Asian Tour Signs Multiyear Deal With PGA Tour, DP World Tour

The Asian Tour announced a multiyear partnership with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour on July 21, 2026, ending five years as LIV Golf's feeder circuit after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund pulled its funding from the league.

Why did the Asian Tour leave LIV Golf?

Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said the tour had been negotiating a five-year renewal of its LIV Golf partnership when the Public Investment Fund's plans changed. PIF announced in April 2026 that it would stop funding LIV Golf after this season, and Cho said the tour was alerted shortly before the Singapore Open and spent the following months searching for alternatives. He said the tour worked with LIV CEO Scott O'Neil from late April to look for solutions before turning to the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.

What does the Asian Tour gain?

Cho cited commercial support, new events, pathways for members and long-term stability as the reasons for the switch. The agreement, effective immediately, runs through at least 2029. Discussions concluded during the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July. Cho described the DP World Tour side of the deal as including co-sanctioned regional events plus media and commercial collaboration. He was more tentative about the PGA Tour side, saying he hopes for a pathway for Asian Tour members tied to the PGA Tour's new event structure beginning in 2028.

Is this the tours' first partnership?

The Asian Tour and the tour now known as the DP World Tour first co-sanctioned events in 1999 and ran a formal Strategic Alliance from 2016 through 2019. LIV Golf's Saudi backers then signed a multiyear partnership with the Asian Tour that funded events across seven countries the tour had not previously visited: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, England, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Scotland. Cho called that period "nothing short of remarkable" and said the tour remains grateful for the investment.

What happens to the events LIV Golf was running?

Three International Series events were completed in 2026 before the split, in Japan, Singapore and Morocco, with the top two finishers on that Order of Merit still in line for promotion to LIV Golf. The Link Hong Kong Open, Bingo Plus Philippine Open and PIF Saudi International will still go ahead as independently promoted events. Planned events in India and China, which LIV Golf had been promoting, remain unresolved -- Cho said the tour is still working out how to proceed with them. Two tournaments planned for 2026 still have no promoter and no answer. Cho also said he hopes LIV Golf players will appear at Asian Tour events later this year to strengthen fields.

Two tournaments planned for 2026 still have no promoter and no answer.

What's next for the Saudi relationship?

Cho said the tour's relationship with Golf Saudi remains positive, with the PIF Saudi International still expected to close the 2026 season, and that the tour hopes to resume the Saudi Open in future years. He said more details on the new partnership are expected in September, when the Asian Tour's second half begins at the Yeangder TPC, coinciding with the DP World Tour's BMW PGA Championship.