After five years of operation and $6 billion in funding, LIV Golf is dead.
On Thursday, a bankrupt LIV Golf was pushed into the liquidation stage after BC Partners, a private equity firm that offered up $300 million to allow the league to continue, withdrew its offer. The reason given was that there were not enough top players to continue to make the next version of the circuit viable.
In a quote given to The Athletic, BC Partners stated, “While there was great support for the league, we are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders. We commend LIV Golf’s management for their tireless efforts and thank the players who supported the future of LIV and engaged constructively throughout. We wish them every success as they continue their careers.”
LIV Golf’s demise started back in April when the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia announced that it was withdrawing its backing, having spent at least $6 billion and getting very little in return.
It funded the creation of the upstart golf league, attracting star players with massive financial incentives. A number of top golfers such as Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith took the payout and moved over.
However, the league was unable to attract fans on television and, in all but a few spots, on golf courses. Eventually the PIF decided it had enough. The exit left a lot of companies without payment, including Mobii Systems Group Ltd., a Canadian technology firm, which is owed more than $1 million.
The end of LIV leaves a number of golfers scrambling to find a new home. Players such as Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton announced they were not hanging around to see LIV 2.0. They will be playing on the DP World Tour in 2027, likely after paying a hefty fine. Other less prominent players may be on the hunt to find a tour to play.
DeChambeau, the biggest name remaining on the side of LIV Golf prior to Thursday’s announcement, was thought to be among those looking for a new home. But according to The Telegraph, the DP World Tour has offered him a free route to the European-based circuit.
The PGA Tour has not made any statement on this final nail in the LIV coffin or if it would allow players to come back to its circuit. A number of current PGA Tour players have said that any LIV player hoping to return must be penalized in some way.
Last year, the PGA Tour offered four players – Rahm, Smith, DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka a one-time opportunity to return to the PGA Tour after paying a fine to charities, not being allowed any equity in the tour for a period and being restricted from playing Signature events. Only Koepka took the offer.
Patrick Reed left LIV at the start of this year but was required to sit out a season. He did that by playing on the DP World Tour and is set to rejoin the PGA Tour in 2027.
Where the remaining players will find a home is a major question mark. No one is certain what their eligibility will be or what restrictions will be placed on them.
With its final chapter now being written, there is also the legacy of LIV Golf. What will be remembered about it? How, if at all, did it change golf? In part, it will be how the organization, first led by Greg Norman, never caught on with golf fans. It will also be remembered for forcing the PGA Tour to increase purses and become a for-profit commercial organization.
But more than anything, LIV Golf’s legacy will likely be on the enormous amount of money it spent and how the return on that investment can only be described as one huge flop.