Article #24592

• LIV in race against time to survive without PIF funding

• McIlroy: ‘I was hearing about this in March, April time’

Rory McIlroy has revealed he heard rumblings of impending trouble for LIV Golf weeks before Saudi ­Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) ­confirmed it would withdraw funding for the circuit. The Masters champion believes the PIF approach highlights the danger of sport ­becoming reliant on anything that can be affected by world affairs.

LIV is engaged in a race against time to survive with PIF, which has bestowed more than $5bn (£3.7bn) on the tour, to exit at the end of 2026. News of that, which emerged in the immediate aftermath of ­McIlroy’s successful defence at Augusta National last month, shocked those within LIV but not the Northern Irishman.