LIV Golf is all but dead in the water after the private capital firm that became the rebel league’s new bankrollers walked away from a $300m (A$430m) funding lifeline.
The league has seen a spate of players, most notably Jon Rahm, make their exits since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September, leaving a vast number of creditors out of pocket.
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Plans to launch a revamped competition in 2027, which CEO Scott O’Neil has dubbed “LIV 2.0”, have hit a likely terminal hurdle, with BC Partners, who were announced in August as the league’s new investors, choosing to drop its bid, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The private capital firm’s support, having pledged as much as $300m worth of funding to the league, offered a lifeline through the bankruptcy process.
But while up to 15 players had expressed interest in LIV 2.0, according to reports, uncertainty over the league’s viability, as well as an ultimatum from the European Tour that any players remaining with the rebel competition would be banned, saw too few put pen to paper on contracts in time for BC Partners to feel their investment would be worthwhile.
The firm had also hoped for between 30 and 40 players to sign up for the relaunched competition.
The withdrawal is set to provide the final death knell for LIV, who are now expected to need to wind down operations and liquidate its remaining assets in order to pay off debtors.
The news leaves several players, including Australian star Cameron Smith, facing an uncertain future, having remained faithful to the league.
Further details are expected to be revealed in coming days, with a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for Friday.
Having made international headlines for luring some of golf’s biggest names, including Rahm, Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, on eye-watering sums, LIV’s future has been clouded since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced earlier this year they would be withdrawing their financial support.
The league has since faced several lawsuits from out of pocket contractors involved in its events, while its planned final tournament of the year in Michigan was cancelled.
O’Neil announced in July that a new backer had been found, which was confirmed weeks later to be BC Partners.
An initial investment allowed LIV to keep its doors open, despite having slashed nearly its entire staff in August, through the bankruptcy procedure, which saw its players’ contracts deemed null and void.
Rahm was among the first big names to depart, citing “unacceptable” terms and returning to the European Tour.
Just hours before news broke of BC Partners’ withdrawal, long-term LIV critic Rory McIlroy had added his voice to European Tour (DP World Tour) CEO Guy Kinnings’ recent claim that the league had aimed to “destroy” its rival tour, spending $7 billion in the process.
The two-time reigning Masters champion also made note of the change of tack by O’Neil, whose claim that LIV planned to “complete, not compete” with other tours was not well received in Europe especially.
“I agree with everything that Guy said,” McIlroy said head of the Abu Dhabi Championship.
“They took players, they took sponsors, they turned professional golf into an arms race.
“They were going around Augusta (this year) saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour.
“It’s ironic that a week later, now they are talking about ‘completing and not competing’. That’s different from what they were saying at the start of the year.”
McIlroy has previously described LIV as “half of a good idea”, criticising the league for having “wasted” its capital offering exorbitant sums to players.
Rory McIlroy goes in on LIV Golf | 00:36
LIV’s purported plan now carries a bitter irony, given a crucial reason for players’ lack of commitment to LIV 2.0 was the European Tour’s announcement in October that players remaining loyal to the breakaway league would no longer be allowed to hold membership.
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