Will LIV Golf survive? Here's what one major champion has heard behind the scenes

Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington says he believes there is a "reasonable chance" LIV Golf raises the required funds to stay afloat in 2027. 

The future of the breakaway tour is uncertain after Saudi Arabia's PIF confirmed they were no longer willing to fund the venture after the conclusion of this year's campaign. 

PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan has stepped as the league's chairman and LIV have hired two new board members and a major law firm to try and navigate the choppy waters. 

LIV's CEO, Scott O'Neil, will reportedly unveil their fundraising plans to players this week and are seeking approximately $250m from potential investors. 

Harrington told a group of reporters at the PGA Championship last week that he isn't prepared to call "last rites" on the league.

"Everyone is preparing for it closing and en masse them wanting to come back, but the LIV players themselves are saying they want to keep it going and stay out there."

The two-time Open champion, who rolled back the years with a T18 finish at the second men's major of the year, claimed he had spoken to several LIV news and the reports back have all been positive. 

"They think they have a reasonable chance at raising enough funds to keep going," Harrington said.

“I'm told they are happy to take a cut in their prize funds to do that. 

"I'm told they only need to raise $100 million, which seems low, but that’s all they need to raise and there are possibilities. They want to keep going."

A player's agent told Golfweek's Adam Schupak that they believe LIV will likely stage six to eight tournaments in 2027 with purses between $5-10m (down from $30m). 

The agent said: "There's investment money out there.

"The PGA Tour, for instance, had other private equity interested that lost out to SSG. 

"Surely, O'Neil's knocking on their doors. Remnants of LIV work, it has a relationship with the Asian Tour and World Ranking points for its events."

Harrington, who has previously said that there was "room in golf" for another major tour, believes LIV 2.0 could focus more on the team aspect and stage events not to directly compete with the PGA Tour. 

"Have six-man teams with 12 weeks and only four playing, that's just eight weeks," he said. "It could be spread out at the end of the year.

"It could be a different product if it was more team-focused. I think if they focused more on that outside of the PGA Tour schedule in coordination with the European Tour, there is room. 

"You only have to play a certain number of the events. If you have a bigger team, you can pick and choose when. It could be more sustainable."

For the most part, the LIV Golf players in the field during last week's PGA Championship avoided speculating on the future. 

Bryson DeChambeau, who missed the cut, refused to speak to the press all week. 

Jon Rahm, who finished runner-up to champion Aaron Rai, said he doesn't envy the task ahead for LIV officials. 

"Out of the few talents I have in my life, fixing a business is not one of them. I might be the worst person for that," said Rahm. 

"My job is to play golf, luckily. I'm decent at it. And that's what I can focus on.

"It's the people in charge of LIV, whose job I do not envy for a second, it's their job to fix it."

He added: "I have faith in the work that they're doing. I have faith that they're going to come up with a good plan.

"Until that plan is explained to us, I don't think I need to add any attention to it."