LIV Golf to Declare Bankruptcy, Cease Operations

LIV Golf is dead.

The turbulent challenger league that launched amid great controversy in 2022 with billions of dollars in backing from Saudi Arabia that it used to lure several of the sport’s most prominent players will wind down operations. The Saudis’ Public Investment Fund spent more than $5 billion to get the league off the ground but announced in April that it would not fund the league beyond this season. In September, LIV Golf filed for bankruptcy protection.

London-based investment firm BC Partners planned to take over as the league’s primary investor with a $300 million commitment, but when several of the league’s top players remained uncommitted about continuing with the renegade league, it decided to reverse course.

“In light of the current circumstances, we believe shifting toward an orderly wind-down is the most responsible path forward for the League at this time,” said Gene Davis and Jon Zinman of LIV Golf Board’s Special Committee in a statement.

The league is expected to file a new Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan on Monday, according to attorney Matthew Williams.

“The debtors were ultimately unable to bring the key parties to a fully consensual arrangement that would have supported a financially viable LIV 2.0 league,” Williams said during Thursday’s hearing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan. “As a result, the debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan. Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down of their business.”

LIV Golf was formed in response to concerns some players had had for years about the PGA Tour’s longstanding model, which included players being paid based on whether they made the cut at a tournament and where they finished. By contrast, LIV, spearheaded by legends Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson, utilized a team-model concept and lured players away with guaranteed contracts that soared as high as nine figures. At one point, the league had major champions such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia. Rahm and Garcia are among those who did not commit to playing in LIV next year and beyond, imperiling the league’s chances at going forward.

Norman served as the league’s founding CEO and Commissioner, but sports industry veteran Scott O’Neil took over as CEO at the start of 2025.

A proposed merger of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and the PGA European Tour that was agreed to in 2023 never took effect. LIV Golf said Thursday that it would remain open to alternatives that could yet save it, but that seems unlikely.

In its final season this year, LIV held tournaments in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, England, Spain and four in the United States. The season-ending Team Championship scheduled for Plymouth, Michigan, in late August was canceled.