The LIV Golf League is ending the 2026 season with its long-term future unclear, having been a dominant discussion point during a turbulent few years for men’s professional golf.

Its arrival earlier in the decade sparked division and debate in a fractured men’s game, with players leaving the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join the breakaway circuit.

A shock framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was unable to unify men’s golf, with LIV Golf facing fresh challenges to retain its place in the sport.

From its initial inception and increasing growth through to players leaving and cuts in funding, we look at the timeline of LIV Golf’s history so far…

October 2021: LIV Golf Investments was officially announced and two-time Open champion Greg Norman revealed as the league’s founding CEO.

February 2022: In an interview with Golf Digest, Phil Mickelson criticised the PGA Tour’s policy on player media rights. He said: “It was the tour’s obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere.” He later told journalist Alan Shipnuck that the Saudis were “scary m************ to be involved with”.

March 2022: LIV Golf announced it would launch an eight-tournament schedule on June 9, titled the LIV Invitational Series. The total prize pot for the eight events was set at £191.32m ($255m).

May 2022: Norman branded the PGA Tour “anti-competitive”, after the US circuit denied players their release requests to play in LIV Golf events. Former Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia were revealed among the first group of players to tee up at LIV’s inaugural event in London.

June 2022: Mickelson confirmed he would play in LIV Golf’s first event, won by Charl Schwartzel. The PGA Tour sent a letter to its members announcing those in the field at LIV Golf London were suspended indefinitely. Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka both joined the breakaway league ahead of its second event.

July 2022: The DP World Tour issued fines of £100,000 ($133,921) to LIV players who featured in LIV Golf London. Meanwhile, LIV Golf submitted an application for its players to be given Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

July 2022: Henrik Stenson sent shockwaves through the golfing world by joining LIV Golf and was subsequently stripped of his role as Team Europe’s captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

August 2022: A group of 11 LIV Golf players, including Mickelson, Ian Poulter and Johnson, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. LIV Golf later joined the lawsuit. After winning The Open at St Andrews and at the end of the PGA Tour season, Cameron Smith became the latest player to join LIV Golf.

September 2022: Rory McIlroy likened LIV Golf to a “soap opera” and said his relationship with some of his Ryder Cup team-mates who joined LIV had been damaged.

October 2022: The PGA Tour filed a federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF.

November 2022: McIlroy called for Norman to leave the rebel league and Tiger Woods also encouraged Norman to go in order for a peace settlement to be negotiated.

December 2022: Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley confirmed eligible LIV Golfers could play at The Masters. Jon Rahm said PGA Tour players should be ‘thankful’ for LIV.

January 2023: Patrick Reed and McIlroy were involved in the ‘tee-gate’ saga, where Reed flicked a 4Aces GC tee at the Northern Irishman after the American accused McIlroy of ignoring him.

February 2023: The DP World Tour and LIV Golf went to court for an arbitration hearing, held over five days.

April 2023: The DP World Tour won its legal battle against players who elected to join LIV Golf, enabling them to impose £100,000 ($134,706) fines against LIV players for competing in conflicting events.

May 2023: Koepka became the first LIV Golfer to win a major at the PGA Championship, lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for a third time.

June 2023: The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF announce a shock ‘framework agreement’, where the organisations ended all pending lawsuits and said they wanted to cooperate to “unify the game of golf”.

McIlroy hit back at the announcement, saying he felt like a “sacrificial lamb”, while PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan faced calls to resign.

October 2023: LIV Golf lost its initial bid to be awarded OWGR points.

December 2023: Rahm, who won The Masters in April, joined LIV Golf for a deal reportedly worth up to £450m ($607.7m).

January 2024: Tyrrell Hatton follows Rahm to LIV Golf for a then-reported fee of £47.3m ($60m).

February 2024: Anthony Kim ended a 12-year absence from professional golf by joining the breakaway league. McIlroy softened his stance on LIV Golf, saying players who joined the rebel league should be allowed to come back to the PGA Tour.

March 2024: Norman confirmed LIV Golf had withdrawn its application for OWGR points. Woods formed part of a delegation of PGA Tour members to meet with LIV Golf powerbrokers, including Al-Rumayyan, in the Bahamas, to discuss the merger. PGA Tour commissioner Monahan said the talks were “constructive”.

April 2024: McIlroy denied claims he was previously close to joining LIV Golf.

June 2024: DeChambeau claimed a one-shot victory at the US Open, following Koepka as the second LIV player to win a major, after McIlroy’s dramatic late collapse at Pinehurst No 2.

