DP World Tour Pro Slams LIV Defectors as Bankruptcy Looms

The DP World Tour is preparing to welcome LIV Golf players back to its events, including major winners like Bryson DeChambeau, as the breakaway league begins formal bankruptcy proceedings in the United States.

LIV's lawyers announced in a New Jersey court on Thursday that the league would pursue liquidation rather than launch a new tour season.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, or PIF, withdrew its funding for the 2027 season after spending more than $7 billion over five years to establish LIV Golf.

Talks about a merger with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which involved U.S. President Donald Trump, ultimately collapsed.

The decision was confirmed in a 13-minute hearing before a bankruptcy judge.

"The debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan," Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn told the court.

"Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximising wind-down in their business."

LIV later issued a statement saying its leadership had run a process since April 2026 to find the best path forward for the company and its stakeholders.

The league said the parties could not agree on certain outstanding terms of the transaction contemplated by the Restructuring Support Agreement, or RSA, which has been terminated.

The transaction is not expected to proceed at this time.

The collapse leaves LIV players facing uncertain futures.

Many could join the DP World Tour through different routes, although they may not be able to return to the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour has given no indication that it will ease its one-year ban on LIV players, which runs from the date of their last appearance in a tournament on the Saudi-funded circuit.

Bryson DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open winner, had been due to sign for LIV 2.0 next season.

He recently said its "business plan made a lot of sense" and that the relaunched tour would "last forever."

DeChambeau is ineligible for the PGA Tour, where he has not played for more than four years, under the ban on LIV players.

The 33-year-old has never belonged to the DP World Tour, but as a major winner he can still apply to join.

Applications are due by November 16, and 2027 is the last season available to him.

DP World Tour rules give major champions five years to join, with 12 months deducted for every year they do not take up the option.

The major-winner window has expired for LIV players Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson.

The DP World Tour will, however, allow them to play in certain events under its new invitation policy.

One DP World Tour player who never held a full card this season did not hold back his frustration.

Eddie Pepperell, speaking on the Sliced Golf Podcast on November 4, blasted the sense of entitlement he sees from LIV defectors who may now get a free path back.

"I think in a lot of people's minds Bryson holds the key, and I think the answer to that is yes but increasingly no," Pepperell said.

"I think unfortunately for Bryson across the last 12 months he's become, well in my mind anyway, I see him a little as a little less serious a golfer now than I did 12, 24 months ago certainly when of course he was winning at Pinehurst and still contending to win the major championships."

The numbers support his criticism.

DeChambeau missed the cut at the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open this year.

Reports suggest this was the first time in his career that he missed the cut in three major tournaments in a row.

He bounced back at The Open, finishing tied for 14th, six shots behind winner Ryan Fox, after a two-shot penalty.

Pepperell did not pick Pinehurst at random.

In 2024, DeChambeau beat Rory McIlroy there by a single shot.

He got up and down from a bunker 55 yards out on the 18th, then holed a four-foot par putt, a shot he later called the best of his life.

It was his second U.S. Open, four years after Winged Foot.

He followed it with top-10s at three of the four majors in 2025, which is why this year's slide feels so jarring.

He did win twice on LIV in 2026, but those wins came weeks before the league lost its Saudi funding.

Pepperell went further, saying, "I think LIV has been dead since the Saudis pulled the funding."

That decision was confirmed on April 30, after more than $5 billion in backing was withdrawn.

LIV filed for Chapter 11 in September.

The exodus followed.

Jon Rahm's separation was finalized in October, and Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Sergio Garcia have since moved on.

Louis Oosthuizen is heading back to the DP World Tour for 2027.

This week, the Financial Times reported that BC Partners has abandoned a proposed $300 million rescue.

Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter reported that Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann did not sign up for the relaunch.

The DP World Tour has already offered DeChambeau a route back.

According to the London Telegraph, DeChambeau was offered "a free route back to the professional game by the DP World Tour" after LIV confirmed it is shutting down.

DeChambeau is the only tour non-member on LIV who has this exemption.

If he enlists for 2027, he could earn back his PGA Tour card for 2028 via the Race to Dubai money list.

Paul McGinley, a DP World Tour veteran, said players on the tour will not hold LIV against returnees.

"I think the DP World Tour players are very pragmatic," McGinley told Golf Channel.

"They understand the situation. They know that LIV is collapsing, and they're not going to hold that against the players who went there."