LIV Golf is preparing to shut down after five turbulent years that reshaped professional golf with the promise of Saudi Arabian investment, announcing Thursday in bankruptcy court that it would abandon plans for a revamped league and instead wind down its operations because of insufficient financial support.
"The debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan," attorney Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn told a hearing in New Jersey. "Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down in their business."
Launched in June 2022 with lucrative nine-figure signing bonuses to lure some of the sport's biggest names away from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf lost its Saudi Arabian financial backing in April after reportedly spending more than $5 billion on the project.
The league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 8 and appeared to have found a potential lifeline through BC Partners Credit, which pledged a $300 million investment to support a more financially sustainable relaunch under the proposed LIV 2.0 model.
However, the plan failed to secure sufficient backing from several prominent players, including Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton and Louis Oosthuizen, leaving the league without the support needed to move forward.
"BC Partners Credit supported a transaction that aligned the interests of players and investors, offering a credible path toward building a sustainable future for LIV Golf," BC Partners said in a statement. "While there was great support for the league, we are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders."
Rather than preparing for a new version of the league in 2027, LIV is entering a liquidation phase.
Rahm has already agreed to forfeit all claims against LIV, reportedly worth about $100 million, to get out of his contract. He is back playing on the European tour, hoping a path back to the PGA Tour will emerge.
The PGA Tour currently imposes a one-year suspension on players dating from their last LIV appearance.
LIV Golf paid $15.6 million to retain seven of its executives, including $6.375 million to CEO Scott O'Neil, in the months between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia withdrawing its financial support and the league filing for bankruptcy.
Such payments are not unusual for a company attempting to emerge from bankruptcy. The question now is whether those payments can be voided given that LIV is no longer moving forward.
"Building a global platform designed to bring new, younger and more diverse fans to the sport of golf has been the round of a lifetime for all of us," said O'Neil, who replaced Greg Norman as LIV Golf CEO at the start of 2025.
"LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging, but always rewarding."
LIV suffered several setbacks this year, none bigger than losing its primary source of funding after the PIF changed its investment strategy and said it would no longer finance the league beyond the conclusion of its fifth season.
The Asian Tour, which received financial support from LIV for its International Series, decided in July to renew an alliance with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
As the league attempted to pivot to LIV 2.0, DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings said last month that players who signed up with LIV would not be eligible to apply for membership on the European tour, putting their participation in the Ryder Cup at risk.
Kinnings told The Scotsman earlier this week: "But we also have to protect the tour against an entity who spent, so we are told, over $7 billion, with one of their aims being to 'destroy the DP World Tour.'"
LIV was originally led by Norman, who unsuccessfully attempted to establish a world tour in 1994 before the idea was quashed by Arnold Palmer and the PGA Tour. With Saudi financial backing at his disposal, Norman promoted LIV as "Golf, but louder," featuring blaring music, 54-hole shotgun starts and $25 million in combined individual and team prize money at each event.
However, the league had no broadcast deal in its inaugural year, forcing it to cover production costs. It secured a deal with The CW Network in 2023 before eventually signing with Fox Sports in 2025.
A key requirement for LIV 2.0 was retaining a "critical mass" of players. BC Partners extended the Oct. 25 deadline, but the negotiations ultimately hinged more on securing prominent names than reaching a particular number of players. The league failed to reach agreements with enough of them.
"Ultimately, despite everyone's best efforts, we just couldn't get to the level of combined financial and player support necessary for a viable LIV 2.0 within the required timeline," Williams said.
LIV ultimately staged 62 tournaments across every continent where golf is played except South America. The league enjoyed a feel-good moment in Australia this year when Anthony Kim returned from a 12-year absence during which he battled addiction to win again. Bryson DeChambeau shot a 58, while Joaquin Niemann claimed seven victories.
Those achievements are now part of the league's brief history, and its players must find a way forward.
Brooks Koepka was the first major name to return. The five-time major champion secured his release from LIV with one year remaining on his contract, and the PGA Tour established a pathway for his return, subject to financial penalties.
Patrick Reed chose not to extend his contract in January and is now poised to return to the PGA Tour next year through his performances in Europe.
Rahm said Tuesday that he would be willing to pay the same price as Koepka to return, although it was unlikely that he would be offered the same deal.