September 2024: The PGA of America confirmed LIV Golfers would be eligible to play for Team USA at the Ryder Cup the following year.

October 2024: Monahan and Al-Rumayyan played together at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, signalling that merger talks were progressing.

January 2025: Norman was replaced as LIV Golf’s CEO by Scot O’Neil. McIlroy praised Norman for “getting LIV Golf off the ground”.

February 2025: Woods joined Al-Rumayyan and Adam Scott for talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing merger.

March 2025: Monahan said Trump’s involvement in ongoing talks between golf’s key stakeholders made the prospect of a reunification between the tours “very real”.

November 2025: Having launched a fresh bid for OWGR points in July, LIV looked to enhance its push by expanding from 54-hole events to a 72-hole format, a move which McIlroy called “peculiar”.

December 2025: Koepka announced he was leaving LIV Golf due to personal reasons. He then confirmed his return to the PGA Tour via the Returning Member Program, where he was subjected to certain conditions and required to make a £3.7m ($5m) donation to charity.

January 2026: Reed also confirmed his departure from LIV Golf and returned to play on the DP World Tour.

February 2026: LIV Golf was granted world ranking points by the OWGR, but the breakaway league’s bosses criticised the allocation of ranking points LIV players could receive – only the top 10 and ties – as “unfair”.

The DP World Tour offered conditional releases to eight members, including Hatton, provided they paid off their outstanding fines. Rahm insisted he had “no intention” of paying his fines.

March 2026: Rahm withdrew his appeal against sanctions imposed by the DP World Tour for playing in conflicting LIV Golf events. His fines were believed to be around £2.2m ($3m). He said the tour’s conditional release programme was “extorting players”.

April 2026: The PIF confirmed it was pulling its funding of LIV at the end of 2026 but it was funded through the rest of the season. LIV released a statement saying it was looking for external investors to finance the series going forward. PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp said the tour was thinking about pathways to reinstate LIV players.

May 2026: Rahm agreed to pay his outstanding DP World Tour penalties and ensure he remained eligible to play at the 2027 Ryder Cup. Elsewhere, US President Trump backed LIV Players to return to the PGA Tour.

DeChambeau said his future on the PGA Tour depended on whether players wanted him back, as speculation mounted over whether he would agree a new LIV Golf contract.

July 2026: Rahm said he was hopeful LIV Golf could continue but was tight-lipped on what the future would hold for the league.

August 2026: After much speculation, LIV Golf CEO O’Neil said the league had found a new lead investor, although was unable to provide details. The league also said players would become majority equity holders.

August 2026: LIV Golf finally confirmed its season-ending Team Championship in Michigan would no longer go ahead, following weeks of speculation, seeing the 2026 campaign finish a week early in Indianapolis.

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Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Rodri from Manchester City in a deal worth £65.4m.

The Spain World Cup winner and former Ballon d’Or winner, who helped City win four Premier League titles and a Champions League crown, has signed a four-year contract with the LaLiga club.

Rodri, 30, had one year left on his City contract and, while they wanted him to stay and sign an extension, Barcelona’s third offer proved to be too good to turn down.

Barcelona had bids of £40m and £55m rejected by City before the deal was eventually agreed.

Enzo Maresca’s side are pursuing replacements for both Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders, who is set to join Saudi Arabian side Al Qadsiah for around £51m.

City remain interested in Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez, despite missing the deadline to launch a bid by 5pm on August 14, and are also in talks with Lille over a deal for Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Lille are understood to be looking for around £85m to sell Bouaddi and talks between the clubs were confirmed by their head coach Davide Ancelotti at the weekend.

How big a loss will Rodri be for City?

City’s record without Rodri in the starting line-up since his arrival from Atletico Madrid ahead of the 2019/20 season offers a worrying insight into life minus him in the midfield.

In the 87 games when he was absent from the starting line-up, they suffered 20 defeats, just one fewer than their tally of losses across the 179 games with him starting. In fact, the rate at which they suffered defeats doubled without him starting.

The win percentage without him dropped to 62.1 per cent from 71.5 per cent, while goals scored decreased and goals conceded increased.

City are simply not the same team without Rodri featuring and the 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield was the latest example of this.

IN FULL: Rodri pens City farewell to fans

Rodri has penned a farewell letter to Man City fans after his departure to Barcelona was confirmed.

“Dear City fans, I found that saying goodbye is one of the most difficult things in life but I am going to try,” it said, on the club’s official website.

