golf is completely finished because, of course, they are talking to investors. Well, they say they are. But who knows what is going to happen at the start of 2027.”