Just weeks after celebrating a planned $500,000 prize money injection from LIV Golf, the Asian Tour has reversed course, slashing the total purse for this week’s Kolon Korea Open back to its original 2024 level of 1.4 billion South Korean won (approximately $1 million).
The sudden change traces back to a bombshell announcement from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV Golf’s primary backer since the breakaway tour launched in 2021. Just one week after the Asian Tour trumpeted the Korea Open purse boost in late April, PIF confirmed it would end all financial support for LIV following the 2026 season, after sinking an estimated $5 billion into the rival circuit. The news has left LIV scrambling to secure new backing and thrown its long-term future into uncertainty, with ripple effects now spreading to its partner tours.
First launched in 1958, the Korea Open is one of Asian golf’s most historic tournaments. The LIV-funded increase would have pushed the total purse to a record 2 billion won ($1.5 million), marking the largest prize pool in the event’s 66-year history. Organizers had even previously confirmed the champion would take home a 700 million won winner’s share. While the overall purse has been rolled back, the Asian Tour confirmed Wednesday that the defending champion will still receive a previously announced 200 million won bonus, per an update from title sponsor Kolon.
Despite the funding shakeup, several high-profile LIV Golf players are still set to compete when the tournament tees off Thursday in Chuncheon. The field includes two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Mexican standout Abraham Ancer, and Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee.
The funding crunch also casts doubt over another key collaboration between LIV and the Asian Tour: the Asian Tour’s International Series, a slate of elevated mini-tour events that LIV has fully bankrolled to date. Each International Series stop currently offers a $2 million purse and serves as a direct qualification pathway for LIV Tour spots. The next event on the International Series calendar is scheduled to tee off in Morocco from June 11 to 14, leaving the golf world waiting to see if that tournament will proceed with its planned purse structure.