LIV Golf announced it would wind down its operations rather than relaunch as a new tour, following the collapse of a proposed rescue investment. The Saudi-backed league's lawyers confirmed the decision during a 13-minute bankruptcy court hearing in New Jersey, The Guardian reported.
After Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund declared it would stop funding LIV following the 2026 season, the league sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. According to its Chapter 11 filing, PIF put more than $5 billion into LIV from 2022 onward. Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn, speaking in court on behalf of LIV, said the company was not proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan and was instead moving to wind down its business in a value-maximising way.
Approximately 15 players, led by Bryson DeChambeau, had agreed to remain with LIV ahead of the collapse. According to Golf Digest, Richard Bland, Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and Ben Campbell were the four players to have stated publicly that they would commit to LIV 2.0.
A month before the collapse, BC Partners had claimed 30 players were committed, with 10 more still making up their minds. Across 14 Fox telecasts in the most recent season, LIV drew an average audience of 386,000 viewers, up 12% from 2025, with the final tournament in Indianapolis attracting 702,000 viewers.
LIV Golf said in a statement that since April 2026 its leadership had run a thorough process to find the best path forward, that discussions ultimately failed to produce agreement on outstanding terms of the Restructuring Support Agreement, and that the RSA had been terminated with the transaction not expected to proceed. BC Partners said it had supported a transaction it believed offered a credible path toward a sustainable future for LIV Golf, but that it was disappointed agreement could not be reached. The BC Partners rescue plan envisaged players holding a majority ownership stake in the reorganised league and running a smaller event calendar.
LIV players who are still DP World Tour members, including Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, can enter all events on that tour immediately. DeChambeau and other LIV players remain subject to a 12-month PGA Tour ban measured from their last appearance on the Saudi-backed circuit, leaving the DP World Tour as the most accessible route back to major professional competition.
Reporting: The Guardian, Yahoo News, CNBC
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
