View noticesLIV Golf files for bankruptcy protection as it seeks life beyond Saudi funding
PGA-circuit disruptor LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in New Jersey, carrying more than $500 million (about R9 billion) in debt.
The move comes as LIV Golf attempts to revive the league without Saudi financial backing – widely expected after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) abruptly withdrew its support earlier this year.
LIV's final event under its current form took place last month in Indiana, and four vendors have already filed lawsuits over unpaid dues.
LIV said it had reached a restructuring agreement with BC Partners as the primary source of new capital going forward. Chief executive Scott O'Neil said the court-supervised process would give the league the structure and time to pursue a major transaction and begin what he termed the next chapter of LIV Golf.
O'Neil has outlined a revamped “LIV Golf 2.0” model in which players would hold majority ownership on a reduced schedule. In a letter to fans, he said the field would expand from 57 to 75 players, with a 54-hole cut introduced for the first time and Monday qualifying rounds added.
The team structure would be built around nationalities, with LIV continuing to draw on established markets in Australia, South Africa and Asia.
Even so, the restructured league would represent a far smaller operation than the one LIV launched in June 2022, when nine-figure signing bonuses were used to lure top players away from the PGA Tour. Total spending topped $5 billion (roughly R91 billion) before PIF ended its backing in April.
The future of LIV's remaining marquee players, notably Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, remains unresolved. Rahm, currently playing the Irish Open, told the BBC that he still held a contract with “LIV 1.0” that he was willing to honour, adding that time would tell what came next.
Rahm, DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith were listed as LIV's four largest individual creditors in the bankruptcy filing, with 14 of the top 30 creditors being players. The filing disclosed only each party's unsecured claim rather than the full amount owed – Rahm's claim topped the list at close to $7.5 million (about R136 million). LIV listed estimated assets of between $100 million and $500 million against liabilities of between $500 million and $1 billion.
The US state of Louisiana featured among LIV's largest creditors, owed $1,220,000, after an LIV event there was postponed following PIF's withdrawal of funding. A separate event in Michigan was cancelled outright, with its team championship folded into the final Indiana event.
Chapter 11, a form of reorganisation bankruptcy, generally allows a debtor to continue operating while restructuring its finances, including borrowing further funds subject to court approval. LIV said PIF had agreed to provide $49.6 million (about R900 million) in debtor-in-possession financing, pending court approval, while BC Partners and other minority investors would provide exit financing as the league seeks to emerge from bankruptcy as early as 2027. O'Neil described the filing as an important step toward a more stable footing for the league, saying the process was designed to address prior financial obligations while building what he called a stronger, more sustainable future for LIV Golf. Much may still depend on which players remain. The PGA Tour currently bars players from returning for one year after their most recent LIV appearance; Brooks Koepka became the first to do so under those terms, agreeing to a $5 million charitable payment, a five-year freeze on equity grants, and forfeiting bonus money in his return year. PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp reportedly offered similar terms to Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith under a tight deadline, which none of the three accepted. PIF withdrew its funding roughly three months later, as the US-Iran war escalated, tipping LIV into financial crisis.