Facing an uncertain future with reports of funding cuts, the LIV Golf field at Club De Golf Chapultepec successfully completed its shotgun start in Mexico City at 3:15 p.m. ET.
The opening round of LIV Golf Mexico City arguably has more eyes on it than any previous tournament’s first 18 holes following reports that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia would be cutting funding for the league.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil called reports “rumors” and “false,” telling players and personnel in an email that the league is fully funded through the rest of the season. The Wall Street Journal also said the league was facing “imminent closure.”
“Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O’Neil said in the email.
The Sports Business Journal, citing two sources, reported that salary payments for LIV players were expected to process late Thursday. The report stressed that those payments had “not yet occurred” as of Wednesday, April 15, when they were expected to be paid out.
“Those same sources said Thursday afternoon that the league had communicated payments were expected to process later Thursday,” the Sports Business Journal reported.
LIV Golf Mexico City is underway 💪 @JonRahmOfficial #LIVGolfMexicoCity | @LegionXIIIgc pic.twitter.com/ajA0GMlim2
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) April 16, 2026
Golf Channel reported Wednesday that some players and vendors had not recently been paid yet.
LIV has not commented on whether or not player salaries have been paid and if they were paid on time.
Is LIV Golf Mexico City happening?
There we no disturbances or interruptions on the course Thursday in Mexico City as the 72-hole event began with its planned shotgun start.
The top storylines for the tournament include Bryson DeChambeau’s quest for a third straight LIV victory and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz playing in front of home-country fans. Joaquin Niemann enters as the defending champion.
Those table-setters pale in comparison though to the fervor that the money talks created Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday evening.
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported speaking to players, officials and vendors in Mexico City and said that they had heard “nothing all day.”
“They were aware of the articles being put out that LIV Golf may be going away, so there was a lot of concern,” Lewis said.
Lewis said O’Neil’s message cleared up a lot of the uncertainty on the ground heading into Thursday’s opening round but that the 2026 LIV season will remain shadowed by questions
“The seeds of uncertainty have been sown,” Lewis said.
LIV, which is playing in its sixth country this year, is set to make an American debut at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., from May 7-10.