“It’s hard to find the words to express how much gratitude, love and support me and my family have experienced all these years.

“I remember how I felt when I arrived, signing for the big Manchester City. It was a moment of pure excitement – ‘wow I am going to play with Kevin, Aguero, Silva, Bernardo, John and many others.’ I couldn’t stop smiling.

“And then Pep, waiting to teach me everything from day one. Pep I can tell you now, I couldn’t handle all those tactics in my head.

“But a question came to me, ‘could we handle all these expectations for the next years.’ I think that time answered the question.

“I knew I came into a top team but I never thought we could be able to create the legacy we made winning trophies, fans around the world, love and respect. We made an example to inspire the next generations not only because the success, also because the way we did it. And the fans were with us every step of the way.

“Many incredible moments come to my mind.

“My first trophy at City, in my first game.

“The last minute winners, like Arsenal away.

“Scoring in the Villa game to reach the Premier League, when it looked so tough.

“Scoring the goal to win the Champions League that we all wanted so much.

“The incredible reception you gave me after the Balon d’Or. You cannot imagine how proud I am to be the first player to win this award in a sky blue shirt.

“Making history, with the Treble, with Four in a Row. We saw things they’ll never see.

“And in the bad moments, also, you never let me down. My first day back on the pitch I realised how much you love me and I understood how special these fans were.

“City didn’t just make me a grow as a player. They made me grow as a human.

“I saw my brother graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University.

“I could see my girlfriend working for the NHS.

“Manchester shaped my whole life.

“I will never forget stepping onto the pitch, seeing a sea of blue sing ‘nah, nah, nah, nah…CITY’, taking my scooter into town for a coffee, walking through the parks listening to Oasis and always loving Manchester’s great rain.

“So City fans, it’s time to say goodbye, thanks to the club, the fans, the staff and my teammates. This journey couldn’t be the same without you, my heart will always be Blue.”

Kevin Blake has three picks for day one of the York Ebor Festival, an afternoon headlined by the Juddmonte International Stakes.

The Ebor Festival at York can make a game claim to be one of the very best four days of Flat racing anywhere in Europe. It is packed with quality stakes races and fiercely-competitive handicaps that present a great challenge no matter what your preferences. I’ll do my best to pull a few winners from it in the coming days in this column….

The opening Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Handicap (1:50) starts this meeting off on Wednesday in devilishly-difficult style. Cases can be made across the track and while he has shortened up in price since the betting opened, I am sticking with the Richard Spencer-trained The Man.

Spencer is on track to have his best-ever year, and he is particularly good in these valuable sprint handicaps. The Man has shown a liking for this track, winning here in May 2025 and finishing an excellent head second in this race off 92 last year.

A winter in Dubai didn’t yield the riches it promised, but it would be no surprise at all if his connections have been targeting this meeting with him ever since he returned from his post-Dubai break. He has had two runs to blow away the cobwebs in the last seven weeks and shaped well on both occasions. He can be expected to be at fever pitch here and with the draw appealing as having been kind to him, a big effort should be forthcoming.

The Tattersalls Acomb Stakes (2:25) is the first of what will be a feast of two-year-old races at this meeting, and my preference is for the Ed Walker-trained Alfred Wallace. A son of Dubawi out of the wonderful race mare Snow Lantern, he is certainly bred to be smart. He showed plenty of promise when putting up a good figure in victory at Thirsk in May and shaped well for a long way before weakening late after forcing the pace in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

Switched to an even stiffer seven furlongs in the Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot, his connections opted to experiment with completely different tactics by dropping him in and riding with patience. The experiment proved to be a roaring success, as he overcame trouble in running to produce a fine winning effort. He could well be able to improve on that now that the key to him has been found and I expect him to run a big race.

My final selection of the day comes in another ridiculously competitive sprint handicap, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Handicap (4:45). It is worth taking a shot on the Michael Keady-trained Underwriter. The three-year-old might well prove to be one of the bargains of the season, as he was bought by current connections for just 4,600gns in a Tattersalls online sale at the beginning of July.

His first run for them only showed subtle promise, but his latest effort in a valuable sprint handicap at Ascot was notably eye-catching. Locked up and shuffled back to last in his group inside the final furlong, he flashed home in the final 100 yards and would have been third in another stride. That was very promising indeed and with the handicapper having dropped him quite aggressively from his high of 92, he looks a well-handicapped horse. If he can build on his Ascot effort, he will have a very serious chance.