LIV Golf officially dead after bankruptcy court reveal

LIV Golf begins bankruptcy proceedings in the US.

The Saudi-backed rebel golf league, which spent five years and more than $5 billion trying to challenge the PGA Tour, is now headed for liquidation.

A lawyer for LIV Golf told a federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey on Thursday that the company will not pursue its planned LIV 2.0 restructuring.

“The debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan,” attorney Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn said during a 13-minute hearing, as first reported by The Athletic.

“Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down in their business.”

The announcement came one day after BC Partners Credit, the investment firm that had pledged $300 million to keep the league alive, confirmed it had pulled its offer.

“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.”

The collapse began earlier this year when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) decided to stop funding the league after the 2026 season.

PIF had poured an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion into LIV Golf since its launch in 2022, according to court filings and reports from CBS Sports, The Guardian, and other outlets.

LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 8, 2026, hoping to reorganize under a scaled-back model called LIV 2.0.

That plan required at least 30 committed players for the 2027 season.

Bryson DeChambeau, the two-time US Open winner, had become the public face of the proposed LIV 2.0 and had reportedly secured commitments from 30 players.

Another 10 golfers were considering joining but had not made their decisions by an October 25 deadline, according to The Athletic.

When news broke Wednesday that BC Partners had walked away, some of those players tried to re-enter negotiations with the investment firm.

They were turned down.

The league’s talent exodus had already begun months earlier.

Jon Rahm, who had signed a contract reportedly worth more than $300 million, agreed to forfeit all claims against LIV — said to be worth roughly $100 million — to get out of his deal.

He has returned to playing on the DP World Tour (the European tour) and hopes for a path back to the PGA Tour.

Sergio Garcia, another major winner, also announced plans to leave the league.

Brooks Koepka, who had been one of LIV’s biggest signings, opted to return to the PGA Tour earlier this year.

The PGA Tour currently maintains a 12-month ban on players from their last LIV appearance, meaning most LIV golfers cannot immediately rejoin American tour events.

That leaves the DP World Tour as the most likely landing spot for many of the league’s former players.

The DP World Tour expects that a number of LIV golfers may join its tournaments next year.

Bryson DeChambeau is eligible to apply for tour membership as a major winner by November 16, 2026.

The 2027 season will be his last opportunity to use that right under the tour’s rules.

Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson can no longer claim membership under the major-winner rule, but they may receive invitations to individual DP World Tour events.

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton retain their DP World Tour membership and can compete in all its events.

The Asian Tour, which had 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 instead.

That move cut off another potential competitive outlet for LIV players.

In the seven months between PIF’s decision to stop funding and the bankruptcy filing, LIV Golf paid $15.6 million to retain seven of its top executives, according to court records cited by CBS News.

That included $6.375 million to CEO Scott O’Neil.

Such retention payments are not unusual for a company trying to emerge from bankruptcy.

But with the company now headed for liquidation rather than restructuring, questions are being raised about whether those payments can be voided.

Negotiations for a merger between LIV Golf, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour — in which US President Donald Trump took part — ultimately yielded no results.

Talks had been ongoing for more than a year but collapsed after the parties failed to reach agreement on key terms, according to LIV’s own statement.

“The parties had failed to reach agreement on certain terms of the deal provided for by the restructuring support agreement,” the league said.

European tour CEO Guy Kinnings said last month that anyone signing up for LIV 2.0 would need to understand the risks.

With the league now in liquidation, those risks have become all too real for the players and investors who remained.

LIV Golf launched in 2022 as a direct competitor to the PGA Tour, offering guaranteed contracts worth tens of millions of dollars and a 54-hole, no-cut format.

The league attracted some of the biggest names in golf, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm.